The winter harvest handbook : year-round vegetable production using deep-organic techniques and unheated greenhouses
Eliot Coleman ; photographs and illustrations by Barbara Damrosch.
- White River Junction, Vt. : Chelsea Green Pub., 2009.
- xi, 247 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps (some color) ; 26 cm
The winter harvest -- Historical inspiration -- Getting started -- The yearly schedule -- Sunlight -- The "cold" greenhouse -- The "cool" greenhouse -- Winter crops -- Summer crops -- Greenhouse design -- Year-round intensive cropping -- Soil preparation -- Sowing -- Weed control -- Harvesting in winter -- Marketing and economics -- Pests -- Insects and diseases -- Tools for the small farm -- Deep-organic farming and the small farm.
Gardeners and farmers can use the methods Coleman describes in this handbook to raise crops throughout the coldest of winters. Building on the techniques that hundreds of thousands of farmers and gardeners adopted from "The New Organic Grower" and "Four-Season Harvest," this new book focuses on growing produce of unparalleled freshness and quality in customized unheated or, in some cases, minimally heated, movable plastic greenhouses. Coleman offers details on greenhouse construction and maintenance, planting schedules, crop management, harvesting practices, and even marketing methods in this illustrated guide. Readers have access to all the techniques that have proven to produce higher-quality crops on Coleman's own farm. His research and experimentation with more than 30 different crops will be valuable to small farmers, homesteaders, and experienced home gardeners who seek to expand their production seasons. An advocate for the revival of small-scale sustainable farming, Coleman provides a model for supplying fresh, locally grown produce during the winter season, even in climates where conventional wisdom says it "just can't be done."