Depending on where you live you might want to uncover methods to extend the growing season. In the higher elevations winter may come early and remain late. the freezing temperatures make finding a garden in the ground early a futile effort. There are some methods you can use to get a lot more growing season.
What I’m talking about is making a micro climate for your plants, commonly referred to as a hot house or green home. Nonetheless you do not want a massive costly structure to sprout plants and give them a head start. Employing inexpensive plastic sheeting and some stakes you can control the climate of some modest areas where your sprouting beds are situated.
Although it can be a bit of a challenge but the pay off is a larger far more successful and productive garden. In early spring when the weather is beginning to get nice but still much less than optimal you can make a cold frame. A cold frame is a box frame of a box with a lid, everywhere there would be a solid surface you install 6mil
clear poly sheeting. When the sun hits the plastic the heat gets trapped in the cold frame creating a hot house environment where you can location potted plants.
Use a saucer in the kitchen and place a folded paper towel on it. Make it wet, open the fold and pour in your seeds, radish, carrot, corn, whatever you want to grow could be flowers. Set the saucer on the window sill right after pouring off the excess water. You will need to watch and make certain the paper stays damp to near wetness and in a couple of days the seeds will germinate and begin to grow.
Plant your sprouts in utilised egg cartons, the old gray paper type, since they absorb moisture whereas the Styrofoam egg cartons will not. fill the egg carton with potting soil add some water and place in the cold frame. You could will need to transplant them into tiny two and 3 inch containers as they grow. By the time you can till the soil and plant you need to have some 3 to 5 inch plants or bigger to go in the ground and you’ve pulled a fast one on mother nature.
(shh don’t tell her)
Your cold frame/ hot house could get hot enough you will need to location a shade over it in the hottest time of the day so as not to cook you plants or you can open the lid a crack to let hot air escape, you just will need to tend it, like anything else.
If you’ve already got some plants in the ground and you do not want them to freeze you can drive in a stake next to the plant and cut a big circle of plastic poke a modest hole in the center of the plastic and slide it onto the stick then take the outer edge and secure it to the ground with a small soil or some stones use a stapler to attach the top to the stake. It looks like a t-pee when your done and it will trap heat, moisture and sunlight inside where the plant is. Once more watch it doesn’t get too hot.
With some creative use of plastic you can make micro climates that aid you get ahead start on the growing season.
Hope you have a remarkable garden experience today.