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Building the High Tunnel

2 Comments 11 November 2009

Building the High Tunnel

Well, I’ve taken a hiatus from mushroom experimentation after those bags of innoculated sawdust failed miserably (more on that in another post). Since late last week I’ve been working on setting up that high tunnel I mentioned earlier.  And not too soon. It’s getting pretty late in the year and all my winter crops have to be out of the high tunnel by the time February rolls around since that’s when I’ll be transplanting the early tomatoes into it.

It’s taking longer than I expected it to, for sure, compounded by the fact that I cut the base of my pinky finger to the bone Sunday afternoon and have been a bit handicapped by it. Thankfully, my dad has been able to pick up the slack on getting the tunnel set up, and as you can see by the picture, the frame is just about done, all that’s left is stretching the plastic and installing the roll-up mechanism for the sides. Then, I’ll start sowing seeds like a madman! Some of the crops I’ll be growing throught the winter include:

  • Arugula
  • “Kisaku” Chinese Cabbage
  • Many kinds of leaf lettuce
  • Asian “Sword Lettuce”
  • White, Red, and Purple Carrots
  • Yu Choy Sum (an Asian brassica)
  • Mizuna and Mibuna (two greens in the mustard family)
  • Parsnips
  • Kohlrabi
  • Red Swiss Chard
  • Several kinds of beets
  • Red-veined spinach

Come Spring, I’ll be planting early tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, charantais melons, and cucumbers.

I’m so excited! 2010 is gonna rock!

Author

James

James - who has written 65 posts on GrowingGroceries.com.

I'm a 20-something guy passionate about farming and living sustainably. I live and work on a small farm where we grow vegetables, fruits, and free range chicken for local markets and restaurants. Life rocks.

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2 Comments so far

  1. Love the high tunnel! I’m hoping to set up my small 6×10 greenhouse for seed starting this spring and then hopefully building a high tunnel. I miss my little greenhouse- we moved recently to a much colder climate and I’m enjoying planning out our new garden. I really want to start a neighborhood community garden or market garden here- we’ll see. My new yard is perfect for my permaculture experiments too.

    How big is the high tunnel?

    Happy gardening :)

  2. James says:

    Sorry for the late reply! I need to blog more, it’s just a little hard with everything on the farm to take care of. Permaculture rocks, I really, really, really want to start a forest garden one day.

    The tunnel is 20′x 96′


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I'm a 20-something guy passionate about farming and living sustainably. I live and work on a small farm where we grow vegetables, fruits, and free range chicken for local markets and restaurants. Life rocks.

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