High tunnel gardening

[Humble me Lord]

Hello green thumbs

My wife and I have been gardening for years and this will be our third year with a high tunnel.
I'm north edge of zone 3,
My high tunnel is home made, 25' x 80'.
I do have a rain catchment system, 500 gallons, currently gravity flow to tunnel, but i will be pressurizing it this year.
MN has a program that will put up a new high tunnel for you for free, if you jump through all of their hoops, and give them access to your farm, something I was unwilling to do, hence the home made tunnel.
We grow enough vegetables for us, we still have one child at home, for almost the whole year.
We have another regular garden, 25' x 60' for colder weather veggies and greens, potatoes.
The ice has just left the lakes recently and soil temps are still cold.
Have been having trouble with molds/fungus in the tunnel on beans, which i believe is an air circulation problem, but has been kept in check with food grade hydrogen peroxide.
Anyone else have any high tunnel growing experience?
God Bless

 

[Aryeh Jay]

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[Humble me Lord]

You would be surprised !
I grew up in zone 5, but moved to a zone 3 area and had much success, just shorter seasons. Where I am now, you have to use plastic to get a crop out of vegetables with say a 70 day to maturity.
My mother gardens in zone 5, and by early July most of my plants have caught up to hers in size

 

[Aryeh Jay]

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[Goodbook]

No..not personally I live in auckland nz which can grow all year round not sure what zone that is. can you describe what a high tunnel is...is it like a greenhouse?

I did work on an organic farm for a bit where they had plastic tunnels dont know what you mean by 'high'. Ventilation was mostly through keeping doors open during the day I think..or was it night I cant remember...and watering the roots not the leaves.

Under cover they were growing tomatoes and capsicums and zucchini I think. But i tell you tomatoes etc grown outdoors always taste so much better than under cover. It has something to do with the sun ripening..or maybe the fresh air. You may get heat but you wont have the fresh air and wind under cover.

 

[Humble me Lord]

Your right, it's basicly a clear plastic cover over the garden

Yes, the key is actually growing plants in the soil, sadly much of the produce in the supermarket has no taste because it is grown in greenhouses hydroponically.

The side of my high tunnel can be rolled up and doors on both ends opened, but I think I am going to have to add a fan this year.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I don't know a thing about tunnel gardening. Most of my growing has been through the southern US. I have been trying to sort out what contributes to taste in produce, especially tomatoes. We had the BEST tomatoes in Texas, with lots of organic fertilizer/compost, hot sunny days, and not too much rain. Here in Florida results have been disappointing by comparison, I think mostly because of high rainfall and lack of access to animal fertilizer. Cool temps for a late fall crop were another factor I think that made a promising variety fall flat. It was close to freezing as they were finally ripening. We also have less sun on the plants than I prefer.

I'm planning a degree of cover this year in order to limit water, but hoping to allow more light and planning more fertilizer too. Mine will be a later crop again though (my husband is doing his own experimenting) because I didn't get it set up yet and just had major surgery.

 

[W2L]

Yoga and Herbal products in Summit County CO

 

[Humble me Lord]

I like that picture, and am planning some beds like those for strawberries. the one I use for corn, green beans and tomatoes is 9' in high in the middle.

 

[Humble me Lord]

Heres the high tunnel

 

[Humble me Lord]

These are from seasons past, looking forward to another !

 

[Humble me Lord]

The biggest advantage with a tunnel here in the north is that it keeps the night time temps up especially in the spring and fall.


The tunnel does grow some nice veggies !!

 

[~Anastasia~]

I like that you are direct sowing? My first impression was of a green house, but in fact it's more like a giant cold frame. You're creating a warm environment by covering a large section of garden. That's just very cool.

My mind immediately goes to having perhaps two on a rotation, moving a flock of chickens between them to fertilize and turn the soil between crops.

 

[Humble me Lord]

Yes, both sides roll up and doors on both ends open.
I don't have 2 of them , yet , and we can't let any chickens roam free, too many predators. So we raise our eating chickens in these

It's a chicken tractor. They are light enough, you move them at least once a day and the chickens get fresh grass and bugs, fertilizing as you go.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Yes, both sides roll up and doors on both ends open.
I don't have 2 of them , yet , and we can't let any chickens roam free, too many predators. So we raise our eating chickens in these
View attachment 195566
It's a chicken tractor. They are light enough, you move them at least once a day and the chickens get fresh grass and bugs, fertilizing as you go.

