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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] the Dervaes family - No-till, Permanent Bed Farming

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  • From: "Aliza" <realfood@wonderfulfarm.com>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] the Dervaes family - No-till, Permanent Bed Farming
  • Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:13:34 -0800

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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