fall and winter gardening

15 years ago

This is the situation: two women starting an organic food growing operation in northern Vermont. We've got no resources secured besides the land.

My co-farmer has lots of book knowledge on the subject while I've got more in the experience department and I'm also a little heavy in the book knowledge department.

What we are planning:

We will be going up to start work on the land in September, definitely by the end - probably just in time to plant garlic. We are ambitiously planning to build a greenhouse or massive cold frame operation to sustain us through the winter and hopefully start providing some sort of cash flow to work with...

What I need to know: (besides any pertinent advice anyone might have)

What are good fall crops to sow for spring/summer harvest? (Besides garlic)

What are the best crops to grow in a greenhouse over the winter for distribution to restaurants and other establishments that will pay higher than a wholesale price? (I've read Coleman's Four Season Harvest and will need to read it again).

Are we overly ambitious to think that we can pull this all together in such a short amount of time?

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Comments (4)

innisfail
15 years ago
What ever you do, be realistic !!!
This market is hard to start in, but if you are in for the long haul, it can be sucsesfull .
In this bussiness, luck, favourable conditions and lots of work, do more than reading all the books you can .

Wishing you all the best !!! ( been there, done that .)
boulderbelt
15 years ago
kale, arugula, carrots, radishes, lettuce (cold hardy types), leeks (must be started in spring but do incredibly well in unheated hoop houses over winter), spinach, raddichio, parsnips. pretty much anything that can be gorwn in early to mid spring will do well over winter.

The rub for you is everything must be started in August except the fast leafy greens such as arugula and lettuce and radishes or you will not get a harvest until April.

Also know that despite what Mr Coleman says things do not grow well or fast in the Norther US without supplemental heat and light. I have been doing season extension in WC Ohio for the past 12 years and have rarely had a winter when we could harvest Mid Jan through Late Feb because the crops go dormant. i have talked to other growers who have put heaters in their hoop houses and have fixed that problem (but heat costs money so we don't do it and just don't sell such things in winter but do sell onions, garlic winter squash and other things from the root cellar)
robin_maine
15 years ago
When "growing" in the winter it's not growth that you're looking for, it's harvest. Growth stops in mid December here and doesn't start again until almost mid February. There are a lot of plants you can grow in an unheated greenhouse to harvest during that time.

I learned over the past winter that warmth makes a big difference. I thought this was going to be all about light and day length over the winter. I wouldn't add a heater but I will be doing more to hold heat in next winter.
trianglejohn
15 years ago
It also depends on what type of soil you're working with. If you can start off with wonderful soil you'll be ahead of the game no matter what you grow.