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go on to develop your crop and harvest them well into the winter calendar month seems like an impossible chore . How can they originate when weather conditions are far from warm cheery days ? It ’s all about adapting to what the time of year give you . With the proper techniques and studying the pattern of your domain ’s mood , growing and harvesting your food in the insensate months is easier than you consider .
The pursual is an excerpt fromThe Winter Harvest Handbookby Eliot Coleman . It has been conform for the web .
In the winter , some of the challenges in harvesting crop are different than during the summer . For model , we are often more concerned with keeping our finger’s breadth warm than we are about chill the freshly trim produce . But efficient proficiency and good tools remain just as important in winter as in summer .
Our crop day are Mondays and Thursdays . We save our winter crops either late those afternoon or early the following mornings to stores and restaurant in our local area . When harvest in winter from unwarmed glasshouse in inhuman - clime area , it is often necessary to follow a pliable schedule on harvest days .
After a below - zero night we often start late in the unheated houses because we have to wait until the interior air temperature warms above 32F. Even on the insensate days we can usually weigh on a harvest window from 10:00AM until 3:00PM . Before 10:00 everything is still thawing and after 3:00 it starts to immobilise up again . During mid - wintertime having at least one cool greenhouse will pay for itself in efficiency . you’re able to begin harvest home salad crops there in the early good morning , then harvest in the dusty planetary house , and return to the cool house to reap radishes and turnips in previous afternoon .
Staying Warm While Working
for be able to guarantee well timed delivery to stores and eatery some supplementary heat may be necessary on occasion . We have a propane - fired salamander fastball in reserve for the occasional day when it is so cold and snow-clad and cloudy that there is not enough sun to warm the unwarmed houses above freeze . Those days are rare : we have fired up this heater on average only one harvest home day each winter . We have never extend the heater just to warm ourselves up , but occasionally we have been tempt . On bright cheery Day , of course , the crop window is wider and the temperature inside the houses is down right pleasant .
We lop warmly for harvesting in the dusty household . ( I favor a vest or else of a anorak . ) We hack with small , penetrating Victorinox knives ( 7 in overall , 3 - inch blade ) and heighten them frequently . We localise the cut leaves in food - form five - Imperial gallon bucket . If the sun does not warm the sign of the zodiac into the 50F kitchen range , we endure the pain in the neck of glacial fingers . We have neoprene glove available ( the one cold - weather kayakers wear ) , but I obtain even the thinnest are ill at ease to wear while pick . I usually fall apart one on my tongue hired man and leave the other manus stripped . I soak the bare manus in warm water every time I give to the boxing area with full buckets .
We ’ve learned from experience to put back the inner covers as soon as we fetch up harvesting . Once the greenhouse temperatures drop below freeze , the brightness level row - screen material quickly freezes to itself and is impossible to place back over the supporting wickets without tearing . The PVA covers mentioned in chapter 6 are stronger and less of a problem in that regard but , nevertheless , it is still the best practice to recuperate each department as soon as possible .
Climate Maps
These maps are include to help oneself win over growers all across the country to give the wintertime harvest home a endeavour . There are not many places with longer winters than we have here in Maine , but during the 1980s , when I first began seriously experimenting with these idea , I was living on a farm in the mint of Vermont in Zone 3 . The winter harvest worked just fine there also .
The four climate maps that espouse enable comparisons to be made between many factors of the winter climate in different regions of the country :
The above function shows medium January temperature across the country . It demonstrates that much of the U.S. has the same or warmer January temperatures as does the south of France where winter veggie product in high-pitched tunnels is common practice session .
This 2nd map is the standard USDA zone map . It divide up the land according to minimum temperature attain during the wintertime . Our farm in Maine is rated as Zone 5 . The zone map is of some use in comparing different parts of the state vis - à - vis how moth-eaten it gets , but it does not take into thoughtfulness how long the wintertime goes on .
The third map , titledMean Annual telephone number of Days Minimum Temperature 32F and Below , gives a practiced mind of the length of the winter period . Our farm is located two - third of the means up the Maine glide on the 150 - day line . A farm in northeastern Missouri with a alike Zone 5 evaluation from single-valued function 2 would be on the 90 - day line , quite a difference in duration of winter .
This fourth function , mediocre deepness of Frost Penetration , proffer another elbow room to look at the severeness of the winter . At our location on the slide of Maine the average freeze depth is 48 inch . That fanciful farm in northeastern Missouri remark above experience an ordinary rime profoundness of only 20 inch , quite a dispute in severity of winter .
Recommended Reads
The Winter Harvest Project
How to gallop the Growing Season
The Winter Harvest Handbook
Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep - Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
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