Spring is kicking in at Frogs Way! This time of year proves to be an exciting and ever-shifting season: spring one day; winter the next; and sometimes even summer. We are learning to grow food all year long and have been enjoying our basement-grown micro greens throughout the winter (see week-old sunflower and buckwheat greens above).
Our “low tunnels” in the front garden, adjoining the path into the B&B, allow us to overwinter greens and get an early start on seeds and seedlings of crops like lettuce, , broccoli, and kale.
On a recent warm day, we harvested spinach, parsley and arugula that made it through the winter and is now flourishing. When the temperatures dip back into the 20’s, we tuck our carryover and our baby plants under a row cover blanket and a plastic roof, and hold it all down with stones and heavy lumber (little sandbags are another way to go)
To learn more about four-season gardening in the northeast, check out books and videos by Eliot Coleman. If you’d like to build your own “low tunnel,” Martha Stewart has a good instructional video. Note that the video shows metal hoops, but we use plastic tubing that works just as well.
Meanwhile, our bulbs are already flowering without any effort on our part!
