Season Extension and Hoop House Construction Workshop
Details
Imagine harvesting your own healthy salads right through the winter. What if you could move beyond the traditional New England growing season to "start earlier" and "harvest later?" Join us in learning the process of growing herbs and veggies beyond the standard growing season with cold tolerant / hardy plantings and using season extension structures.
Keeping with our Permaculture Permaculture Principle #2 to Catch and Store Energy (using the cold frame to extend the harvest), Principle #3 Obtain a yield (extended veggies!) and #9 Use Small and Slow Solutions (a simple, easily built structure)…
Please join David Homa, owner of Post Carbon Solutions and Kzeloumsen Permaculture Gardens, for a workshop on options for Season Extension and Hoop House construction. This session will focus on the what, why and how of season extension for the Seacoast gardener. We will discuss the suitable crops, planting strategies/schedules and types of structures that can help you with season extension.
David has recently opened Urban Farm Fermentory in Portland, a place of demonstration and teaching about permaculture. You can read more about it here (https://www.pressherald.com/life/gladly-sharing-the-art-and-science-of-urban-farming_2010-07-14.html)
Furthermore, we will have some hands-on experience in building a standard season-extension hoophouse for backyard/garden use that David has developed. The model we're building is scalable and we will have hand-outs giving the directions for this size and suggested variations that you might want to consider if you build one yourself later (and teach your friends and neighbors :) ). We can also discuss the option of starting a “hoop house raising” series of events, where we can help construct these for each other.
We’ll start with some background on season extension and plant selection, followed by a briefing on the hoophouse design and construction. Bring appropriate work clothes/shoes/gloves. Some power tools will be in use so please bring eye protection if you are comfortable using a saw, drill, etc.
After we are done, we can also take a look at what else Mary and Brock have done in their suburban setting, including sheet mulched gardens, fruit tree guilds, perennial plants, rain barrels, and more!
We are charging for this on a sliding scale of $7-20. Please bring an item for the potluck after we are done.