Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Aliza" <realfood@wonderfulfarm.com>]

Someone on OHG has a pit greenhouse that works great even in really cold 
weather.  If I remember correctly it has 4 foot walls and then hoops over 
the top.  Maybe some barrels of water for a heat sink.  I'll try to dig up 
the link because it was cool - or warm really.

Here is one with a subterrainean heating and cooling system 
http://www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs_greenhouses.htm

I'll dig some more up if I can.

Aliza
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] the Dervaes family - No-till, Permanent Bed 
Farming


> Tall order but doable. Remember some INdeterminate tomato varieties can
> keep producing long after cold weather sets in. Heating a greenhouse of 
> any
> size isn't commercially viable in the coldest climates, but can be done 
> for
> what you want. You need thermostat controls so you don't have to babysit
> it. I'd forget removable covers. They have automatic vent openers and
> thermostat controlled exhaust fans. Check the fans they sell for attic
> ventillation. I use those, and the $10 box fans on a $10 timer to draw
> outside air through.
>
> Also check out Eliot Coleman's book on Four Season Gardening. He's in
> Maine.
>
> This is BTW one of my favorite subjects. I've been adding amendments to my
> 12 bed greenhouse lately and started more Costoluto Genovese in 4" pots.
> They'll transplant to gallon pots for a month or less, then I'll use the
> posthole digger to make exact size holes for gallons in the greenhouse
> beds. The trick will be keeping the first two-bed section warm enough by
> April Fool's Day for the transplants. That section is walled off with
> plastic and the other section with 4 beds in it will get transplanted
> later. Stagger peak production to last at the market into November. Our
> outdoor growing season is 4 months frost free.
>
> Should get $5,000 worth of tomatoes from a 15x50 greenhouse by November. 
> We
> were gettting $4 a pound by the end of the season last year, even tho the
> grocery was selling at half that price. With prices going up now we may
> start at $5 or $6. Better to be on the selling end in inflationary times.
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 2/26/2008 at 10:45 AM Dean wrote:
>
> > Paul, speaking of year around growing, we are quite a way north of you
> > but
> > at a lower elevation (I think) but would like to have produce for personal
>
> > use as close to year around as possible.  Is that feasible with a decent
> > size green house?  If a tomato plant is grown in an environment with a
> > removable cover, i.e. started under cover then the cover removed and the
> > cover replaced in the fall how long will that plant produce fruit, etc.
> > etc.
> > Dean
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
> > To: <emitch@att.net>; <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:34 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] the Dervaes family - No-till, Permanent Bed
>
> > Farming
> >
> >
> > > Mitch, I saw that article on the Dervaes some time ago but was skeptical
> > > about anyone producing so much on so little land. Now they reveal how,
> > > growing in beds year round. We can't do year round in this climate, but
> > > with permanent mulched beds we come close in productivity. So it's quite
> > > believable.
> > >
> > > paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
>
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