New From Oregon's "Dry Side"

[mydakota]

Thanks for the pictures. So how do you garden over there and what do you grow?

Gardening is a bit of a challenge here. We have very sandy/volcanic soil and get less than 10 inches of rain a year. In the summer it can be 100 degrees and in winter it can be -20. We can have frost any month of the year. I have frozen out twice in July. I grow tomatoes/peppers in a hoop house. Right now I have 20 tomato plants in one hoop house and tonights forcast is for 26 degrees. I am sweating it. The hoop house is closed up and covered with 2 sleeping bags and a blanket. I wish I had pics of it, but it is a fairly new addition and I don't have any yet. I grow greens in a cold frame most of the year. (high summer they are in a raised bed off the patio). I do have pics of that. Last winter I harvested salad out of that until the last week of February. It withstood temps down to -13. I was very impressed with it. I am building another one for this year.

This was in Oct/Nov of this year. I cover it at night with a sleeping bag and a tarp, and I have compost/clippings piled up around the sides for insulation.

 

[mydakota]

I grow just about everything we eat except corn. It is difficult to grow corn here due to the growing season and the inability to grow it in a hoophouse/greenhouse/cold frame. I can and freeze a lot. I have a few fruit trees (my folks have a big orchard though-so I get a lot from them too) and an old, functional cider press, so we make and freeze that too. We eat wild game (hunters) and goat/pork that we raise ourselves. I also have milk goats and make cheese and hubby makes awesome ice cream. I have blackberries and raspberries that produce well and blueberries that produce less well, but we do get some.

 

[Denim Deb]

Loved the horse pics. Around here, about the only places you can ride, you need to trailer to. And, right now, I can't trailer any place! I need new bearings on my trailer.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Hello and welcome from NE Ohio!

The pictures of the plants are cool, thanks for sharing! The greens look wonderful!

 

[Wifezilla]

We have similar climates, but it looks like you get a bit colder and I get a tad more rain. I tried cold frames for the first time this year. One I used for early starters and the other I grew greens. They both did great, but my greens frame did so well my radishes and bok choy bolted Got plenty of lettuce and spinach though.

 

[savingdogs]

That is really cool how much of the year you get crops, and my climate is more mild so I suspect I could be doing that too.

Is that a lot of time and work involved, taking care of the cold frame plants? Or is it mostly the set up? I have a lot of rain, I mean a LOT, do you think your method would work if it were a lot more wet?

 

[mydakota]

I grew up in the Willamette Valley SD. I suspect it would work BETTER there because you aren't dealing with the extreme temps. After I stopped harvesting at the end of Feb. the cold frame stood empty for exactly one week and then I planted it again. By then it was the first of March and the days were longer and I got good germination again. I was without home grown greens on the table for exactly 6 weeks out of 52 all year. It was in full production again by April.

 

[mydakota]

Oops, I didn't really answer your question. I am sorry. It is not hard to take care of, but you MUST take care of it. If you fail to open it on a bright sunny day, you will cook you crop. If you fail to close/cover it on a cold night, you will freeze your crop. But it isn't hard. It takes all of maybe a minute to uncover in the morning and all of maybe 2 minutes to cover at night.

 

[savingdogs]

wow! is there a book you read that taught you how to do that? or a website?

 

[mydakota]

I just googled it and read a lot of articles. Lots of people use a cold frame just as a plant starter at the beginning of the season. Many articles talk about them just in that context. You have to hunt a little more (but not a lot) to find ones that use them as little mini greenhouses-which is what I did. There is lots of info out there. Hubby and I are headed out in a little bit to go yard saleing. I will try to link a few of my favorite articles when I get back in the evening.