Gardening Tips: How to Extend the Life of Your Garden

To get the most out of your garden you can start early in the spring, and harvest late into the fall. There are many methods to help your plants produce more fruits and vegetables, as well as gardening tips that will allow you to plant before summer. Simple structures can be built, or you can make a life long investment in a greenhouse to be more successful in your gardening!

To get a jump start on your garden, you can plant as soon as the days are long, the snow has melted and the freezes are diminishing. Typically you need to wait to plant many vegetable until the chance of frost has passed. You can easily protect your early plantings from frost by setting up row covers. These structures range greatly in size and durability. You can purchase extravagant structures that will last for many years, or you can build your own covers each year with simple materials. You will need some supportive material and simple plastic to cover your rows. These structures work as mini greenhouses to heat the air inside and warm the soil temperature and keep the frost out. If you choose to build high tunnels, the air will need to be ventilated, and this can be easily done by leaving the sides open during the day. At night you will want to cover the ends to optimize the protection from frost. You can also place the plastic over the rows without supporting them. This is usually referred to as floating row covers. The plastic floats over the plants and works in the same way, heats the soil and keeps the frost out. If you go with this method you will need to open the rows during the day to allow air ventilation. If there is a cold spurt in the forecast you can leave your plants covered for a few days without ventilation, but when the sun is shining and the air is warm, you need to be extra careful to provide ventilation to protect the plants from overheating and become dried and burned out.