Preparing My Vegetable Greenhouse for Planting

September 25, 2017

Preparing My Vegetable Greenhouse for Planting

The vegetable greenhouse is ready for the next season of indoor growing!

Now that fall has officially arrived, attention is directed toward preparing my vegetable greenhouse for planting - doing this now ensures we will have fresh delicious vegetables through the season. Several years ago, I constructed a special greenhouse at my Bedford, New York farm, so that I could grow organic vegetables in the ground all year long. This structure, which is essentially a cold house, was inspired by writer, Eliot Coleman, an expert in four-season farming. Located next to my Equipment Barn, it uses minimal artificial heat - instead, most of its energy is from the sun, and it successfully grows a variety of cold hardy crops, including some cold-tolerant tomato varieties. Last week, Ryan and Wilmer worked hard to prepare the soil and build our beds. Here are some photos - enjoy.

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: The soil in this greenhouse is about two-feet deep. Wilmer tills the top six to eight inches of compacted soil, which is filled with nutrient-rich compost.

: For the first pass, Wilmer uses this Tilther from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

: This is a lightweight tiller designed to create perfect tilth within the top two inches of the bed. It also chops up the roots of the previous crop. It was conceptualized by Eliot Coleman.

: The Tilther is powered by a rechargeable drill. This tool is also very lightweight and made of durable stainless steel and aluminum.

: For a second pass, Wilmer tilled the garden with our trusted Troy-Bilt Pony Rear-Tine Tiller. It helps to level the ground as it turns over the soil.

: Turning the soil takes some elbow grease, but it is an important process in preparing this cold house for a good growing season. In this greenhouse, I like to grow lettuce greens, root vegetables, bunching onions, and brassicas, plus other vegetables I use to make my delicious green juice.

: Wilmer continues back and forth with the rototiller along the length of the bed.

: Any remnants of vegetables from last season were removed from the area before tilling began. This makes it easier for the rototiller to do its job, and prevents anything from getting caught in the machine.

: Only rototill when the ground is moist, but not wet – the soil should still crumble when picked up.

: It looks great after both passes. The fertilizer and manure added earlier are now well-mixed into the soil.

: Wilmer secures a tape measure along the width of the bed to find the center.

: He does the same on the opposite end, and then secures twine along the center point down the entire length of the bed.

: Wilmer used a lawn and garden rake to tidy up the top layer of soil and give it a finished look.

: The soil is all ready to make the season’s individual garden beds. I like to change the formation of the beds every season to experiment how we can best utilize the space.

: Next, Ryan walks along the twine to create the center footpath.

: Wilmer follows closely behind – this footpath will be the width of their two feet – just wide enough to get around the space.

: Using a spade, Wilmer deepens the center footpath just a bit and tidies up the edges.

: Here, Ryan places stepping stones along the footpath. These will also serve as places to set our trug buckets when harvesting.

: Next, Ryan uses the Bed Preparation Rake from Johnny’s Selected Seeds to mark where the beds will be.

: Ryan places his foot print to mark the paths between each bed. In all, this season we will have 17-beds on each side of the center path – 34 in all.

: Wilmer and Ryan use the tape measure and twine to ensure everything is straight.

: And then Wilmer walks in between each bed to make more footpaths. This easy technique creates enough space to get around the beds for weeding, harvesting or any other kind of gardening maintenance during the season.