December 1980 RAIN Page 11 Seasonal Plantillg in the Northeast bJ lf/.in'utz kltill Excerpted from Horticultural Management of Solar Greenhouses in the Northeast. There are three somewhat distinct seasons in a solar greenhouse. Winter: October 1-February 1 Spring: February 1-April 1 Summer: April 1-October 1 Keeping in mind that all three seasons tend to overlap considerably, here are some guidelines for each. Winter: During the winter season there are two limiting factors to plant growth. , 1. Short days and low light intensity. In the winter, neither the day length nor the light intensity is optimum for warm-season fruiting plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Though it is possible to obtain fruit during these months neither yield nor quality is as high as during spring and summer months. You can bring in these plants from the garden and hold the mature plant over until December. This allows you to extend their season but avoids the pest and disease problems that may occur if you try to grow them as winter crops. (Cucumbers are not included. They will not transplant from the garden.) 2. Low night temperatures. The average low temperatures in a solar greenhouse in the Northeast range from 30-45 degrees Fahrenheit. These low temperatures are very stressful for warm season crops and lowers their resistance to pests and diseases. Leafy greens and root crops respond best to the environmental conditions in a winter solar greenhouse. Spring: February and March are very cold months, but since both light duration and intensity are increasing, it is a good time to start seedlings for the greenhouse spring crop. You don't want to pull the entire winter crop but some plants will be past their prime and other seedlings should be transplanted by mid-March. This is also the time to start seedlings for outdoor planting in cold frames and gardens. Cold frames can be used to great advantage in conjunction with a greenhouse. Don't start all your flats at the same time. Stagger plantings at intervals one to two weeks apart. This is particularly important if you want to sell seedlings. People don't all buy at the same time, nor can you handle them all at the same time. If you want to grow spring tomatoes and peppers, start them in mid-February. By late April they can be transplanted into beds and by late June they should be starting to produce. Summer: For people with a very short growing season, a solar greenhouse is a godsend in the summer. You can be sure to have ripe tomatoes and cucumbers early in the season without worrying about those early August frosts. Really long season plants like eggplant and cantaloupe can also be grown in the greenhouse during the summer, or it can be used for drying herbs and fruit. If your summer growing season is really quite adequate and you have a large garden to take care of, you may want to let the greenhouse rest during July and August. There's nothing wrong with this either. A possible one-year plan: Mid-August: Start seedlings of cabbage family, chard, beets, lettuce, chard, chicory, corn salad, parsley, scallions, endive. Early September: Seed peas, radish, carrots into beds. Late September: Transplant mature plants of broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, and chard from the garden into the greenhouse. October: Harvest radish, thinnings and transplant seedlings into beds. Start more seedlings of lettuce, chard, kale, broccoli. November: Begin to harvest leafy greens by sustainable yield. Late November: Harvest remainder of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and pull those plants. Replace them with seedlings started in October. • December & January: Harvest carrots, beet greens, scallions, and continue to harvest leafy greens by sustainable yield. Growth is generally slow so go easy on harvesting. February: Start tomato, pepper, chard, spinach, lettuce, and Chinese cabbage seedlings for a spring greenhouse crop. Continue to harvest by sustainable yield. Late February, growth begins to pick up again. March: Start cool weather seedlings (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, collards, etc.) for setting out in the garden in late May. Start cucumbers for greenhouse spring crop. April: Start tomatoes, pepper, herb and flower seedlings for garden. Transplant tomatoes, peppers, chard, spinach, lettuce, Chinese cabbage into greenhouse beds. Late April: Transfer cool weather seedlings into outside cold frames. May: Transplant cool weather seedlings into garden. Transplant cucumbers into greenhouse beds. Pull whatever is left of winter crop. June: Begin harvesting new greens, spring tomatoes, and peppers. July: Start seedlings of tomatoes, peppers for fall crop. Continuous eating of everything! Keep in mind that these dates are flexible depending on your particular climate, frost-free dates, and how cold or hot you're running your greenhouse. Check the chart on germination to give you an idea of what minimum temperatures are required for which plants. Only plant what you can eat, sell or use. Space is precious. Use your space for what you cannot grow outdoors at that time of year.
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