If you’re a gardener you will be dreading the next season of the year, autumn. And like any other you will be looking for ways to try and squeeze a couple of extra months of produce out of your garden.
In this article I intend to give you 5 good tips which will enable you to extend your growing season.
1. Cloches – Your average day to day gardener will probably not know that by preventing your plants from being subject to cool weather constantly will in fact increase their production levels!
There are a few ways in which you can do this and the most common choices are covering your plants with things such as milk bottles with the top and bottom cut off or even cardboard boxes. However there is one thing that is a far better solution to your problem and far more sophisticated, and that is the cloche.
By purchasing water-filled cloches and allowing the sun to heat the water through the day will provide extra protection on the night for your plants, the perfect solution.
2. Building tunnels – Wire hopes or even PVC pipes are a very good idea if you do not want your garden filled with cloches. In the winter months your plants will have to deal with the bad weather, so prepare early this year, especially with Mother Nature’s rash decisions of late!
By simply draping tunnels that are easily constructed and by draping a plastic sheeting over your framework, your gardens produce level will be extend for a longer period of time.
One thing to remember when using this technique is to open the tunnels on the warmer days to allow your plants to breathe, along with checking them on the windy days.
3. Cold-frames and hot beds – Imagine only a two foot high greenhouse covering your plants and crops such as lettuce or even bushy beans, the cold bed is a simple small structure which allows heat to be captured and also ensures that you will be able to grow late into autumn and also winter.
If you are a more experienced and committed gardener then hot beds may be a solution for you, with a clever underground heating structure your garden will see the benefits.
4. Taking advantage of stored heat – The best way for this is with sun soaked walls, usually garages or on your home but it can be literally any wall.
Walls over a day pick up so much heat throughout the day, even on a cold winters day you could gather between 5 and 15 degrees F.
I would strongly advise you make use of this to the best of your ability by simply adding a lean to greenhouse or adding trellises.
5. A greenhouse – Building a greenhouse is one of the best ways on the market you can possibly extend your growing season!
However because of the size and the materials it is also one of the most expensive. Yet if you can actually find a way to maintain a good source of heat, even if it is solar. You will be able to keep tropical like conditions even in the winter months.
All five of the above methods are great ways in which you can extend the growing season for your plants and should be looked upon very seriously by any gardener who wants the length of growing season to be as long as possible.
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