Temperate Climate

After the pole shift, vegetables can be grown in greenhouses and/or hydroponically. However, we should not wait until after the pole shift to learn about what it takes to make a wide variety of food plants grow. In the next few years, I encourage people to at least grow a small garden so that you can get the basic hands-on experience in this area. After the pole shift you will not be able to walk down to the grocery store for food: You may have to find ways to provide food for your family over an extended gardening period (during times when most gardens are dead from the cold). This technique extends the garden's life and harvest on both ends of the usual gardening season.

This technique is effective in temperate climate, for:

1. in the early Spring -- to start the gardening year extra early (so you can eat vegetables a month or two sooner than usual)
2. and in the Fall to extend your harvest a month or two (you can keep the killing frosts off your plants by providing a transparent shelter for them to continue their life cycle).

Here in a temperate United States climate where I live, the first killer frost arrives in mid-November. A thick frost will blanket the garden for most days in December through February. However, I garden year- round and provide about 80% of the vegetables for my family of four. My garden consists of twelve beds, 4 feet wide by 30 feet long. I bury drip irrigation lines a few inches below the surface of each bed in the Spring, and the entire area is watered according to my programming via a small, inexpensive, battery operated water-timer.

During the winter I have 4 or 5 beds in production. The way I keep the vegetables growing is by covering each bed with a long igloo like structure, covered with plastic. The ribs supporting the plastic are simply

the 3/4" white PVC pipe, 10 feet long or so, available at any hardware store. It is quite flexible -- stick the ends of the pipe a foot into the ground on both sides of the bed. This makes a half circle. Continue this all the way down the entire length of the bed, putting the ribs 4 feet apart. On top of this you can stretch plastic. Tie the plastic to the pipes by using twine or green plastic plant tape. The final product you've made is a small greenhouse that perfectly covers the growing area for your plants. This keeps the killing frosts off your vegetables and provides many more degrees of warmth -- this is necessary as the goal is to keep the plants' metabolism operating smoothly and continuously, throughout the plants life cycle.

Of course, experienced gardeners know of this technique, so I am not talking to them. But, this is especially for all those who are new to gardening or haven't tried winter gardening: the igloo tunnel is excellent for extending food production through mild winters. And in harsh winter areas, try the igloo method to get a jump on Spring. If done correctly you will be harvesting food a month or two earlier than previous years.