I use writing as a means of organizing my thoughts; that is to say, some of my writing is in order to process my thoughts and discover what I know, rather than sharing what I already understand. Today is such a post. Last January, I was in the middle of teaching full-time, having come out of retirement at the request of my former school district to teach for one year, 4th Grade. Therefore, in the spring of 2024 I was pretty busy and pretty tired. I did manage to get some early vegetables planted, but I didn't engage in any early-season planting, utilizing season extending techniques such as row covers.
Here I am now, though, in the first week of January 2025. It's dawn and apt to snow today. I'm sitting by my woodstove, processing all the garden seed and materials research I've engaged in over the last couple of days. For our garden, my wife and I have always had to balance gardening utility with garden aesthetics because our garden space is not hidden behind a fence in a backyard. There aren't backyards with high fences where we live, due to the plan of our development and home owners' association covenants. Therefore, I've always striven to make our vegetable garden not only productive but also eye-pleasing. It hasn't been too difficult, and over the growing seasons, we've had many strollers pass by our garden and ooh and aah at our veggies.
I do tend to approach my kitchen garden more with the "micro-farm" philosophy than with the "seeds-to-weeds" philosophy, though. I enjoy the planning and maintaining just as much as the harvest. I also believe that a garden that includes cold frames, row covers, and that utilizes three-dimensional gardening (up and not just along) can still be beautiful. Researching and also considering aesthetics are key to maximizing garden beauty because then the garden displays both the beauty of the vegetables and the creativity and knowledge of the gardener.
Therefore, now that I've reminded myself of several big ideas, it's time to look at specifics.
South Garage Cold Frame
I built a cold frame about fifteen years ago, and it's currently situated a the south side of the garage. This is a good location, which is one of the warmest garden areas on our property. I plan to re-build the frame to strengthen it and then to use it for early food production. We always get our first eating out of that space--arugula and dwarf kale, but I want to try to get produce from that spot even earlier this year--perhaps three weeks earlier. This will be my first building project of the winter.
Starting Plants from Seeds Early
Starting plants early from seeds is something I want to try this year--in a small way. The closest I've come to this is early broadcast seeding the cold frame on the south side of the garage and then digging up and transplanting those plants later in the season in one of my raised beds. That has worked fairly well. However, I'd like to try starting plants in seedling trays. I haven't had a lot of success when doing this. I think I have a good place to start seedlings--on the large planter on the southeast corner of our house. In the twenty years we've lived in our house, we've never used this planter. (There is another on the northeast corner of our house.) I'd like to build a covered frame for the planter to heat that area, and hopefully I'll be able to start some plants in that space.
Cold Frames for the North Garden
Building two permanent cold frames next to the sidewalk will provide more early- and late-season produce, mostly kale. Our original mini-greenhouse in the front yard used to produce kale up to mid-December. We tore that down because it needed rebuilding and we decided to focus our gardening efforts on our north garden. With smaller and less obtrusive cold frames in the north garden, aesthetically constructed, we should be able to harvest greens for 9+ months of the year. I plan to use wood, a vegetable-based wood sealer, and polycarbonate panels to facilitate this. A tricky part of this construction is that I want to be able to also use the frames with shade cloth during the heat of the summer. This means I'll have to be able to easily remove some of the panels and replace them with shade cloth. I've got some ideas, but I'll need to work my way through the construction. Most cold frames don't also double as shade-protected structures.
Floating Row Covers
On a small area of one raised bed, I'd like to experiment with floating row cover cloth, a diaphanous, milky gardening cloth that protects plants from cold (a bit) and insects. If I could has green bean seedlings started early and then transplant them to a bed protected with floating row covers, then maybe I could get a jump on green beans . . . tomatoes, too! However, these plants also respond to soil temperature, needing warm soil to be healthy. I'm willing to experiment, though! This cloth can also be used inside a cold frame to provide an extra layer of protection.
Shade Frames
"Shade frames" like cold frames except that their purpose is not to heat the growing area but to shade and cool plants and to also protect them from insects. Last year was the worst year I've ever had for growing kale. I tore down two shade frames because I felt they were too tall and also not pretty enough to keep them as permanent structures. I would just spray my kale and chard more often, I told myself. However, the cabbage moths were just too many and too hungry. Even with organic pesticides, I didn't want to spray that much. Also, nature forcibly reminded me that the late summer sun was too much for chard and kale, so I ended up with two beds of sun- and insect-decimated plants that I eventually just pulled and composted. Usually over summers, spanakopita with kale and chard is a common meal for us, but last year that was not the case. In order to effectively grow kale and chard, I will need to construct shade frames. These will be the third structures I build, later in the spring, after the cold weather has passed.
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| Electric fence, solar lower left-hand corner |
Electric Fence
Finally, something we initiated last year for our garden was an electric fence wire surrounding our north garden. Our north garden is just across the road from a REAP large field that is planted with native grasses. It is frequented by deer that either hang out in the field or use it as a by-way to get from one bedding area to another. We've had as many as seven deer at one time in our garden. We utilized netting and chicken wire to keep the deer out, with some success. However, the netting and chicken wire was just plain ugly. Using the single electric wire was extremely effective for deer control. Our habit was to turn the wire on just before going to bed and then turning the wire off first thing in the morning. The unit was powered by a small solar panel. Quite a handy little unit. After a while, the deer learned that the garden was off limits, and on nights that we forgot to turn on the fencing wire, we didn't have any problems. We plan to use an electric fence wire again this year; however, the permanent cold frames next to our sidewalk will be outside the wire, providing us with easy access.
Well, I think I've gathered and organized my thoughts regarding my overall gardening plan this year. As always, weather will play its part! Part of my motivation for gardening is not just being to eat fresh organic food. I'm also encouraged by the knowledge that getting out in the garden is good for health. It provides what
Dan Buettner, Blue Zones founder, describes as a wide range of easy and natural motion, not to mention getting out in nature and getting our hands in the soil. Well, enough philosophizing! I think I'll spend some more time putting together my order for seeds. I'm looking forward to walking out into the garden, picking some vegetables, and then cooking them ten minutes later. Now that's
fresh!
