Greetings from Farm to YoU NH’s Fall 2020 class! This semester will certainly be unique, but we are excited to jump right into the growing season.

Right before the pandemic, the Spring 2020 class had planted lettuce into the tunnels. This crop was harvested and brought to the dining halls.

When UNH closed, the high tunnels were unfortunately forced to halt production due to the pandemic. During this period, the eight year old plastic coverings of the tunnels were removed. Since our two high tunnels have been uncovered, there are no active crops being grown at the moment.

A cover crop mix was grown, chopped down, and is now returning nutrients back to the soil through decomposition. The cover crops varieties grown were guar, cow peas, sudan grass and canola. 

The next step in this process is to make some upgrades to the high tunnel frames and then recover them with new plastic! After this is completed, the dead vegetation will be removed and raised beds will be formed for our fall and winter crops to be sown into. As dining hall needs are changing due to the pandemic, we will be shifting the majority of our fall production to cold hardy leafy greens. Some crops we will be growing in the unheated high tunnel are carrots, kale, spinach, and chard and more cold intolerant salad mix and head lettuces will be grown in the heated high tunnel.