Here I am in my winter garden. I have a hoop house behind me, and two of my recycled skylight cold frames in operation. I learned about Four Season gardening through Eliot Coleman's fantastic book. This year I have mostly herbs planted. The thing is, we (in the Northeast) have enough sunlight, we are at the same latitude as southern France, it's the cold that gets us. By using simple plastic or glass coverings the temperature can be increased enough to grow all winter, if the crop is cold hardy of course!
Here is my oregeno and parsley still going strong deep into January! I have all cold hardy crops growing, like kale, raddicio, mache and some cold hardy carrots as well. The first time I grew plants outdoors in the winter I was shocked at how well some plants do. Eliot Coleman does it quited sucessfully and he is in Maine a few hundred miles further north from me! Check out my library and links page to see his book and some other very good ones as well.
On a website I frequent, www.homesteadingtoday.com, there were a couple of questions on easy composting systems. One of the best and cheapest ways to make a compost bin is to simply get a roll of wire, put it in a circle and pile it full of organic matter. This system works great, it gets a lot of air throughout the pile. In the spring I will simply pull the wire off and rake out the compost. I also put these inside my raised beds, it makes a great top dressing. The video for this should be done sometime next week.
Here is my Aquaponic growing system. Aquaponics is a simple way of growing food using natures cycles.
The system is designed so that the waste from the fish is pumped up and into the metal containers where plants purify the water. This system is in "Beta Test" right now, but so far with positive results. Later I will power it all with solar cells. More on this as it develops. If YOU have any ideas please email me.
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