Winter Growing

With just a little protection from the elements, you can keep harvesting fresh greens well into fall and winter. The trick is to choose frost-hardy crops that continue growing during the transition to colder weather and lower light levels, and to plant them early enough that they’re nearly mature by the time the day length drops below 10 hours. Here...

This month we're celebrating food independence--and giving away a great set of things to help you get there. We want YOU to extend the harvest using: our organic Winter Garden Seed Collection our Seed Starting Kit, which includes: a 50-cell tray a flat (no holes) a clear propagation dome to ensure uniform germination, a 6 quart bag of Vermont Compost...

Yellow Sweet Clover growing in the Trials field Planting cover crops is a powerful way to improve your soil. Cover crops perform a host of valuable functions like increasing soil organic matter, fixing nitrogen, breaking up compaction, suppressing weeds and preventing erosion. In this guide we’ll discuss your options for fall cover crops and the benefits of each, when and...

Regal Oak Lettuce Here at High Mowing we’re proud to offer an organic lettuce for almost every location, season and use. Whether it’s the middle of winter in Maine, a rainy spring in Oregon, a blistering Arizona summer, or even a trip to the International Space Station, we’ve got the lettuce to keep you in greens all year. In this...

When direct-seeding in the spring, it’s easy for your “eyes to get bigger than your stomach”. It takes only a few minutes to seed a row of cilantro 50 feet long, or pour all your arugula seed into one furrow. There’s another age-old saying that applies here – “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Regardless of what proverb...

Arbason F1 Greenhouse Tomatoes There’s no denying it: people across the country are jazzed about growing their own. But food self-sufficiency doesn’t have to be limited to the summer months, and taking advantage of the possibilities in fall, winter and spring can save a lot of money (and the resources needed to transport food from distant locales). The secret to...

Giving a child a garden is a wonderful way to spark interest in the natural world and offers built-in lessons in ecology and personal responsibility. And at the end of the day, it’s something beautiful and rewarding that they can take pride in, knowing that they did it themselves. Parents will appreciate having some time to get things done in...

In Vermont, most farmers’ markets start in May. This may seem late to those of you growing in warmer climes, and it is. What’s even more shocking is that at that time of year, there’s only just enough produce to even have a farmers market – you’ll find kale, salad greens, scallions, radishes, some overwintered roots and…not much else. Many...

Pumpkin seeds drying on screens in our hoophouse Here at High Mowing we are always on the lookout for new ways to produce more high-quality organic seed. The exciting news is - this year we found three! With the support of Whole Foods' Local Producer Loan Program, we're making great strides in increasing seed production on our farm. Our Tools...

It’s time to start forcing Belgian endives! If you missed it, check out our post from this spring, Winter’s White Gold: Planning Ahead for Belgian Endive Harvest. This previous post outlines the first part of the Belgian endive production cycle, specifically cultivation of the roots. Now we’ll talk about the second part of the production cycle, known as forcing, which...