Yes, have used tractors in some places. My favorite is still free range, but there will be predator losses that way.

In fact we just finished the coop and run, this one stationary, and got three silky hens installed yesterday. First egg already today. Their job is to raise chicks, so I don't have to. I plan to keep a few layers from what they raise, maybe a single rooster, and the rest will be for dinner or selling as pullets to make some money. God willing of course. But with enough land, I used to keep a flock of around 100 free ranging, with a large coop, and usually several roosters who each had their own territory and mini flock of hens. I loved watching how they lived and ranged over the pastures and yards. But I always hated when something would happen, and I'd lose a good rooster in defense of his hens, and once a good hen in defense of her chicks. My flock now is planned to be MUCH smaller, but hopefully safer. I think coop and run are actually predator proof, including snakes and weasels.


I'm curious though - if predators are a problem, you put them in a coop at night? Or your tractor provides sufficient protection? I suppose it all depends on which predators have to be dealt with.

 

[Humble me Lord]

We have a secure coop for the layers at night, we close the little sliding door after they roost. We have one Rhode Island Red rooster, 4 Barred Rock, 4 Black Sexlink, and 4 Black Australorp.
The tractors we use for raising broiler chickens for eating. Usually 25 in each. Last year we did 50 and plan to do 100 this year, we ran out too fast this winter!
I'm trying to figure out a way to let the guineas (5) go in the high tunnel for bug and slug defense this year. I converted an old outhouse into their coop.

 

[~Anastasia~]

You have some of my favorite breeds of layers/rooster. I also like Buff Orpingtons, but they are also particularly good in hot climates.

I haven't raised broilers en masse ... kept wanting to, but we are in the suburbs now and I don't think our little plot can bear it (or our neighbors!). So I think I'll just have to be satisfied with a few tasty birds here and there.

Speaking of which, of all the poultry I've raised, Guineas were my favorite meat. Very flavorful! But I hope yours don't turn out like mine if you want to give them access to your tunnels. I know animals each have their own kinds of intelligence, but the Guineas would frustrate me. My birds would go through a gap in the fencing - then be completely unable to return the same way. They seemed to have a strange metal block regarding fencing, gates, gaps. So I don't have any suggestion, but I hope you can make it work. Mine were afraid of hornworms too lol.

 

[afishamongmany]

The biggest advantage with a tunnel here in the north is that it keeps the night time temps up especially in the spring and fall.


The tunnel does grow some nice veggies !!

Hey HmL, your pics give a good idea of your patch and what you can get from it. Do you sell some of what you produce or do you keep it all to take you through the winter? That tunnel looks big enough to grow much munching. Can you grow potatoes out side where you are?
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[Humble me Lord]

Do you sell some of what you produce or do you keep it all to take you through the winter? That tunnel looks big enough to grow much munching. Can you grow potatoes out side where you are?

We have a family of three right now and have not yet sold any excess at the market. Mainly we grow and preserve to get us through a looooong winter. We do give some away to friends. I work in construction so summer is very busy. We used to can a lot, but recently have switched to mainly blanching, vacuum sealing, and freezing. See my post in "what are you planting this year", we have another garden about the same size for potatoes and most other things that handle the cooler nights better.

 

[afishamongmany]

We have a secure coop for the layers at night, we close the little sliding door after they roost. We have one Rhode Island Red rooster, 4 Barred Rock, 4 Black Sexlink, and 4 Black Australorp.
The tractors we use for raising broiler chickens for eating. Usually 25 in each. Last year we did 50 and plan to do 100 this year, we ran out too fast this winter!

You have some of my favorite breeds of layers/rooster. I also like Buff Orpingtons, but they are also particularly good in hot climates.

Hi Anastasia, HmL,
For many years we raised up batches of 200 day old chicks to sell oven ready. We would usually manage 3 to 4 batches each year. They were free range and very very tasty. Not much trouble with predators, think we may have lost the odd one or two young ones to birds of prey. We mostly used these bare necked variety. They came to maturity quicker and quicker to pluck. For 9 months of the year is was warm enough that the bare neck was no problem.

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