Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["S. Follette" <marketgardener@thymeforewe.com>]

> Not me - maybe Robin in Maine.

Eliot has much better, much more useful pictures. 
http://fourseasonfarm.com/main/photos/greenhouse.html  The pictures will 
popup larger if you click on them.


> I understand Eliot Coleman uses row covers on winter greens inside 
> unheated
> hoop houses. Like layering clothes in winter. Growth stops in the coldest
> months but he has the greens grown by then and they keep well under the 
> row
> covers, so he just sells as needed till more produce comes online in
> spring. His books are very helpful.

Our length of daylight is too short for growth by mid/late December.  By mid 
February the sun is high enough and the days long enough for growth to 
start.  It's still very cold here in February and March (and this year, 
April) so it's important to harvest older, larger leaves.  They don't bounce 
back from freezing as well as small, young leaves.

I push row cover back on sunny days to give the seedlings more unfiltered 
light.  I pull it back over them plants before the sun goes down.

Eliot's book, Four Season Harvest, is extremely helpful. 
http://fourseasonfarm.com/main/books/books_eliot2.html#harvest
The Winter Harvest Manuel is also great. 
http://fourseasonfarm.com/main/harvest/order.html


> Question: what about marketing winter greens, and what do you do with your
Tatsoi?

I'm at the end of the second year of winter growing and feel like I know 
enough to start marketing this coming winter.  Until this year I haven't had 
greenhouses I felt confident enough to provide a steady supply of greens. 
That changes this year.  I've been selling to local customers who start 
buying here in the spring with greens and seedlings and don't stop buying 
until December when I close.  I'm going to approach local stores that buy 
and resell locally produced products.

Tatsoi is one of my favorites.  I sautee it, use it in stir fry and salads, 
steam it and add butter, and chop it to add to soup.  It grows almost as 
well outside under the sun when it's 90° as it does in the greenhouse when 
it's 30° outside.  It's a tough plant to kill.

Robin
Thyme For Ewe Farm
www.thymeforewe.com