Season Extension
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Cold Frame to Extend the Season
A cold frame—a low, bottomless box with a clear glass or plastic top, that is set on the ground or over a sunken bed—can extend the growing season by 1 to 3 months. Use a cold frame to extend the growing season from fall into early winter and late winter into spring and protect plants […] More
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Vegetable Garden Season Extension
Vegetable garden season extension is a term used for growing vegetables outside of the natural growing season—that is during winter, early spring, or autumn spring when outdoor temperatures are too cold for most plants. To extend the season, plants must be protected by covers small or large. When soil and air temperatures fall below minimum […] More
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Cloches and Hot Caps
Cloches and hot caps can be used to protect individual plants or a few plants at a time. A cloche or hot cap used at the beginning or end of the growing season when there are big swings in the daytime and nighttime temperature can add 3 to 4 weeks to the growing season. A […] More
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Vegetable Garden Plant Hardiness
Hardiness or cold-hardiness is a term used to denote a plant’s ability to withstand cold temperatures. Cold-hardiness commonly specifies the minimum temperature to which a plant can be exposed and still be able to resume growing. At the end of the growing season, tender and very tender vegetables must be protected from cold or they […] More
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in How to Grow
Pre-Warm Cold Soil Before Planting Vegetables
Pre-warm cold soil before sowing or transplanting warm-weather crops into the garden. Black or clear plastic sheeting is a simple and inexpensive way to warm the soil and get a jump on the growing season. You can also dig, loosen, and turn over the soil in planting beds so that solar heat reaches it. Warm-weather […] More
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How to Prepare a Winter Vegetable Garden
Autumn and winter crops replace summer crops as days shorten and temperatures begin to drop. Root crops do best in cool weather as do most leafy crops. As warm-weather fruiting vegetables—tomatoes, peppers, and squashes—finish their run for the year remove them and prepare planting beds for autumn and winter crops–beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, kale, spinach, […] More
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Vegetable Seedling Protection
Protect vegetable seedlings planted in the garden from cool and cold nighttime temperatures. Protect warm-season seedlings such as tomatoes and peppers from temperatures below 55°F. Protect cool-season seedlings such as lettuce and cabbage from temperatures below 45°F. Cages and tunnels covered with plastic are quick ways to protect crops and extend the warmth needed for […] More
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Cloche to Protect Plants
A cloche is a small, portable plant covering designed to be easily moved around the garden. A cloche traps the sun’s warmth raising the temperature of both the air and soil inside. A cloche can cover a single plant or a small group of plants. You can use a cloche to protect a plant from […] More
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Extending the Season: how to get more time out of your garden
There are proven ways to extend the growing season. Season extension is the garden term for growing crops outside of the natural growing time Mother Nature gives each year. Days and nights with frost or freezing temperatures are not part of the natural growing season. But very cold weather does not mean you can’t keep […] More
Stephen Albert
