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Episode 112: High Tunnels, Hoophouses and Greenhouses

November 16, 2021 hilary dahl

This gothic style production greenhouse on a small farm in the San Juan Islands allows the growers to plant out thier warm season crops earlier in the spring, providing an earlier harvest to bring to their local farmers market during peak market season.

This week we’re talking greenhouse management. Specifically, we disucss using high tunnels, hoophouses and greenhouses as production spaces. In a later episode, we’ll address how greenhouses can be used as part of a home plant nursery.


HOW TO LISTEN:

  • Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcast players to have new episodes sent directly to your device.

  • Listen right now in your browser by clicking above.

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, we discuss:

  • How growing in large, covered structures can expand a gardeners year-round production potential

  • Organic management techniques for high tunnels, hoophouses and greenhouses

Roll up sides and interior hoops allow growers to utilize a high tunnel year round:

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Important Take-aways:

  • High tunnel, hoophouse, and greenhouse are essentially interchangeable terms — they all describe an arched or gabled structure that is tall enough to walk into. Some growers use the term greenhouse if the structure has a heat source in it and the term high tunnel if it’s unheated (but this distinction isn’t universally adopted). In an effort to limit confusion, let's refer to these growing structures as High tunnels throughout the episode.

  • For most season-extension purposes, the expense and complication of adding a light and heat source to a greenhouse are prohibitive. However, there are circumstances for which these extra costs and work might be worthwhile, especially for growers who produce young transplants, so we'll discuss this in our propagation episode (coming early 2022!)

  • Growing in a high tunnels provides you the freedom to:

    • work in a protected space over the winter

    • grow tall crops and grow vertically

    • install secondary covers (usually in the form of mini hoop tunnels)

    • grow in diffuse light during the warmest months of the year, when crop growth slows during the sunniest part of the day

    Key management techniques:

    • One issue with permanent high tunnels is that the soil under them is never exposed to precipitation and extreme temperatures. This can lead to nutrient imbalances (high salt levels in particular) and a buildup of pest and disease problems. Careful ventilation, fertilization, and irrigation will help deal with these issues.

    • Usually, high tunnels have doors or windows on the ends for access and ventilation, and are outfitted with some way to open or roll up the sidewalls to provide for maximum ventilation during hot days. If you have access to electricity, greenhouses can be fitted with automatic ventilation shutters, fans, and heaters for further season extensions.

    • Removing the plastic during the winter to expose the soil to cool temperatures and precipitation.

Brad, Colin and the SUFCo team building a 12x30’ caterpillar tunnel, high tunnel at the Seattle Urban Farm Co. headquarters:

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Like what you hear? Please share our podcast with a friend. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or any of your favorite podcast players to have new episodes sent directly to your device. And we'd really appreciate you showing us some love by leaving a rating and review on iTunes. 

Have a topic you'd like see us dig in to? Email us at eb@seattleurbanfarmco.com


More about our special guest:

Brad Halm

Brad’s interest in food production started in a small vegetable garden at the Homestead, an experiential living center at Denison University in Ohio. After graduating, he apprenticed on organic farms around Ohio for several years, then took a position as the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Manager for Village Acres Farm in Pennsylvania. He moved to Seattle in 2007 to help Colin start the Seattle Urban Farm Company, and he is still building urban farms to this day.

Books by Brad and Colin:

 
Grow More Food: A Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Getting the Biggest Harvest Possible from a Space of Any Size
By McCrate, Colin, Halm, Brad
Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Crops at Home
By McCrate, Colin, Halm, Brad

Featured
Hilary Dahl
Hilary Dahl

Hilary Dahl is a co-owner of Seattle Urban Farm Company and host of the Encyclopedia Botanica podcast. Since 2010 Hilary Dahl has been helping beginning and experienced growers create beautiful and productive gardens. She has the unique experience of working in on a wide range of projects, from small backyard garden plots to multi-acre vegetable farms. She also works in her own garden every day after work. Hilary is also the creator of our podcast, the Encyclopedia Botanica, which she started as a way to share effective and efficient garden management techniques, and as a way to spread her love of growing food and flowers!

Colin McCrate
Colin McCrate

Colin McCrate has been growing food organically for over 25 years. He worked on a variety of small farms in the Midwest before moving to the west coast in 2003 to teach garden-based environmental education. He founded the Seattle Urban Farm Company in 2007 with the goal of applying years of horticultural and agricultural expertise to help aspiring growers get projects off the ground or more accurately; in the ground.

Since starting Seattle Urban Farm Co in 2007, he has helped guide hundreds of urban farmers through the design, construction and management of their own edible landscape. Colin is the author of three books; Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard(Mountaineers Books, 2012) and Grow More Food (Storey Publishing, 2022); and is a garden writer for the Seattle Times.

In Podcast, Winter Tags Encyclopedia Botanica, Podcast, Niki Jabbour, season extension, garden planning, organic gardening, vegetable gardening, winter gardening, cold frames, edible gardening
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