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.