What is a high tunnel? |
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A high tunnel is an unheated, plastic covered structure used to grow and protects plants. They are vented naturally and there is no "pumped-in" heat; they allow for passive heat from the sun. On a sunny cool spring day, the temperature can easily climb to over 100 degrees inside when the outside temperature is only 40-50 degrees. Unlike most greenhouses, high tunnels have no floor and the crops inside are grown in the ground.
Why use a high tunnel? When you use a high tunnel you can easily extend your season over a month on each end. You can plant crops sooner and harvest them later in the year. Using other products such as row cover, you can grow cold tolerant vegetables year around.
Last year was our first year to experiment with year-round growing. This idea is tricky, considering how varied and extreme New York weather can get. Despite the weather, we successfully grew lettuce and had fresh lettuce salad almost every week all winter long.
It is said for every layer of plastic or row cover you put over a crop, it's like moving 500 miles south. While you can't grow warm season crops, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumber or watermelon all winter long, you can grow cool season crops, like leafy greens, cole crops (broccoli is really good), and root vegetables. While during the winter the crops don't grow a lot, they are more in a state of living cold storage. Yes, the spinach and lettuce will freeze, but when the sun comes out they will warm up and thaw out.
We started with two high tunnels in 2019. They were 30x96. However, even with those tunnels we saw the benefit. All steel high tunnel kits are expensive so we must get the most crops out of them as we can each year.
Why use a high tunnel? When you use a high tunnel you can easily extend your season over a month on each end. You can plant crops sooner and harvest them later in the year. Using other products such as row cover, you can grow cold tolerant vegetables year around.
Last year was our first year to experiment with year-round growing. This idea is tricky, considering how varied and extreme New York weather can get. Despite the weather, we successfully grew lettuce and had fresh lettuce salad almost every week all winter long.
It is said for every layer of plastic or row cover you put over a crop, it's like moving 500 miles south. While you can't grow warm season crops, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumber or watermelon all winter long, you can grow cool season crops, like leafy greens, cole crops (broccoli is really good), and root vegetables. While during the winter the crops don't grow a lot, they are more in a state of living cold storage. Yes, the spinach and lettuce will freeze, but when the sun comes out they will warm up and thaw out.
We started with two high tunnels in 2019. They were 30x96. However, even with those tunnels we saw the benefit. All steel high tunnel kits are expensive so we must get the most crops out of them as we can each year.
