They can be branched, certainly. If You were to graft a scion that size, you'd need a seedling that looked similar, i.e. the same amount of foliage/thicker trunk/more roots. Everything when grafting has to be of proportionate size. So, returning to grafting a very small scion on a large seedling, a decent amount of foliage on the seedling is retained until the scion seems proportionate on its own/w/o the need for foliage on the seedling to survive from a certain point on forward... It may be years until all the seedling-rootstock foliage is slowly removed over a period of time while the scion grows during those years... and eventually the end result is a remaining scion on the rootstock that is supporting the root-system with all all the energy the roots need coming from the scion. Every situation is up to the grafter to decide what to do. Some more extreme than others. I've kept branching on a grafted plant for 5-years or more until my scion was ready to support the need of balance to feed the root system. It's a feel..... something you learn, sometimes the hard way. Dax

Where did you get the GH from? How much? I like the fact that its 14ft instead of the 12 footer that I'm looking into. I think you need to start most plants by Aug 1st-mid august. I'd try peas, spinach, carrots, broccoli(maybe)etc for fall crops. But just greens for the winter. Depends on the house you got but you should just have to pull away the snow from the bottom edge and the top. I was looking into Hobby Garden gh's and they withstand any New England weather. Good luck!

Beng brings up a good point-that of the possibility a given conifer, or evergreen, for purposes of this discussion, could potentially undergo a bit of photosynthesis if air temps go high enough. My own suspicion is that even if this is so, it is more than made up for by the need for respiration, a drain on the system. I highly doubt a good case could be made that there is anything positive about these warmups, so far as "dormant" winter-hardy plants are concerned. I have no proof however. As to reproductive strategies, the most common, again, among species that are adapted to cold winters, is for there to be a need for "chilling" hours. These needed hours of exposure to cold temperatures, in order that subsequent reproductive systems can proceed, is met by cold periods, not warmups. Again, I highly doubt any case could be made of a positive benefit. In general, what's good for plant species which are adapted to cold winters is for it to get cold and then stay cold. That's the ideal, and every deviation from that is a lessening of conditions, not an enhancement.

"I was informed awhile back that the trees that are dormant in the winter don't need sunlight, only water." I believe that, about the sunlight. Around where I live the sun gets down to a very low angle for a few months during winter and the days are short (8 hrs. maybe). With all the underbrush and large trees, small conifers growing in the woods don't see much sun during that time, even if they aren't buried in the snow. They all seem to do fine. I have a small spruce in the back yard that spent it's first winter completely covered by the 20" of snow we got that year. But I don't think they need a lot of water because during their dormant period, they don't transpire. I know a dry, sunny, windy day(s) can't damage the needles, it's just that when the roots are froze or dormant, they can't move the water from the ground to the branches so watering the ground would help only minimally. The thing that helps our conifers through the winters up here is when they are either buried in the natural falling/blowing snow or else when we get little snow 'skiffs' or foggy, misty periods during that time, it seems that helps keep the needles from drying out. I have a small spruce in the front yard that gets snow shoveled/snow blowed on it when we do the drive way, Completely covered up again this year again. But each year it grows the best of all the conifers I have.