With more and more people getting into farming and looking to extend the growing season, more buzz words around structures are being used. Of course, I got confused. So here's me explaining my definitions of the many different terms that are floating around the farming communities.
First there are cold frames and hot beds. These two structures are exactly the same thing (a raised bed with a cover). Hot beds have external heat sources included, whereas cold frames do not. The heat source can be some sort of electrical heating device or as simple as compost! (It's amazing how hot that compost can get!) Usually they are put on the south side of a structure with slanted coverings to capture as much sunlight as possible. A great material for the slanted coverings are recycle windows. Windows also offer a great way to ventilate if they open. The cold frame/hot bed structure is great to get seeds started during winter months. Keeps everything pretty warm and is supposedly easy to transplant. Great for hobbiest gardeners.
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| Cold frame or hot bed |
Hoop houses and greenhouses are more subjective terms, I think. A few people are toeing the line between the boundary of hoop house vs greenhouse, Eliot Coleman and his
Four Season farming for one example! My definition of hoop house is this: a structure set over the dirt that utilizes the natural forms of heat to extend the growing season. A greenhouse is a more permanent structure that utilizes external heat and energy to extend the growing season and is not set over the dirt. It moreso would host potted plants or seedlings as opposed to mature produce.
Some completely avoid the hoop house and greenhouse terms and use the low and high tunnel terms. Both of these structures are over dirt. The high tunnels are much more large (in the upper right of the Eliot Coleman picture. The low tunnels are usually over specific rows (towards the center of the picture). Eliot Coleman has greenhouses over dirt, but has them on runners so they are able to move from season to season or year to year (whichever you prefer). They usually have nice sprinkler systems set up, but I haven't done enough reading to know exactly what's happening inside of them. I have been to his daughter, Clara's farm in Silt, CO. The structures are pretty impressive! Hers were only to extend the growing season (so true hoop houses). Eliot does have his four season farming concept, though, so there can be more to them. I'm assuming he is trying to be as energy efficient as possible. Without energy efficiency, the four season farming concept is a little ridiculous. Of course you can grow food in a heated structure throughout the winter! It's on my list to read up on it, so the four season farming concept is a to-be-continued post.
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| Hoop houses and greenhouses of Eliot Coleman |
Another thing I wanted to mention, since the hoop houses are more plastic-like, was another use of plastic I've seen on my many trips to farms. Some farmers are using plastic as mulch. I get how valuable it is to keep the moisture on your seeds and seedlings, but the plastic-as-mulch method is a little ridiculous. Other alternatives like
woodchips and hay would be much better. And they would even throw in a little fertilizer as well! I'm assuming the plastic is more inexpensive, but sometimes money isn't everything!
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| Plastic as mulch - not cool. |
