Warm-season vegetables.
Short growing season. Hmm.
Even if you live in a northern climate, chances are you still like your warm-season vegetables. There's nothing quite like that first ripe tomato of the season! While the natives and early settlers of the north regions didn't have the time or technique to grow "luxury" vegetables like tomatoes, now we do. How fortunate!
Do-it-yourself season extenders for the backyard garden
Backyard gardeners can create effective season-extending devices for a very reasonable cost. At the simplest, there's always the emergency frost-protector we've all probably used in the fall (an old sheet or blanket thrown over your existing tomato cage; an old cardboard box or 5-gallon pail).
But what if you want more? With just a little effort, it's possible to enhance solar heat during the day and hang on to at least a little of that heat through the night. The home-constructed season extender can allow you to put plants in the ground earlier in the spring, getting the jump on your growing season. They won't protect your babes from a hard freeze, though. Until you've got some practice, don't put everybody out early, just in case!
The home-made season extender has 3 basic parts:
Base (we'll use raised planting beds)
Frame
Covering
We'll take you through the process of creating your own simple season extenders. Start by learning to build a raised bed base.
