Hi I'm Tricia, an organic gardener. I grow organically for a healthy and safe food
supply,
for a clean and sustainable environment,
for an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Growing vegetables year round or extending your season doesn't have to be
difficult or expensive. I'll show you how.
When it comes to protecting your plants from frost
it's important to know where the heat will come from.
Soil absorbs heat during the day and radiates it back at night. When you cover
your plants you're trying to trap some of the heat radiating from the soil.
A simple way to take advantage of this radiant heat to grow veggies in the winter
is to make it a low tunnel.
For every three to six feet of tunnel
you need: two pieces of rebar or some sort of stakes,
one seven foot lengths of pvc,
and two recover clamps.
Space your hoops a little bit closer if you expect the snow load,
and wider if you don't have to worry about any snow.
You also need a piece of pvc the same length is your bed.
To go on top of the hoops I like this Agribon floating row cover.
This eighty three inch by fifty foot piece is perfect for the low tunnels
and it's cost effective for the home gardener.
The three basic weights of Agribon are the AG-50 which provides eight degrees
of protection and fifty percent light transmittance,
AG-30 which provides six degrees of protection and seventy percent light
transmittance and lastly the AG-19
that provides four degrees of frost protection and eighty five
percent light transmittance.
Start with a three to four foot wide bed.
Pound the rebar into the garden bed.
This stake is gonna hold the pvc pipe
which would be the frame for your low tunnel. You want it anchored into the
ground
deep enough that it will hold the pipe with enough
above the ground to make sure that the pipe can't move.
My low tunnel is going over my garden bed. If your doing yours directly in the
ground and they're going to leave the stakes all year long after you take the
low tunnel off, make sure you
paint them a fluorescent color or flag and so nobody falls over them.
Well all the pounding and bending is done and now I'm ready to put the Agribon on.
I've cut this Agribon about seven feet longer
than the length of my bed and that way it can drape over the hoops
and close at the end.
At one end of the tunnel, and on one side
secure the Agribon with snap clamps.
Pull it tight,
and secure it at the other end.
Now just clamp the middle
and you're ready
for the other side.
Gather and secure the fabric at the ends with a rock or sandbag.
To vent my low tunnel and to make it easier to harvest my greens
I've sewn a simple sleeve into the edge of the Agribon.
To sew your sleeve:
take six inches of the fabric along along the long edge, fold it over,
then sew it in place. Nylon thread is gonna work better than cotton thread.
Now, simply insert the pvc pipe into the sleeve.
If you don't have a sewing machine
you can just wrap
the Agribon around the pipe
and use a snap clamp to adhere it.
Now when it's time to vent
or harvest your greens
you can just lift up one side
of the fabric.
Did you know frosts and freezes are two different things?
A radiation frost happens when the weather is clear and the wind is still.
The sun warms the soil during the day and there's no cloud cover to stop the
heat that's gathered in the soil and in the plants
from escaping into the atmosphere at nighttime.
An advective freeze happens when its windy and a mass of cold air comes in
bringing freezing temperatures.
The type of tunnel that we've built does very well protecting from the frost
but if a freeze is coming you might need a little bit more help.
Water is a great heat reservoir even better than soil.
If a freeze is in the forecast fill milk jugs or five-gallon buckets with water
and placed in the tunnel near your plants.
Another way to add a little warmth
is to add some decorations.
C7 or C9 standard not LED christmas lights can be strung under the
fabric
to heat the low tunnel.
Make sure that the lights don't touch any plants.
You can also put down some plastic mulch underneath the tunnel
to warm the soil even more.
Grow a garden in the winter
and grow organic for life.