Autumn is upon us and winter is coming. That means I’m looking out the windows and loving the burgundies and golds and stubborn greens on the trees. It means I’m reconnecting with the guy that plows our driveway, and I’m annoying Husband by insisting that we drain the hoses and bring the lawn furniture into the basement BEFORE it snows. It also means I’m looking forward to growing food in my greenhouse. Say what?!
Thanks to Eliot Coleman, I think my greenhouse will not just serve as a solarium during the winter. I think it’s going to produce food for us even when the nighttime temperatures dip below -10 degrees. I’m going to take the principles outlined in his “Four-Season Harvest”, and put them into practice. Coleman gardens in Maine. He is the essence of Yankee ingenuity and Maine practicality. He believes in low-tech, in no guilt, in low cost. If I weren’t already married….
The principle of the four-season garden is that you grow plants that are cold hardy, and you start them early enough in the year that they have reached maturity when the frost arrives. In that way, you aren’t growing in the frozen season, but you are still harvesting. The way this is done is to have your plants under multiple layers. He uses hoop houses that then have covered low tunnels inside.
In Coleman’s own words:
“Our four-season harvest is based on a simple premise. Whereas the growing season may be chiefly limited to the warmer months, the harvest season has no such limits. We enjoy a year-round harvest by following two practices: succession planting and crop protection.…only the harvest season and not the growing season, needs to be extended. The distinction is important because the harvest season can be extended with cool-weather vegetables and simple crop protection.”
Coleman states that every layer of protection increases your hardiness zone by 1.5 zones. So, outside my Maine greenhouse it is Zone 5. Inside the greenhouse it is zone 6+ and I’m now in New York. And under the next layer of protection (my covered seed table), it will be Zone 8 and Georgia. Can I grow winter greens in Georgia? I trust Eliot Coleman and so I’ll say yes.
My greenhouse is built on a gravel base, and so I cannot use his low-tunnel technique of planting directly in the ground. What I am doing is using the wonderful seed table Husband built me to hold the seed trays and then covering that table.
I started planting two weeks ago. I chose 4 plants: claytonia (which my Boston-based daughter tells me is on the trendier menus in Boston restaurants!), mizuna, tatsoi, and mache. Here is what that first planting looked like in the greenhouse. Note that I’m only using the top shelf of the table at this point:
Following Coleman’s recommendation of succession planting, I started a second wave of seedlings this past weekend. I was concerned that the wire mesh that forms the surface of the two levels would allow cold air to come up underneath the trays and freeze the seedlings. (Ladies, think of the canyons of New York in January, when you’re wearing a skirt.)
So Husband took some unused pink foam-insulation boards and cut them to size for me. I was working out in the garden, went to the basement workshop to remind him of my desperate need for pink planks, and found this waiting for me outside the garage door:
I emptied both levels on the table, and pushed the foam insulation into place:
Then I set all the seed trays on top of the insulation. Here is the before and after photos of the trays, empty and planted:
Here is what I’m hoping to harvest in about 4 weeks:
Claytonia (montia perfoliata): Coleman says claytonia “should win the winter salad sleeper award for being both unknown and irresistible.” It is also known as “miner’s lettuce.” It is the hardiest of the winter salad crops and it’s so pretty it’s “almost ornamental”. I read that I’m never to thin the plant, but instead I should grasp the leaves and cut the stems below them. By doing this, claytonia keeps producing new leaves throughout the winter.
Mizuna (brassica rapa nipposinica): This is billed as a mild and delicate Oriental plant, with a slight flavor of mustard. It has fringed leaves and I read that it will yield over a long period if it is cut back to encourage new leaf production.
Tatsoi (brassica rapa rosularis): Also known as spinach mustard or rosette bok choy, this is another Oriental vegetable. I hear that it even looks nutritious because of its dark green shiny leaves. It is supposed to survive the coldest weather.
Mache (valerianella locusta): This is also known as corn salad, forming a small rosette of tender leaves. Coleman says, “It is to winter what sweet corn is to summer: a plant adapted to its season. It is the queen of vigor and robustness.” The recommended harvesting technique is to cut the whole plant at soil level and serve it intact in a salad without cutting it up.
Here are two photos of the first seedlings to emerge, on the top shelf: mizuna and tatsoi:
You’ll notice that the plants look identical! That’s because all you’re seeing right now are the cotyledons, the first set of leaves. The plants will differentiate when they push out their first set of true leaves.
What’s next? We bought 4 wire rods yesterday at the hardware store, and Husband is going to drill holes in the top shelf frame of the table. We will bend and insert the rods that will act as wickets. Then I will drape floating row cover cloth over the entire table, securing it with clothespins. Another advantage of planting indoors is I don’t have to worry about wind lifting up the floating cover. Coleman’s book advises having the cloth in place well above the plants, as contact with the plants will allow frost to grab and kill the tender seedlings.
So, Part Two of this post will be the installation of the wire wickets and the floating cloth. Photos will accompany, and hopefully I will have photos of the emerging plants to share with you soon!
This is so cool, I wish I could come up mid winter to eat a big salad made up of all these greens! Best of luck!
