OUR SUN-HEATED GREENHOUSE

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After a few such experiences we realized that we had seriously underrated the frost-resistant capacity of semi-hardy plants. If a greenhouse looks like a graveyard early on a zero morning, close the door, wait until the sun has burned off the frost covering, and you may be astonished to observe the comeback.

FREEZE EASILY

Most cultivated garden plants freeze easily. A garden of beans, corn, tomatoes, and squash can be wiped out by three or four 28° night temperatures. Other garden plants such as Chinese cabbage, some lettuces, and celery often can stand up against temperatures as low as 20°. For years we have been able to carry over kale, brussels sprouts, leeks, parsley, and even spinach in the open garden if a blanket of snow comes before the deep freeze.

The winter of 1976—77 was one of the longest continued cold spells, with no alleviating thaws, that we remember. The cold started in November and carried on through to March. We had to leave our farm early in December for a lecture trip and did not return till late January.

We found two broken windows in our greenhouse and one of the garden gates wide open and frozen in solid ice. Nevertheless, our sun-heated greenhouse, minus two broken-out windows, and heated only by a few days of pallid sun, was able to supply us with:

1. About 100 elephant leeks, still edible and delicious in mid-February
2. Several dozen celeriac roots
3. Two dozen roots of viable green parsley
4. A score of Pascal celery plants (the outer leaf stems were frozen, but the growing centers were lively and green)
5. A dozen small escarole plants that were lightly covered with dry autumn leaves
6. Several dozen half-grown lettuce plants: Simpson, Oakleaf, and Buttercrunch
7. Three red chard plants.

This is hardly noteworthy in comparison with the glorious green that has carried over for us some winters, but it shows what might be done in a winter greenhouse by gardeners who stayed at home and took care of their winter gardening.

We do not recommend leaving a greenhouse without care. We believe that if it is given daily attention the plants which it shelters will be in better condition than if left in total neglect. What we are propounding is the apparent capacity of certain untended plants to survive in continuous sub-zero weather.

The simple, cheap, unheated type of greenhouse that we have evolved adequately protects certain selected greens all winter. With moderate heat in the garden in summer and glass protection through the coldest of the winter months, we have lengthened the season so that we can feed ourselves year round on growing green things. It is on the basis of almost half a century of experience with growing lettuce and other plants in a cold climate that we base our argument concerning the possibility of year-round gardening and especially the possibility in a glass-walled unheated greenhouse.

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