Overwintering hardy crops
Append: I live in USDA zone 7 but there is information here applicable to most zones.
Overwintering hardy crops in the vegetable garden is a valuable season extender. Just like ornamental plants, crop plants can sometimes grow slowly or go dormant in the cold without dying off. Some veggies grow best in cool weather. One needs to grow them in the cool of spring, fall and sometimes even winter, in temperate areas to get a good result. These crops include things like spinach, lettuce, radishes, fava beans, garlic, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. It is also commonly held that some of these crops sweeten with the cold, that their starches convert to sugars.
So, I’m talking about 2, wait…3 things here…
One, planting in the fall, so growth can proceed right through winter and/or go dormant and then start up again with no further effort in spring. Some breeding are selecting for open pollinated arugula, collard and tatsoi that are especially cold tolerant.
I’ve long read that spinach can be planted in the fall for a very early spring harvest and have succeeded in doing so this year.
Fava beans (also known as broad beans), a member of the vetch family are sometimes planted in fall for an early spring crop. By my reading this is more a British tradition than American. There are certain varieties more suited for fall plantings. I have not yet done this myself.
It seems to be common knowledge that garlic should be planted in the fall to be harvested the following year.
Two, allowing the mature plant to remain in the garden as a means of storage rather than harvesting. I’ve read of this with carrots and parsnips.
Three, Winter Sowing.
Winter sowing is a deceptively simple concept. Many, many plants self seed or 'volunteer' or show up as unwanted weeds... it all depends on the context. The point is plants go to seed, the seeds hit the ground. They survive the winter and grow in the spring - robustly.
But...when left to Mother Nature, these volunteers show up willy nilly or perhaps not at all. Left to her, seeds may wash away, be overwhelmed by competition, or horror of horrors - be weeded away by the inexperienced gardener who doesn't recognize a cotyledon from a true leaf.
What to do, what to do? Take those same seeds and plant them in a miniature coldframe. Put it outside. Do this in the winter. Let them freeze. Let them thaw. Let them suffer the slings and arrows of the temperate climate. They will most often delay germination until spring rolls in. Then they will put on vigorous growth in a semi-protected environment. They will be easy to identify (if you labeled the container to start with). They won't wash away. They don't take up every horizontal surface in your home for weeks on end. They don't require artificial lighting.
Other fun things:
Flats can be started and placed outdoors throughout the winter. No need to concentrate your efforts in one rushed time period. Also, this gives the winter weary gardener a chance to play in the mud in the deep dark and depressing days of dark, dark, dark. Did I mention dark? Something about planting and having a real reason to go outdoors seems to lighten the dark.
Flats can be recycled from almost anything...carry out food containers, big plastic jars, pots and zip lock bags. As a new container with potential shows up, one can dig out a packet of seeds and have at it. No need for huge preparation or back aches from tedious duplication of precision planting. Just add dirt, water, drainage holes and seeds then take a little walk to the frozen garden. Leave it to powers that be. It will usually work.
Reference:
Ice-bred Arugula, Champion Collards, and a similarly developed variety of Land Race Tatsoi are sold by http://www.fedcoseeds.com/index.htm
http://www.wintersown.org/
Overwintering hardy crops in the vegetable garden is a valuable season extender. Just like ornamental plants, crop plants can sometimes grow slowly or go dormant in the cold without dying off. Some veggies grow best in cool weather. One needs to grow them in the cool of spring, fall and sometimes even winter, in temperate areas to get a good result. These crops include things like spinach, lettuce, radishes, fava beans, garlic, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. It is also commonly held that some of these crops sweeten with the cold, that their starches convert to sugars.
So, I’m talking about 2, wait…3 things here…
One, planting in the fall, so growth can proceed right through winter and/or go dormant and then start up again with no further effort in spring. Some breeding are selecting for open pollinated arugula, collard and tatsoi that are especially cold tolerant.
I’ve long read that spinach can be planted in the fall for a very early spring harvest and have succeeded in doing so this year.
Fava beans (also known as broad beans), a member of the vetch family are sometimes planted in fall for an early spring crop. By my reading this is more a British tradition than American. There are certain varieties more suited for fall plantings. I have not yet done this myself.
It seems to be common knowledge that garlic should be planted in the fall to be harvested the following year.
Two, allowing the mature plant to remain in the garden as a means of storage rather than harvesting. I’ve read of this with carrots and parsnips.
Three, Winter Sowing.
Winter sowing is a deceptively simple concept. Many, many plants self seed or 'volunteer' or show up as unwanted weeds... it all depends on the context. The point is plants go to seed, the seeds hit the ground. They survive the winter and grow in the spring - robustly.
But...when left to Mother Nature, these volunteers show up willy nilly or perhaps not at all. Left to her, seeds may wash away, be overwhelmed by competition, or horror of horrors - be weeded away by the inexperienced gardener who doesn't recognize a cotyledon from a true leaf.
What to do, what to do? Take those same seeds and plant them in a miniature coldframe. Put it outside. Do this in the winter. Let them freeze. Let them thaw. Let them suffer the slings and arrows of the temperate climate. They will most often delay germination until spring rolls in. Then they will put on vigorous growth in a semi-protected environment. They will be easy to identify (if you labeled the container to start with). They won't wash away. They don't take up every horizontal surface in your home for weeks on end. They don't require artificial lighting.
Other fun things:
Flats can be started and placed outdoors throughout the winter. No need to concentrate your efforts in one rushed time period. Also, this gives the winter weary gardener a chance to play in the mud in the deep dark and depressing days of dark, dark, dark. Did I mention dark? Something about planting and having a real reason to go outdoors seems to lighten the dark.
Flats can be recycled from almost anything...carry out food containers, big plastic jars, pots and zip lock bags. As a new container with potential shows up, one can dig out a packet of seeds and have at it. No need for huge preparation or back aches from tedious duplication of precision planting. Just add dirt, water, drainage holes and seeds then take a little walk to the frozen garden. Leave it to powers that be. It will usually work.
Reference:
Ice-bred Arugula, Champion Collards, and a similarly developed variety of Land Race Tatsoi are sold by http://www.fedcoseeds.com/index.htm
http://www.wintersown.org/