Page 14 Fall Home & Garden | September 2024 Lincoln Daily News Extend Warm Weather Crops All the options available for getting a jump start on gardening in the spring when the temperatures are still cool are options again as fall approaches to extend the season. Using cold frames, cloches, low tunnels, row covers, and greenhouses are all possibilities for extending the growing season for vegetables that prefer the warmer temperatures. A cold frame can be relatively easy and inexpensive to construct as it is basically a box without a bottom with a transparent covering on top. Made of one to two-inch thick wood, or other available materials such as brick or straw bales, the box structure can be covered with plastic such as greenhouse film or clear panels such as old windows. Angle the transparent cover toward the southern sky and vent by propping the cover open on warm, sunny days. A cloche is a bottle or jug with the bottom removed that can be placed over individual plants. It can protect against frost but is unlikely to protect against a hard freeze. Remove the bottle’s cap to provide ventilation on warmer days. Low tunnels (as opposed to high tunnels, which are large enough to walk through and not as likely of an option for a home garden) can be constructed of PVC, wire, or metal that can be bent into a half circle. This half circle, called a hoop, will be covered with fabric row cover or greenhouse polyethylene (note that polyethylene degrades in contact with PVC). These not only prevent frost damage, but may be used throughout the growing season to prevent insect damage for plants that do not need pollination and prior to flowering for plants that do need pollination. Sometimes even the simplest solution can be effective. Warm season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant can be covered with plastic sheeting, floating row cover, and even old sheets when the temperatures get frosty at night. The idea is to create a barrier that keeps the frost off the leaves of the plant, but nothing so heavy that the barrier crushes the plant. The warm weather vegetable plants may not grow new fruits with the shorter days, but existing fruits will have longer to ripen on the vine or plant when protected from frosty temperatures. Uncover during the day if temperatures are warm enough and recover if nighttime low temperatures hover around freezing to buy yourself several more weeks of the season. Autumn can be both a time to enjoy the harvest and a time to continue growing. With the right plants and a little extra care, home gardeners can enjoy fresh produce from their gardens in almost every season! [Stephanie Hall] https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/goodgrowing/2020-04-07-starting-garden-seasonextension https://www.rareseeds.com/blog/post/how-toplant-and-harvest-your-best-garlic-crop
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