Growing Year-Round: Profitability & Tips

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The growing season can feel much too short this time of year; it seems like spring just got here, but we’re already preparing to harvest the fruits of our labor. Growing year-round is a challenge, but it’s not impossible. Follow these growing tips, and you’ll be well on your way to growing year-round!

The following is an excerpt from No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture by Bryan O’Hara. It has been adapted for the web.


Year-round vegetable growing in a cold climate can be challenging, but there is potential for significant profitability.

Cold temperatures and low light conditions can be moderated through various structures and techniques. However, to be successful in this endeavor requires an even more thorough understanding of the growing environment than developed through outdoor growing in warm weather. The development of strong, balanced soil fertility is primary in assisting crops to survive the added challenges of off-season growing, which can easily ruin crops.

At Tobacco Road Farm we work with protective structures on an acre (0.4 ha) or more of growing area. This allows us to sell vegetables into a very hungry market at times of year when prices are potentially better, and profitability potential is high.

The consistency of year-round production and availability is very attractive to buyers, many of whom hold this as a primary factor in their purchasing decisions.

It also allows us to maximize output from the growing area, thus reducing the total area we need to farm, which keeps costs down. As well, the workload of production is spread out over the entire season, giving everyone plenty to do throughout the year.

The two main mechanisms by which plants resist the damages of freezing temperatures are to break down starches into simple sugars, thereby creating high-sugar sap, and to desiccate themselves. Both of these modifications lessen the ability of water to freeze in the plant tissue and thus cause damage.

Growers can assist crops by creating conditions favorable to sugar and starch accumulation and by limiting potential moisture exposure. Sugar and starch accumulation is the result of healthful growing conditions, and thus we employ all the factors described in this book that contribute to crop vitality. In addition, protecting crops under structures can help regulate atmospheric moisture.

A highly functioning soil leads to better freeze resistance for crops, and the soils themselves are better able to resist freezing due to the heat generated by the soil life and the aggregation of soil structure. This moderation of soil temperature due to biological activity is critical for successful off-season crop growth. As well, the common darkening of the soil color as fertility develops is better able to capture the sun’s warmth than a lighter-colored soil. When soils are functioning to this level, winter vegetable production becomes much more possible. Trying to grow winter vegetables on weak soils is particularly challenging.

Vegetables capable of saturating their saps with an additional sugar lode improve greatly in flavor upon the onset of frost or freezing conditions. Crops that are unable to do this simply die when temperatures hit the freezing point. The increase in sugar content and improvement in flavor at the onset of cold weather does not go unnoticed by the customer!

This is a time when vegetables grown in cold climates can vastly differentiate themselves from their warm- region counterparts. Carrot, cabbage, parsnip, leafy greens, brussels sprout, turnip, and rutabaga are a few well-known examples of crops that sweeten up in cold weather. It is generally true that the colder it gets, the sweeter the vegetable, but beyond a certain cold threshold plants will suffer damage.

This damage may be temporary, such as water-soaked–looking areas in leaves that may develop following a frost. In vigorous crops these areas rapidly recover once temperatures rise above freezing, but at some point damage can become permanent. The temperature that leads to permanent damage varies among crop species and varieties, as well as the degree of plant vitality. This is another reason that careful soil and environment management, as well as seed breeding, are priorities for growers who embark upon year-round production.

Planning the layout of the cold-season vegetable production area is of even greater significance than designing field layout for the warm season. In the cold season the sun moves in a low arc across the southern sky, which may result in shading difficulties not encountered during the warm season. The cold season is also often a wetter season, creating more challenges in managing soil water. With the lack of foliage on trees and loss of their wind-moderating influence, cold winds can also lead to damage.

Beds laid out for low tunnel assembly. Bags first, then hoops, then covers. This picture dates from our tillage days. Straight raised beds with exposed soil surface, mulched wheel tracks to keep weeds out and prevent bags and covers from freezing to the ground. The field does not look like this anymore.

Full southern exposure and a slope toward the south can be particularly useful in collecting sunlight during the cold season. Fields thus situated are by far the best positioned for year-round growing. Drainage management is crucial due to increased moisture in the cold season, which is potentially damaging to crops.

Raised beds, arranged appropriately if on a slope, and soil aggregate development are primary to optimize drainage. Subsurface tile drainage in the field or ditches around the growing area may also be beneficial because groundwater levels in winter can be high.

The development of appropriate windbreaks, as described in chapter 1, for cold-season growing is also of a high level of importance.

In the last few decades, new types of structures have largely replaced glass greenhouses and cold frames. Clear plastic polyethylene sheeting is frequently used for covering greenhouses. Low tunnels covered with this sheeting have largely replaced cold frames.

Polypropylene cloth row covers have supplanted the woven straw rolls and mulches of the past. These modern materials are popular because they are very efficient and are sold at a relatively low cost. Unfortunately, they are relatively toxic to manufacture and dispose of and are capable of leaching plastic compounds into soils and plants.

It appears they are more capable of off-gassing and leaching when new, much less so when aged. This movement of plastic compounds into the growing environment does not appear to be excessive and the functioning soil environment is likely to decontaminate in a timely manner, but still, less is probably best.

The benefits of polyethylene and polypropylene sheeting are extensive. With proper application the materials can increase solar heat gain, retain soil warmth, and decrease or eliminate cooling winds. They also serve as a barrier to excessive moisture and thus create drier growing environments. Clear polyethylene sheeting is superior to polypropylene row cover in terms of capturing solar heat, eliminating cooling winds, and blocking moisture.

Row cover is superior for retaining warmth for nighttime protection, and can be utilized without supporting hoops, which often makes it easier to work with in a field setting. Depending on which conditions are sought, the materials can be used in sequence, or even in combination.


Recommended Reads

From the Ground Up: Using Soil Amendments

Pros and Cons of Tillage

Read The Book

No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture

Pesticide-Free Methods for Restoring Soil and Growing Nutrient-Rich, High-Yielding Crops

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