AMERICAN INTENSIVE SOLAR GARDENING

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Inspired by the concept of the original cloche, Lea set to work in an attempt to bring these, too, into the late twentieth century. Glass cloches had all the disadvantages one would expect with glass. They were heavy (weighing about 5½ pounds apiece), hard to move around, and expensive even in their heyday. They had to be whitewashed to prevent the so-called lens effect of clear glass, which would focus the sun's direct rays and burn plants under the glass. And cloches had to be opened and closed every day.

Lea wanted to make a cloche from a flat sheet of Sunlite that would create a simple, protective environment for growing plants. He also wanted to provide an alternative to the short-lived, throwaway products like "hot caps" already on the market. The shape that made the most sense was the cone, but Lea found he couldn't close the material completely at the top without cracking it. He decided to leave the hole on top, figuring it would be easy to plug with mulch hay or cap with a circle of glazing material if necessary to prevent heat loss.

Lea experimented with many different cone profiles and found that steeper cones acted like chimneys, while the structure of flatter ones wasn't strong enough. The best and final configuration, coincidentally or not, resembles the profile of the great pyramids. We christened this lightweight modern cloche the Solar Cone.

With the previously unwanted hole on top and its base settled into the ground, the Cone acted as if it were a terrarium. The solar heating inside the Cone accelerated the transpiration rate of plants, which in turn accelerated their growth rate. The Cone's sloped sides recaptured moisture as condensation, which rolled down the sides and returned to the plants. The hole on the top permitted the necessary gas exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen, but inside each cone the environment resembled a miniature rain forest. As long as the ground remained moist and the Cone was set firmly, plants would not wilt, no matter how hot it got inside.

In all of our experimentation with Cones and Pods, we kept in mind that these solar appliances had to work thermally, had to be simple to build and maintain, and had to be well within the economical reach of the average gardener. We designed the appliances to make the most of the building materials used (plywood, glazing, insulation), with as little waste as possible. In turn, the assembled appliances optimize growing conditions in any climate—from far north to deep south—and provide functions as varied as heating and shading, as well as wind and insect protection. The multiple functions and portability of the appliances encourage gardeners to use them creatively and move them around the garden as needed.

As we distilled and further refined our gardening system over the next decade, we began to realize that we were no longer translating the French system to America. We were in the process of developing our own unique system—a simple, state-of-the-art, flexible, and continuously productive method of growing food on very little land—which we named "American intensive gardening."

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