Extending The Season

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THE BIG HITCH

That beings us to the worst inconvenience of such solar-intensive gardening: venting. We know, we know—you went to all this work to create a plant environment that captures and retains as much heat as possible. Ironically, though, you've got to let some of that warmth out on many sunny days. Otherwise, your plants may get too hot, the gases they outbreathe may reach harmful levels, and the interior humidity may get high enough to create blissful conditions for molds, mildews, and fungi.

So whenever the temperature inside your frame or cloche begins to soar, you've got to crack it open a bit (don't just fling it open, as the sudden cold may shock your plants). Some days you may find yourself making see eral trips to ventilate and close systems—a prime reason for locating the winter garden as close to your house as possible.

As Susan puts it, managing winter frames and cloches requires "being married to the garden." Just keep reminding yourself of the extra-fresh food you get to eat at a time of year when store-bought produce is low-quality, shipped long distances, and heavily sprayed.

GOOD CROPS

Plants that have long maturity dates or require pollination to set fruit are poor choices for frame and cloche gardening. Cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower handle cold weather better but take up a lot of space for what they yield. Root crops such as carrots and parsnips can be good choices. In most climates, however, you can plant these in summer—we start our winter carrots in mid-July—cover then, in late fall with several inches of straw, and pull back that covering whenever you want to harvest some. (They'll be easier to find under that mulch if you plant them in little "channels" spaced 5" or 6" apart across the bed.) "Storing" root crops under mulch leaves your frames and cloches free for other crops.

So what are the best choices for sheltered growing? The most obvious selections are the "pick and come again" leaf crops such as mustard, Swiss chard, ruby chard, parsley, kale, collards, spinach, and hardy leaf lettuces. But greens aren't the only good choices: New research has shown that many oriental vegetables are wonderfully adapted to frame and cloche growing conditions. Bok (or pak) choi, daikon radish, michili, gai lohn, shingiku, and wong bok cabbage are just a few of these plants. If you're not already familiar with using these in stir-fried dishes, salads, soups, casseroles, quiches, and more, now may be just the time to experiment. (See the sidebar for some suggested cold-season varieties and sources.)

GROW TO IT!

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