The growing season is never quite long enough. With a few simple, inexpensive techniques, you can start weeks earlier in spring and keep harvesting well into fall, sometimes winter. Here's the toolkit, from easiest to most ambitious.
Row covers (floating row cover)
Lightweight fabric draped over crops traps a few degrees of warmth and shields against frost and pests. It's the cheapest, fastest season extender: buy a roll and keep it handy for cold nights.
Cold frames
A bottomless box with a clear lid (old windows work great) creates a mini-greenhouse for hardy greens and seedlings. Cheap to build, and it can carry cold-hardy crops through much of winter in milder zones.
Low tunnels and hoop houses
Hoops of PVC or wire covered with plastic or row cover make a tunnel over a bed. Scale it up to a walk-in hoop house (high tunnel) for a dramatic extension: a favorite for community gardens wanting year-round greens.
Smart crop choices
- ›Cold-hardy greens: kale, spinach, chard, mache, and Asian greens.
- ›Fast fall crops: radishes, lettuce, and turnips.
- ›Overwintering: garlic planted in fall for an early-summer harvest.
Warm the soil in spring
Pre-warm beds with clear or black plastic a couple of weeks before planting, and use row covers to protect early transplants. Pair with raised beds, which warm up faster than in-ground soil.
A longer season means more to donate. Track the extra harvest with WeAllGarden's tools. Get started.