Since I walked into a minimally heated greenhouse, absolutely bursting with winter greens, in mid-February, I have wanted to grow in the winter. This wasn't a Georgia greenhouse, it was at Hampshire College's Farm Center in Western Massachusetts. Greens grown in the winter have deep flavor.
After several salads of deliciously crisp, sweet claytonia, mache, and mizuna, I started by reading several of Eliot Coleman's books. Cold frames were too expensive for a college student's budget and required tools along with skilled hands. I didn't have those ingredients. Several years later, in graduate school, a small greens patch in my community garden plot went through a zone 5 winter with a double layer of row cover. Then, I learned about unheated low tunnels on Johnny's Seeds website. Again, the crafty, wily, inventive Eliot Coleman had a solution. I found an article about a low tunnel workshop given at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardener's Association annual event, The Common Ground Fair. This was it- low tech, minimal investment.
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| Top, Tat-soi and arugula on December 11, 2011; Middle, Spinach, lettuce mix, and mache on January 6, 2012; Bottom, 'Tyee' and 'Bloomsdale Long Standing' spinach on March 20, 2012 |
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