I am wondering if you used the anti fog anti bug tape to construct your greenhouse? And what size / type heater do you have? Great blog, thank you!
Hi Deb — I didn’t use the anti-fog/anti-bug tape. First I’ve heard of it! Sounds intriguing…And I have no heater in my greenhouse! Just heated by the sun, and I put in a thermometer this year just to keep an eye on the temp, to see how significantly it differs from the outside temps. Thank you so much for your kind words, and for taking the time to comment! Appreciate it.
Hi Amy,
I came across your blog while looking for customer reviews on the Grandio Ascent greenhouse. I enjoyed reading your words and the words of wisdom that you posted from others. I hope things are going well in your garden and greenhouse. I to dream of endless days in the garden, digging in the dirt and enjoying the beautiful world. Happy gardening!
JoAnn
(Georgia Gardner)
Hi JoAnn! Thank you for your kind words — I have been gardening and house-renovating more than blogging, and so your comment was a welcome surprise! Spring is almost here, and I know that makes both of us very happy! I hope you have a great season in your garden — and perhaps your greenhouse, too? I’m about to start my lettuce seeds in the greenhouse. First time I’ve done that. I usually direct seed. We shall see how that goes!
Best,
Amy (Maine gardener, zone 5)
Our Grandio Elite is finally built and I can’t wait to move 3 1/2 ft tomato plants and a load of peppers out of the sunny dining room window! Like JoAnn, I also found your blog through the Grandio website. It took me about 5 further minutes to find out that Eliot Coleman had written a book and to download it! I can’t tell you how delighted I am to know that I can continue to harvest during the winter months. We live in Santa Fe, NM and lack of sunshine is certainly not an issue. My husband has added a misting system to help with both dropping temperature and giving the plants some added moisture.
Looking forward to reading more of your blog and thank you!
Hi Jill! Wow: New Mexico, endless sunshine, AND a misting system?! How envious am I?! It all sounds wonderful, as do your tall tomato plants. I conducted an experiment last year — Maine has a shortened growing season (I moved up from NY state 2.5 years ago), and so I thought I’d pot up my tomato plants, and grow them in the green house. I ran strings up to the ceiling, using the Grandio equipment, and my hope was that the warmth of the greenhouse would extend my tomato season. Not so much. They did get a great start, but the greenhouse is an amazing solarium, and even in Maine, with the doors wide open, the month of August proved just too hot for them. So….I will start my seedlings in the greenhouse (early!) and move them out into the garden as established plants rather than seedlings. Perhaps in that way I can have my tomatoes earlier. Same with the peppers. My big issue right now is water — I have a vernal stream crossing the property (we’re on a watery peninsula), but it does dry up around May. I have long heavy hoses, that I hate dragging across the yard. I did get some downspouts from Grandio that I plan to attach this year and have empty into buckets. Luckily we had sufficient rainfall last summer, and I didn’t have to tote too many buckets. Of course this year my garden is more ambitious (that keeps happening to me), and so I may need to figure out a more permanent solution. In any case, thanks again for commenting, and for your kind words. If you ever come to Maine, you might want to come during the Common Ground Festival (the 3rd weekend after Labor Day), sponsored by MOFGA. Check out their website. It’s a lively country fair — actually, check out past blog posts of mine (you can search for Common Ground)– that will give you an idea of what it’s all about. I mention it because Eliot Coleman is always there, often giving talks, as he is affiliated with Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I confess to being a Coleman groupie! 🙂 All the best — have a happy and successful season! Amy
Would love to see your place but Maine is a lot further than we intend travelling!!! My hope is that the misting system will cool the green house for the 3 – 4 hours that it is really, really hot. At 7000 ft altitude temps drop fast after the sun goes down. We will learn .. by hell or high water!!! All our tomatoes and pepper will have to grow in grow bags and will be transported out when it gets really hot. I’m looking for an area where our incessant wind won’t harm them. Our dirt is great for cactus but not juicy stuff! I’ve read Eliot’s book from cover to cover and already have plans for winter! Will let you know how it goes. I’m such a beginner but cooking is my passion so produce is a very important second!
Wishing you a great summer!
BTW .. consider Padron peppers. Harvest VERY young and pop into skillet with olive oil and salt. 9 will be devine and the 10th will take the skin off your tongue !!!
Ah — you’ve thrown down the pepper gauntlet! I will see if I’m brave enough to try Padron peppers! I grew the following, per Coleman’s advice, thi past winter: mache, mizuna, and claytonia. All delicious, but claytonia felt like too much work to harvest (lazy winter gardener, me). I did a poor job this past winter insulating the trays, and will try to improve next winter. I love the idea of harvesting something fresh all year.
I found you on FB. May I send you an invite? I also have two other pages, one for food and one for house stuff.
Ordered plenty seeds yesterday .. and something to plant them in. No kitchen garden possibility here!
I’d be delighted! Go ahead and send friend request, and I’ll respond later tonight — heading out the door right now.
Check messages. Off to play in greenhouse and see what I’m brave enough to put out there!