Question
QUESTION: What determines what a produce item's season will be? Where I live we had a lot of rain and our strawberry season came and went early. Is there anything one can do to trick a specific species of fruit or vegetable to be in season all year? Maybe a biodome or high tech green house?

ANSWER: Are you by any chance in Oregon?
One determining factor in production is the weather (amount of sun, temperatures, day length), but a big one is also the species and variety. You can't get a summer bearing strawberry to produce all season. What you can do though, is to plant multiple varieties that bear at different times, including some everbearing ones that will bear once in the spring and then later in the summer.

The same is true for other species. Planting multiple varieties and succession planting of short-season vegetables will extend your season.

Not everything can be made to produce year-round, but here a greenhouse can make a difference. You can grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, salad greens and other plants year-round in a greenhouse, though the taste of some (tomatoes in particular) will not be as good. It will require heat, ventilation and light.

You can also get many plants to produce up to a month early simply by growing them under plastic tunnels, with or without artificial heat.

Elyse

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QUESTION: Actually quite the contrary. I'm from Buffalo, NY. I'd just like to cheaply produce the fruits with the highest levels of anti-oxidants like blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, etc. Is there anyway to completely fool those types of plants to fruit all year?

ANSWER: Sorry, I didn't understand. No, there is no way to get seasonal berries to produce all year. They can easily be frozen however.

Dried red beans are also high in antioxidants, so add those to your diet in winter. Potatoes are also good -I think Russets are the only ones studied so far, but I imagine the red and blue ones would be even higher. Also add spices to your food, such as cinnamon, ginger and hot pepper.

Try growing kale during the winter. I'm not sure how it ranks in antioxidants, but it's high in vitamins A and C, and full of minerals and protein - just an all around healthy food.

Elyse

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QUESTION: So what exactly determines a food's season? Why can't a green house or something be used to force them to fruit all the time?

Answer
Some plants need to go though a period of dormancy. Cane berries produce on second-year growth. Even if you grew them in a greenhouse, the new canes would have to mature before they begin to produce berries. They also require a certain number of "chilling hours", that is a specific number of hours below a set temperature (depends on species/variety). Each cane will produce one crop and then die. That's it, nothing you can do to change it.

Strawberries will bear from the same plant for a number of years, but then need to be replaced. Their production peaks in their third year, then wanes. They also need a certain number of chilling hours.

These berries also require pollination to set fruit. Pollinating insects are only around in the spring and summer, when the plants naturally flower.

Also, you state that you would like to "cheaply" produce these plants. You can't do that in a greenhouse. You are better off either growing enough to freeze your own, or finding a you-pick orchard somewhere and stocking up. Otherwise, just buy frozen organic berries during the winter. They will still contain the same amount of antioxidants.

Elyse