Extend your growing season, Start indoors!

When you try to grow in the frozen north like I do, you come across a host of problems that serve to get your creative juices flowing. Today’s particular problem I want to discuss is the short length of our growing season. I will go over how to estimate the growing season in your particular region and some ways to overcome the limitations nature has provided with a little ingenuity.

Each winter, and sometimes even in the fall, I like to take stock of what worked and what didn’t in the previous growing season. Each season yields all sorts of information about your environment, the physical space in which you are growing, your soil quality and your individual contributions to the success or failure of your crops.

One thing I noticed last year was how little my crops produced in the last few months of the season. They produced so well all through summer but reached the end of their life cycle with plenty of growing weather left over. Doing some research, and talking with fellow gardeners, I found that many like to plant a second round of crops in order to get an early summer and late fall harvest. Two harvest seasons? Sign me up.

My problem is, I can’t really get anything into the ground until the middle or end of May and then it’s still slow growing for a couple weeks. This eats away at any chance of having enough time to let these plants mature and then grow a second crop.

My last frost date each year is somewhere in the beginning to middle of May. The first frost date is around the beginning of October. This yields somewhere in the ballpark of 150 days of potential. Seeing as how most plants will be in the 70 to 80 day range for production, the math just wasn’t going to add up, even if conditions were perfect.

What if there was a way to, artificially, increase the length of my potential growing season? Thats where having a grow space indoors comes in! Having a section of your home, as big or little as you need to start your seeds. The first time I tried this method, I simply placed a seed starting tray in a windowsill. It wasn’t a directly south facing window, so they grew but many were very leggy and failed to transplant. The conditions just weren’t exactly right to grow strong robust plants.

This year I did more research and found some incredible indoor setups. The setups that some of these amazing gardeners had were tear-jerkingly beautiful. I started looking online for how to replicate their systems and the cost broke my heart. I simply don’t have the kind of operation to justify the expense.

Gardening is not for the faint of heart. It humbles you, then inspires you. If I couldn’t have these hightech setups, what could I have? So I went back to basics. What did I need? I needed a platform, I needed light and I needed airflow. Too easy.

What I had on hand was a free pallet and an extra 2x4. I bought a grow light from a thrift store and got to building. In the images in this article, you will see my little grow space I created. Taking the 2x4 and measuring two equally long boards for the vertical posts and one long enough to reach across the pallet, I secured them to create a frame from which I could hang my grow light. When securing your vertical frame boards to the pallet, make sure you use two screws into the center support of the pallet. If you only use one, you will create a pivot point that could cause the frame to lean or fall completely over. The same goes for the cross beam that rests overhead. Two screws per side.

An improvement to the structure you could add is to screw a 45-degree board onto each side to add strength. As it is, it's pretty strong and the weight of the grow lights will align vertically anyway so the forces on your joint will be balanced.

With this indoor grow space, you can start your seedlings 4 to 8 weeks before your last frost date and slowly transfer them into larger containers before hardening them off and putting them into the ground. This won’t work for all crops as some despise being transplanted so choose wisely. This adds an extra month or two to the beginning of your growing season. For additional grow time for your second harvest, you can start your second crops seedlings 4 to 8 weeks before you are ready to pull your first crops and give yourself an additional month of two of grow time there.

Seeds are cheap. Your time, however, is precious. When starting your seeds, plant double or triple the number of seedlings than you will need. Some won’t germinate, some will be slow growers or not very strong. Pick the best seedlings and plant those when they are ready. The rest you can give away to family, to neighbors, or to people online. It’s a great way to help people get into the hobby, or just be a little more self-sustainable. If you’re a little more entrepreneurial you can even sell your extra seedlings on social media, at farmers markets or at grocery stores.

When I’m not growing my seedlings, I like to use this space to grow herbs to use in the kitchen. If I’m being honest, my fiancé puts them to far better use, but I try!

Having some base knowledge about your particular grow zone and the frost dates associated with it comes in handy. I’ve attached a link to the almanac website so you can go right there after reading this and enter your zip code to start learning!

Each season truly brings a wealth of knowledge and the opportunity to expand our gardens as well as ourselves. Seize these wonderful opportunities to improve your space and your skillsets. Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when you look at all you have created and how well the world has rewarded all your hard work. As always, never stop improving and always be grateful.

Citations:

2023 First and Last Frost Dates. Www.Almanac.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023, from https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Agricultural Research Service. Retrieved July 16, 2023, from https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/