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Vegetable Illustration

Season Extension
Strategies

Heighten your growing season with early and late production

Produce crops outside of their normal season to diversify your veggies selection

Being able to harvest fresh produce over a longer period is really a key to increasing your overall income. Boosting your product diversity over a longer period will definitely build your farm customer loyalty.

However, the integration of different season extension strategies combined with the challenges of lower temperatures and light availability can be difficult to cope with. Join this course to mitigate those challenges by understanding season extension principles and techniques.

Season Extension
Strategies

Format
Online Course
Price
$399 USD
Other currencies available at checkout
Produced in collaboration with
greenhouse tessier

Who is this course for?

  • Committed gardeners who need guidance to implement different strategies to harvest crops earlier and later than usual 
  • Market gardeners who want to extend their production season for additional income
  • Established producers who wish to stand out in markets and increase the diversity of your offer, resulting in increased customer loyalty.
Season Extension Strategies
Season Extension Strategies

Turn season extension to your advantage

  • Overcome challenges to extending the season
  • Learn strategies to spread the sales over a longer period of the year
  • Increase your production crops outside of their normal season to increase your sales season
  • Grow a loyal customer base by bringing a diversity of produce during the low season

Improve your skills to

Diversify
your offer

make
more profit

increase customer
loyalty

FEED YOUR
COMMUNITIES

Course features

This online course provides precise written and video instruction, to give you the exact methodology, tools and techniques needed to grow crops successfully in a context of heightened efficiency.

ENGAGING VIDEO TUTORIALS

DETAILED
TECHNICAL SHEETS

illustrated step
by step Ebook

Course content

0
Modules
0
Videos
0
TECH SHEETS
MODULE 1

Introduction to Season Extension Strategies

Introduction to Season Extension Strategies

In this video, you’ll get insights from JM Fortier’s 20+ years of experience as a successful market gardener. He’ll present you an overview of season extension challenges and strategies to overcome them.

Module content
MODULE 2

Caterpillar Tunnels

Caterpillar Tunnels

Caterpillar Tunnels are an impressive season extension strategy for their cost. In order to get the most value out of them, here you’ll discover how to build them securely and efficiently. JM demonstrates how to do so with the gothic and the standard types of caterpillar tunnels.

Module content
MODULE 3

Small and Micro Tunnel

Small and Micro Tunnel

Small and Micro tunnels are low-cost, easy and quick to build solutions to season extension. They cover 1 or 2 beds and they are very mobile. Small and very small farms will love it!

Module content
MODULE 4

Row Covers and Tarps

Row Covers and Tarps

Those equipment are simple solution that are really affordable. Discover how row covers are the most adaptive season extension strategy. The module also gives useful insights on how to use black tarps and clear plastic to get early plantings during spring.

Module content
MODULE 5

Shelter Management

Shelter Management

In this module, you’ll understand how to manage those different crop sheltering strategies.  A comparative chart of each shelter will help to give you an overview of the different crop shelters and to better understand which solution is the best for you.

Module content
MODULE 6

Spinach

Spinach - season extension

Spinach is such an amazing crop for season extension because it can withstand heavy frosts. They also provide fresh greens during the shoulder and low seasons. Spinach offers a nice yield even in low temperatures, which makes it a profitable season extension crop.

Module content
MODULE 7

Dill & Coriander

Coriander season extension

With these two, you’ll be able to offer herbs to your customers when the temperature is getting low. Even if you are out of the high season, doesn’t mean you can’t add nice flavor and perfume to your offering!

Module content
MODULE 8

Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard

Pushing swiss chard further into the season is a great way to have both fresh and colorful greens. Once they are established, they are pretty resistant to cold temperatures. Your clients will love those nutritious bunches of colorful stems and leaves! As swiss chard is susceptible to boron deficiencies, we added a boron application chart so you have beautiful harvests.

Module content
MODULE 9

Green Onions

Green Onions season extension

Green onions are a very nice season extension crop. First, because they are very cold tolerant, but also because they are quite fast to grow. In addition, they allow you to have a crop from the onion family very soon  and late in the season. All this makes this crop a profitable one to add to your offering.

Module content
MODULE 10

Celery (Cut-and-Come-Again)

Celery (Cut-and-Come-Again)

 If they are well protected, Celeries can be a constant and high-yielding crop during the whole season. The season extension strategies combined with the cut-and-come-again technique will help you to harvest them very early and late in the season. Fresh celery is a common crop that a lot of people eat raw or cooked.

Module content
Season Extension Strategies

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Not sure the course is suitable for your needs? You have the chance to engage with a segment of the course to verify if the teaching method matches your learning style.

Praise from the Market Gardener Institute students

Meet the teacher

Jean-Martin Fortier

Farmer, educator and award-winning author

For over twenty years, Jean-Martin(JM) Fortier has been writing, teaching, and speaking publicly to raise awareness about the critical importance of human-scale regenerative agriculture to the development of sustainable and resilient food systems.

His best-selling book The Market Gardener (200,000+ copies sold) has established him since 2012 as a recognized expert on small-scale, bio-intensive vegetable production. JM’s methods, such as permanent bed systems, biointensive growing principles, and soil conservation techniques, have allowed him and his wife to make a good living from a small organic vegetable farm.

His current mission is to pass on this knowledge to thousands of farmers through his work at the Market Gardener Institute.

