Cumberland County Fair: Garden Season Extension

I am so excited to share what I’ve been working on over the past month!

I’ve been working on a project for Maine’s Cumberland County Agricultural Extension (partnered with the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District) depicting gardening techniques for season extension.

Many of these season extenders are easy to do, and often can be made out of items laying around the house!

For Raised Beds, just some 2×4′s and hardware can make gardening so much easier – especially if you live on rock ledges and don’t have much soil. Instead of only having a few inches of dirt, you can add half a foot to a couple of feet of soil and have the ability to grow more plants and reach them easier!

So if you don’t have glass cloches, you easily make some out of old 2-Liter soda bottles.  Just clean the bottle thoroughly and cut the bottom off and viola!  Homemade garden cloche!

Plastic mulch is such a great way to get your soil to warm faster and bonus it takes care of most of your weeding!

I love row covers for season extension because they so versatile.  And once you have your hoops (which can be made out of PVC piping, electrical conduit or anything similar found around the house) you can use them forever!  Just rotate the covering depending on whether you need to maintain a temperature (cover with horticultural fleece) or keep pests and animals away (cover with plastic netting or chicken wire).

The wall of water is a new one for most people, but is an excellent way to get ahead of the planting curve! You can buy the pre-made season extender or make your own out of cleaned soda bottles (also for cloches).  Just clean the bottles thoroughly, tape together (I use duct tape) in a circle and you have your own!

It can also be helpful to paint the outside of the bottles black to increase the water temperature!

We’ve all seen the mini greenhouses made of plastic in your local hardware stores, and they are just wonderful! Its an easy way to start your seeds in the winter. And if you don’t want to spend the money, you can pick up those aluminum cake pans super cheaply, fill with soil and make little rows and plant into them!

But there are some more tools that can make indoor seed starting even easier!  Heat mats and grow lights!

Heat mats really help your little seeds germinate, since you can set the heat to the optimum soil temperature for the seeds, and you will see your seeds germinate and grow significantly faster. This will also ensure that more of your seeds germinate than would if they were just sown outdoors!

And those fancy grow lights are great, but you can make your own affordable grow lights by visiting any local hardware store. You can buy the long ‘shop lamps’ and select the bulb that gives off the appropriate light to get your seeds sprouting quicker!

Cold Frames can be built next to an existing structure or house, or on their own.  It should be face south for the maximum sun exposure and a 10% angle is ideal for the additional sunlight. Western sun exposure is alright if you can’t get a south facing site.

For some additional heat you can use old square milk jugs (cleaned of course) filled with water to line the back wall of your cold frame. And if you paint them black, the water will be even hotter!

Again, the importance of low tunnels can not be emphasized enough! And it’s such an easy and affordable tool.

Just imagine all the lovely fruits and veggies that you can enjoy later in the season!

It is such a wonderful way to keep your food local, sustainable ….

… and yummy!

So try one of theses techniques for season extension, you will be so happy you did!