Hoop House Transformation

Reader Contribution by Ilene White Freedman
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The hoop house on our farm has two seasonal looks. In autumn, after we clear out tired summer tomato plants, we plant some winter greens. Lettuce, arugula, bok choi, Chinese cabbage, kale, scallions. Healthy cold-tolerant crops that feed me all the winter. Buttery leaf lettuce and delicate arugula filled my salad bowl in December. Bok choi was still tender in January. Kale chips and green smoothies sustained me through February. I am deeply grateful.

Winter does special things to greens. A touch of cold sweetens kale, and the arugula is barely spicy. We eat young fresh bok choi through the cold months. I plant extra bok choi to keep in the hoop until it produces little shoots that look just like broccoli. I harvest them at that point and they are delicious! They need to be snapped off or the plant will bolt and flower. Keeping them harvested, though, the plant keeps producing the sprouting broccoli shoots. Raw like salad, or sautéed lightly, they are a delicious sprouted green shoot. A bonus veggie from the winter bok choi plants.

I was amazed that the winter greens survived our unusually cold Maryland winter, with temperatures steady in the mid-teens. We covered the crops with thick row cover on those coldest nights. We have had crops die in the hoop from frost damage in past years, so the row cover must have served us well. Another trick for coldest nights is to water heavily at night or run the driptape all night. The water, instead of the plant, absorbs the cold energy. This technique is used in Florida orchards during cold snaps.

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