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You are here: Home / Gardening / Extending a Short Growing Season

Extending a Short Growing Season

May 7, 2009 by Alea Milham 1 Comment

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I checked the Farmer’s Almanac and our average last frost is June 19th and the average first frost is August 23rd. Fortunately for my husband I did not check the almanac until after we moved here, otherwise he would be geo-baching it!

I do a couple of things to work around our short growing season. First, I try to grow rugged, cold hardy plants whenever possible. Second, I grow plant varieties that mature quickly. Finally, I start seeds indoors in my little makeshift greenhouses. During the winter I buy organic baby lettuce by the pound; I save the lettuce containers and turn them into mini-greenhouses. I save yogurt containers to use as planters. I also save the plastic candy boxes from Trader Joe’s and use them as an all-in-one planter/greenhouse. You can see how I make my mini-greenhouses in this tutorial.

extending a short growing season with mini-grenhouses

Once the seeds have sprouted and the weather has warmed a bit I move the baby plants to a small, portable greenhouse outside to harden them off. The greenhouse is on wheels, so I can move it into the garage when we have a cold snap.

extending a short growing season - slowly harden off seedlings before transfering to the garden Once the plants have acclimated to the outdoors I move them to the raised garden beds . Some of the plants, like tomatoes, have to stay in the greenhouse until all danger of frost has passed. For those plants I transplant them to bigger pots when they out grow the yogurt containers.
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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

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  1. Anonymous says

    December 22, 2010 at 2:29 am

    Useful blog website, keep me personally through searching it, I am seriously interested to find out another recommendation of it.

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Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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