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If your listening to this show then you probably have a garden or have had one at one point and time. And for most of you gardeners summer is your primary gardening time. And for most of North America that's a good time to garden because it's relatively easy. Plants like to grow because day lengths are long and temperatures are warm.. at least for most of North America.

But what if you live in a part of North America, that doesn't fall under under the previously mentioned "most" category...

That's where my guest today, Market Gardener Brian Kowalski finds himself living in Newfoundland...

Summer as he describes it is something like this...

"May is still cold here, ground is just unfreezing, June is cool, average temp is around 4-5 Celsius (40F), but usually sunny with warm days (10-14C, 57F) but May and June night time temps are generally below 4C. July or August will be normal summer weather, 20-30 C, 85F with nights 12-15, 57F, but one them is usually pretty crappy grey foggy and damp with temperatures cool to warm. ...Septembers have usually been ok but there's a noticeable slow down of growth of course as the nights cool and the days shorten. So to answer your question, July or August. Lots of cold frames and row cover."

Living in Newfound weather is one challenge for Brian. He describes the climate as like farming in the shoulder season all summer, windy generally with occasional hurricane, cloudy.

Despite the challenges Brian has made a go of it and is a profitable market gardener. What he is doing is working.

Given that, the goal for this to take a look at how Brian is dealing with harsh conditions to help those of you who might not have such harsh conditions. Another use of this information is to take some of the techniques that Brian has to apply in the summer and apply them to the colder parts of your season, be in the spring or fall shoulder seasons, or the winters...

Listen to the ideas and techniques that he is using and think about how you can apply them to your situation even if your season and his don't match up.

And when it's cold and rainy in October, just be thankful that it isn't June, and you aren't trying to garden in the summer in Newfoundland.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/133

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Direct download: PVP133-2016.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 3:00am PST