Your garden looks great! Wish I could grow that good. Just started gardening at the age of 26. Do you start your plants from seeds or transplants. I had trouble with my broccoli and spinach this year! Any tips

You are never too old to start! I start all my plants from seed. This way I can grow the varieties I want, have the ready when I want, I can minimize diseases, and it is way cheaper!

The trick with broccoli and cauliflower is the get them started and out the door quickly, with very little stress. A stressed broccoli will head prematurely. This is the second time I have grown them. The first being this spring. I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions. If a variety doesn't work for you, try another one. I have planted 4 varieties of Broccoli. Three were very good, one was a failure.

Spinach likes cool soil to germinate. I don't transplant them. I seed directly.

Looks great, jrslick.
When did you start your cold crops from seeds?
I have just a few cabbages, chards, kohlrabie, chinese radishes too. But my cabbages are not growing as fast. What is the secret? But radishes, chinese cabbages and mustard greens are doing ok. Lettuces are coming along fine too.

They were started from seed, broccoli and cauliflower, around the end of june- early july. I forget the date. I planted them out in early August. I wanted to sell them this fall at the market, I will have to back up my planting date to early to mid july.

jrslick-

I just finished reading "The Hoophouse Handbook" and thought of you (i've seen your earlier posts). Good job on everything. Would be awesome to still have tomatoes! Broccoli looks great. I have some going right now and my heads are not as large as yours. My cabbage has slowed way down... I only have about 2 more weeks before calling it quits and the temps go into the teens/single digits.

I may grow under plastic next spring to get a headstart. From my reading you can expect ripe tomatoes 3 weeks or earlier then field grown, better yields, and less disease!

When will you shut down the warm season crops?

What plastic do you use and where do you get it? I'm in planning/getting ready to build a small greenhouse using salvaged windows from old farm house but going to use plastic for the slanted roof. By the way, you stuff looks great. I'm also in Kansas and always like reading your posts.

Franktank: I don't know when I will shut down the warm season crops. I am going as long as I possible. Now the 15 day forecast has me still growing. Maybe December? If there is a strong chance for snow, I may take the plastic down.

I would say you can expect yields 4 or more weeks earlier than others. Also, if you think about it, you start four weeks earlier, when you have your glut of tomatoes, everyone else is just starting. On the 28th of the month, I will be have picking cherry tomatoes for 6 months!

I use 6 mil greenhouse grade plastic. I wouldn't use any other. I have tried the cheap stuff from the hardware store, don't waste your time and money. It won't last.

I picked up the plastic from Stuppy's Greenhouse supply in Kansas City.

Cayenne, where are you from in Kansas?

JR-

I assume you must sell at a farmer's market or something? Some lucky people... The tomato season is SO short (for good ones) up here. This year it was Aug/Sept and then it was done. I had plants in back in mid April! It was just too cold this summer. Plastic would have helped so much. The future is under plastic, be it fruit trees, bushes, or veggies... High tunnel production is huge in England for cherries and other things. If only i had a little more room!

Frank: I do sell at 3 farmers markets in the area. I am also a middle school math and science teacher. The garden is my summer job. Although, now my summer job is from February-December? It is almost year around. I agree with you on what the future hold as far as fruit and veggie production. As far as I see it, you can either jump on board now with high tunnels or watch your everyone else do it. With a growing population and climbing food prices, it is nice to grow your own food.

We certainly have the land for it, but don't know how my neighborhood community would react with the installation of a High Tunnel greenhouse in my back yard??? As practical as plastic may be, I think I'm not changing the designs I've completed for a custom, insulated glass shed-greenhouse.

Getting eerie flashbacks re: franktank's "the future is under plastic" prediction - you related to Mr. McGuire by any chance ? ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Plastics

I'm in SE part. Thanks for the info on the plastic. I'll check it out. I planted a few tulip bulbs today that were on sale. Hope it's not too late for them. I'll find out in the spring. Have some crocus bulbs to plant but ran out of daylight....darn it gets dark way too early this time of year.

jr - i'm in awe of that broccoli! I hope my current planting grows that well.

EG

Slick, everything looks great!

I am curious what sort of low temperatures you've experienced, and if you monitor temps inside the tunnels? I would love to still have tomatoes in November.

I am inspired now to go out and fix my hoop house tomorrow. It's sort of rickety and keeps blowing apart, so it needs some reinforcement.

lantanascape: We have had lows in the mid 20's. I have not been monitoring the temps anymore. I did in the spring. Just and fyi, all my outside tomatoes, peppers and summer crops are dead and gone.

I wish I had the room for a bunch of high tunnels. Hopefully one day we will. I have been hoping to get one up this fall or spring, keep talking about it just have not got it done. We have been rearranging things a lot. Moving fences, grapevines, trying to make things more practical and manageable. Since we have been doing that we have not gotten to the high tunnel yet. I was planning on growing mostly greens in it, since we have big problems with flea beetles, which makes it almost impossible to grow them. I would love to have another one for warm weather crops too! But we will just have to wait and see.

Anyhow I just can not believe how beautiful everything looks. I can not believe that your tomatoes still look so great. Your cherry tomato plants look like monsters! Good work, for sure!

What do you plan to do with all that broccoli since you have not been going to the market anymore? Looks like you have a lot left.

Bagardens: Yea, there is a lot of Broccoli. We harvest 35 pounds last weekend and blanched and froze it. We will probably do the same amount this weekend. I also have gave some away to good customers from this summer and neighbors and family.

I am amazed at the quality of produce I have been able to produce. Get a tunnel up sooner than later, you won't regret it.

Jay

Can you send me some detailed instructions for your hoop house? I'm looking into building a bigger one and yours is just what I need!

You can e-mail me at info @ backyargrowngardens . com minus all the spaces.

Thanks!

Jennifer

backyardgrown, if you do a search on this and the greenhouse forum, jrslick has provided all the details on the construction of his high tunnels.

Here is a link that might be useful: High Tunnels Finished

Jr: Looks great, glad to see somebody in KS making a go of it with high tunnels. We did a fair amount of research in north FL with high tunnels and early vegetables back in the 90's, they really do work well. It isn't possible to see your ventilation system(s), have you run yourself into any disease problems yet? One of these years I plan to erect a tunnel here in NC-KS for late and early greens and cole crops, can't wait. It would be a nice place to hang out for a while on some of the warmer winter days too.

Michael

Michael: Where are you located? Well the ventilation system is all natural. I open up the north and south doors and the sides pull up the four feet. We live on a hill and we always have a breeze.

I haven't run into many disease problems. I thought I had some early blight started, but I sprayed with copper and everything stopped. It was either the blight or a magnesium deficiency. I sprayed with epson salt too.

I am going to put up a third tunnel like the ones in the pictures sometime early in the spring. I am also working on plans for two smaller movable ones. I would load them with broccoli and cauliflower then move them and load them up with squash and pickling cucumbers. That fall I would replant the outside with carrots and move the tunnel back then we could overwinter them. Then in the spring planted green building, I would replant spinach, chard, kale?, lettuce and other cold tolerant crops.

I love working in the tunnels in the late fall or early spring. I had to put a coat hook up this year. Ok, it was just a screw, but I did hold my coat. I got too hot working.

Big plans for the tunnels, I hope the pan out!

Here is a picture of the sides pulled up.
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