Meet Our Partner

Resistant equipments adapted to different climates

Tessier is a 40 years of experience manufacturer and installer of greenhouses and caterpillar tunnels. Renowned for their solid and high-quality products, Tessier’s experts are particularly appreciated for their guidance role throughout every project. From greenhouse structures to retractable-roof systems, adjustable grow tables, ventilation and plastic films, Tessier ensures every product has been designed for your needs.

greenhouse tessier

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

The course comes with a 100% Money Back Guarantee for 14 days after the date of enrollment.
We understand that our program is a serious investment for a small-scale farmer, and we expect you to do your due diligence before purchasing our program to be certain that it is the right step for you. We cannot guarantee that taking our course is the right decision for you personally or financially.

If you sincerely engage with the course and don’t get the value or feel your learning style doesn’t match how we teach, we’ll happily refund the money you’ve paid us, given that you tell us exactly why it didn’t work for you within the 14 day period.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tell me more about the course
What will I learn?

The Season Extension Strategies course discusses different methods of extending your harvest season in the field. Using simple and inexpensive solutions that are within everyone's reach, the course reveals how to build and use crop shelters. From the caterpillar tunnel to the floating cover, to the small and micro tunnel, you will be able to grow fresh vegetables early and late in the season. We also provide you with the technical itineraries of 5 crops that lend themselves very well to season extension.

What is included in this course?

 This course allows you to master the methodology, tools, and techniques to successfully grow field crops early and late in the season, all adapted to the context of regenerative micro-farming. Each module includes video tutorials and downloadable technical sheets. Each video tutorial and technical sheet will give you in-depth step-by-step, yet straightforward instructions covering every stage of production, from seed to storage. 

 

Each crop technical sheet will give you : 

  • Crop info and the best cultivars to grow
  • Crop planning guidelines
  • Starting seeds
  • Spacing requirements 
  • Fertilization recommendation
  • Irrigation type and management
  • Implantation equipment and detailed itinerary
  • Weeding and maintenance instructions
  • Plant protection best practices
  • Best harvesting techniques 
  • Conditioning and storage instructions 

What is the difference between this course and the Masterclass?

Our course is a technical program focused on season extension strategies. This does not cover working with living soil, whole season crop planning, field irrigation, in-depth tools instructions, cover crops, in-depth pest management, in-depth washing and conditioning techniques and tools, winter growing, and technical itineraries for about 40 crops. Please note that all of the content for this course is available in our signature Market Gardener Masterclass. If you want to start your learning journey with the Season Extension Strategies course, you get a 15% discount on the Masterclass if you want to take your knowledge further!

Where do the courses take place?

Everything is online — no travel is required. You can go through the training at your own pace. Of course, the real test is in how you apply this education to your own farm or market garden.

How much time do I need to commit?

The course requires approximately 5 hours to complete if done linearly. The real-time investment will be in implementing your learning in your farm project.

When are the registration periods?

All our on-demand courses are accessible anytime.

Which devices can I use to access the program?

After registering for the program, you will be prompted to create a user profile for accessing the training platform. You will then be able to take the course on any device connected to the Internet. Please note that you can only access our courses from one device at a time, whether it’s your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.

In which languages do you offer the program?

Our on demand courses are offered in English and French. All documents and text are offered in the language of your initial purchase. French speakers, please note that most of our videos are in English with French subtitles.

Does it replace practical experience?

No. Our courses are designed to help people with real-life farming and gardening experience take their operations to the next professional level. Some of our students are just starting out, while others have a few growing seasons under their belts; some have been farming for decades — most have said that using our program has made a big difference in their business’s success.

Other questions?
I don’t have a farm yet, but I want one! Should I sign up?

Our program is designed as a comprehensive and evolving media library covering a wide range of aspects of successful market gardening. We believe that registering for our programs and studying their contents can provide a helpful head start in organizing and planning your farm. If you will be applying the methods we teach in the near future, you should definitely sign up. Access to the course materials does not expire, so when you have access to land, you’ll be able to use the course as a companion and guide. If your farm dream is a little more distant, and you’re at the stage of simply being curious about what it takes to get into small-scale regenerative farming, we suggest you take the introductory course Introduction to Market Gardening first.

Will the methods work in my climate?

Every situation is different, including climate, terrain, soil, markets, and more. While our methods are designed for vegetable production in temperate climates, from Mongolia to Argentina, we have students successfully applying our methods all over the world. Being a great farmer, knowing your crops thoroughly, and optimizing your production to be more efficient applies everywhere on the planet.

What payment methods are accepted?

We accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. 

What if I have more questions?

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always happy to help you.

Fees AND GUARANTEE
Do you offer a guarantee?

All courses come with a 100% Money Back Guarantee for 14 days after the date of enrollment.

We understand that our program is a serious investment for a small-scale farmer, and we expect you to do your due diligence before purchasing our program to be certain that it is the right step for you. We cannot guarantee that taking our course is the right decision for you personally or financially.

If you sincerely engage with the course and don’t get the value or feel your learning style doesn’t match how we teach, we’ll happily refund the money you’ve paid us, given that you tell us exactly why it didn’t work for you within the 14 day period.

What payment methods are accepted?

We accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. For full payments of our Masterclass program ($1997 USD/1800€), we also accept PayPal. We are currently unable to accept checks or invoices.

How does the two-installment plan work?

This payment plan consists of three payments, exactly one month apart, on the same credit card through Stripe, our payment processing system. Please note that each payment must be made on the same card and that PayPal does not offer an installment plan option.

What if I have more questions?

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always happy to help you.

Get Inspired!

Download our free e-book Small Farms Feed The World and get inspired by the stories and experiences of market gardeners around the world.