Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County

cold frames

Gardening Video: Keep Your Vegetable Garden Growing into the Fall

Saturday Seminar presents:
Keep Your Vegetable Garden Growing into the Fall 

Fall Harvest_Melissa Robertson_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Fall vegetable gardening

Presenter:  Alan Wagner, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

Vegetable gardening does not have to end in September.  You can plant a fall garden and extend your growing season with a second harvest into the fall and winter.

Alan Wagner, Chair of The Learning Garden’s vegetable plot located at the Buncombe County Extension office, discusses what cool weather vegetables to plant and when to plant them.  He shares many tips for extending the growing season using cold frames, hoops, and row covers.

To access this video on the Buncombe County Master Gardener website, click on the link:

Keep Your Vegetable Garden Growing into the Fall

Or go to www.buncombemastergardener.org, click on the ‘Resources’ tab at the top of the page and select ‘Gardening Videos’ from the drop down menu.

Vegetables: Extending the Season with Row Covers and Cold Frames

“I sure am glad that is over!” I’d say about vegetable gardening at this time of year. After dealing with diseases, insects, too much water, too little water, and lots of weeds, I was happy to remove any remaining vegetables, take soil samples for testing, sow a cover crop, and put my garden to bed.

Cold Frame_Cheryl Kohan_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Extended-season gardening with a cold frame

Now I am pleased to pick and eat fresh greens from the garden into winter when temperatures drop below freezing! In the colder months in USDA plant hardiness Zones 6 and 7, you can grow arugula, collards, green onions, kale, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, pak choi, radishes, and spinach. The trick to extending the growing season is to protect your plants from cold. We’ll review two frost protection methods.

Cold Frames
A cold frame is a box with a clear plastic or glass lid that acts as a miniature greenhouse. The use of a well-constructed cold frame can extend the growing season through the fall and into the winter. It is generally used away from the garden as it tends to be permanent once finished.

Cold frame in garden_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Cold frame in garden

Uses. A cold frame is very versatile and can be used for hardening off plants, starting plants from seed, and for growing the cold tolerant plants.

Construction. Building a cold frame does not require an extensive knowledge of construction and is a fun activity for the whole family to participate in. The good thing about building one is that once you have accomplished it, with just a little yearly maintenance you don’t have to do it again. Most cold frames are constructed of wood and the top can be a repurposed window that has been removed from a house.

Cautions. Be sure to always have a way to open the cold frame’s top and keep it open, as temperatures inside the cold frame even during the winter can increase to the point where they will harm the plants. 

Row Covers
Use temporary row covers directly in the garden to extend the growing season. Following installation, most row cover arrangements resemble long tunnels covering the plants. They require regular maintenance and attention in order to perform properly.

Floating row cover tunnel_Carol Jacobs-Carre_CC BY-NC-ND 2.0_Flickr
Floating row cover

Structures for supporting the covers. Construct these from a variety of materials, including ½ inch PVC water pipe, metal fence posts, or repurposed wood.  They must have some mechanism for opening, both as a means to facilitate harvesting the plants and to allow for air circulation in response to rising internal temperatures.

Cover materials. “Remay” or “Agribon” are examples of the material used to cover these structures These fabrics weigh 1.5 to 2.2 ounces per square yard, are designed to provide 70% light penetration, protect down to temperatures of 28 degrees (F), and allow rain and overhead irrigation to pass through.  NOTE: These materials differ from floating row covers used to protect against insect infestations, which are lighter in weight (around 0.5 oz. per square yard), allow up to 95% light penetration, and do NOT provide protection below freezing.

No matter how you choose to extend your gardening season, I believe you will find it rewarding, educational, and a way to keep that good feeling that comes from getting your hands dirty well into the fall and winter.

Article written by Bob Wardwell, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

For more information
How to Construct a Cold Frame or Hotbed
by Cynthia Haynes and Richard Jauron
Iowa State University

Floating Row Cover
by Jon Traunfeld
University of Maryland Extension Specialist

Western North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs
by NC State Extension Publications

Cold Frames, Row Covers and Cool Season Vegetables

As the evenings cool and the chance of frost increases, having vegetables growing in cold frames or under row covers will prolong their productivity. A cold frame is essentially a bottomless box made of wood, brick, or concrete block sides with a removable or hinged top of glass or thick clear plastic sheeting. Some are elaborate while others are made from repurposed materials such as old windows and scrap wood. Row covers sit over a single vegetable row and are made with a hoop frame that is covered with clear polyethylene or spunbonded polyester or polypropylene. Medium weight plastics or polyester work best as anything thinner doesn’t offer frost protection, and anything heavier blocks too much sunlight.

hoop_house-285x252722-1

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of both cold frames and row covers is to warm the soil and trap warm air at night. Positioning a cold frame so that it faces south on a hillside will keep the soil warmer in the fall and warm quicker in the spring. Remember that if your land slopes, that cold air settles in the lowest areas on calm nights and can create frost pockets. Cold frames and row covers will also lessen the effect of chilling wind.

The tops of the crops should not touch the top of the cold frame or the plastic of the row cover. If they touch, the frost will damage those areas. Although it might be cold at night, the top of the cold frame and the plastic of the row cover should be removed on warm days; otherwise, your plants will overheat and die. A thermometer inside your frame or cover will help you stay aware of temperature changes.

If starting your vegetables from seed, some fall vegetable seed will not germinate if the soil is too warm and might do better started inside. With spring gardens, the converse is true, the soil is often too cool, and the seeds do better begun inside giving them a head start on the season. Remember to harden the seedlings off when transplanting them outside.

Enjoy this fall vegetable season in the garden and later, in your kitchen.

Season Extension: Introduction and Basic Principles:

http://www.growingsmallfarms.ces.ncsu.edu

http://www.content.ces.ncsu.edu/growing-a-fall-vegetable-garden

http://www.content.ces.ncsu.edu/home-vegetable-gardening.pdf

 

 

 

 

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Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

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