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The Art of Season Extending at High Altitude

It is possible for all growers to drastically extend their growing season and improve yield with season extending techniques.
Rowcovers can be divided into two broad categories:

1. Heavy plastic covers or glass enclosures over elaborate frame structures
2. Very light syntheticfabric the literally "float" over the crop.

Floating fabric rowcovers provide cooling and shading, are perforated so water can come through, aid in pest management by letting plants get established before bug infestation begins, and extend the growing season well past the frost season. This high quality spun-bonded polypropylene cover fabric is light enough to be hooped over a frame of 8, 9, or 10 gage wire. High altitude soil usually needs organic material. Add manure, rotted hay, compost, etc. If you are starting a new garden, in the Fall, put several layers of cardboard on top of the area you want to cultivate. Cover with 2-4" of organic material. By Spring, when the ground is thawed, the local plants will have died and provided organic material, the worms will have eaten the cardboard (they love it), and the top organic material will have become soil. Pull the upper layer of organic material off the soil and turn the soil with a spade (so you won’t injure the worms). Sift the organic material through a ¼-1/2" screen and cover the soil with about 2" of the organic mulch. This provides the soil with
nutrition and helps the soil retain moisture. In March or April, you can transplant into the cloche with a "dibble", a tool that picks up the whole plant without disturbing the roots. Use the dibble to dig a hole and to transfer the plant into the hole. Set approximately 6" apart. In a few weeks, you will have beautiful, tender, tasty greens that can be grown outside from March to through October. You can actually grow the hardier greens (collards, spinach, mustard greens) all through the winter where there is a lot of sun, using 8mil solid plastic covers. They often will freeze at night and be transparent as glass in the early morning. By the time the sun warms the cloche at mid-day, they will be thawed and thriving and ready to pick for lunch or dinner. You need
to open the ends a little to let in more oxygen periodically, and be sure they have enough water, but other than that, they take care of themselves. The snow actually provides insulation and gives them filtered light. In summer, the plastic mesh provides 70% filtered light in a region where the high-altitude sun can burn up practically anything.
It also helps retain moisture and the partial shade keeps your greens from bolting

SOWING

Sow several varieties of greens
(lettuce, chard, mustard, arugula, etc.) inside or in a greenhouse or coldframe, beginning as early as late February. Thin in a box so each plant can be individually transplanted.

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