Get Your Garden Growing Early

By Amy Grisak
Published on November 28, 2008
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Cloches, or gardening bells, can be used to protect individual plants.
Cloches, or gardening bells, can be used to protect individual plants.
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Create a warm microclimate with plastic tunnels or floating row covers.
Create a warm microclimate with plastic tunnels or floating row covers.
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Protect delicate seedlings with tipis sold under the names Wall-O-Water or Kozy-Coats.
Protect delicate seedlings with tipis sold under the names Wall-O-Water or Kozy-Coats.
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A cold frame can be as large as your garden can handle, or as simple as you like.
A cold frame can be as large as your garden can handle, or as simple as you like.
SIDEBAR
Garden Tools to Extend the Season

After struggling through a winter of grocery store greens and frozen produce, I don’t want to wait until June to enjoy fresh vegetables. Just because there might be snow on the ground doesn’t mean planting has to wait for months.

Nearly two decades ago, I moved from Ohio to Montana and quickly learned that, if I wanted fresh food before the middle of summer, I had to rethink my gardening techniques. The hallowed “last frost date” became a guide, not a law.

From the ground up

When the ground is frozen, even the hardiest seed won’t do a thing. If it’s cold and wet, the seed might even rot before it ever has a chance to grow. The key to germination is to plant seed in soil that’s warmed to 65-75 degrees. But in the frozen North, how do you get that soil warm enough, early enough? One easy method is to spread clear plastic over the soil, burying the edges to keep it in place and lock in the heat. Even if daytime temperatures hover in the 40s, the sun’s energy can heat the soil beneath the plastic to a whopping 125 degrees. Keep the plastic in place until you’re ready to plant. If your early season garden plot is a raised bed, so much the better. Soil in a plastic covered, raised bed will warm faster. 

When growing heat-loving crops such as melons, peppers and cucumbers, it’s especially important to pre-warm the soil. Transplanting these crops through black plastic, which will keep the weeds down and the soil temperature up, helps ensure success in the north.

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