We’re now reaping the benefits of this foresight. I started cutting them up and putting them in the dehydrator. We usually have more zucchini at our disposal than we can handle and that was the case this past summer, too.

I’m still intrigued and open minded on this matter. I would love to hear from other’s experience with dust mulching, though. I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea of dust mulching, because we live in an area that can get pretty windy and I don’t want my valuable topsoil blowing away. I’ve been a big mulcher in the past, mostly with grass clippings, though.

Steve Solomon is a big proponent of dust mulching. One big idea learned in this book is that capillary action within the soil will draw the water in from much further than I thought possible.Īnother idea discussed is mulching. In order to reduce or eliminate water usage, plant spacing is paramount. Not only is that bad for the plants, but it is also water intensive. I have this problem with always wanting to maximize value or return, and so I squeeze in as many plants as I can into a given space. Plant spacing has always been a problem for me in my gardening. I wanted to share the link with you and offer a few thoughts. To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website searching for more books written by Eliot Coleman and Steve Solomon, I came across this link to a copy of the book on Scribd. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter. This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France.

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you.

Eliot coleman 4 season harvest