[Homestead] book
Lynn Wigglesworth
lynnw1366 at hotmail.com
Wed Jun 17 08:40:00 EDT 2009
> Funny you mention energy, because that is what forcing seems to require.
> How did they account for less sunlight in the strawberries if they
> grew them in the winter? Also, if asparagus normally sprout in the
> Spring, and you want to force them to sprout in, say, Septmember, how do
> you simulate winter? Beds in the Springhouse?
>
> Bev
I think things can only be forced in certain seasons. They weren't actually
changing the seasons, they were just moving them up a little. The
strawberries were put in a hot frame (hot manure in the bottom) in February,
and produced fruit in early spring. I think they said that the greenhouse
strawberries were something like 6 weeks early, and the ones in the hotframe
were 3 weeks earlier than the outdoor plants...that could stretch the
strawberry season to several months long. Now, with the everbearing plants
you can keep them producing year-round in the right conditions.
It looked like the asparagus, rhubarb, chicory, etc. was kept outside also
to get the 'chill hours' and put in the forcing pit (with heating pipes
running through) in late winter. It was also kept dark so the plants were
blanched (apparently Victorians liked their veggies pale)...these plants
don't need sun; just the heat made them grow. In the show, they couldn't
afford to fix and operate the massive boilers that heated all the
greenhouses, so they had to rely on natural sun heating of the greenhouses.
I suppose with heated houses, they could grow just about anything any time
of the year. They said that it was fashionable for the estate owner to have
pineapples at Christmas time...that must have been a headache for the
gardener in a cold, grey climate!
Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA
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