Vegetable advice
Hello
I'm looking for a little advice on what vegetables I might plant now-ish that might grow through the winter to be ready for spring. My veg patch has done really well this summer but is now winding down, but I don't want to just leave it to the weeds between October and April.
Thanks in advance.
oh - I'm in the UK, eastern edge of the
I'm looking for a little advice on what vegetables I might plant now-ish that might grow through the winter to be ready for spring. My veg patch has done really well this summer but is now winding down, but I don't want to just leave it to the weeds between October and April.
Thanks in advance.
oh - I'm in the UK, eastern edge of the
If that's correct, there are some which will grow despite cold, if they have enough light; there are some which will do a little better under "cold covers," such as cold frames or unheated low tunnels (easily built at home) and a few which don't seem to mind either cold or snow and can even withstand freezing.
A very few grow until they "lose the light," at which point they sort of hibernate until the days get longer again; and a smaller group than that may well go on growing all winter long, especially if they have a bit of protection.
Is it something along that line you're wanting?
Mâche or corn salad will go on growing right through the winter and in France, at least, is the winter salad staple green (or so I read; I don't live there...) Mâche won't germinate while the weather or the ground is too warm for it.
You may be able to grow some lettuces for a while, especially if you can provide them some protection.
Spinach will grow through a lot of the autumn and part of the winter, picking up again in late winter or early spring; enjoy the leaves when they're tender and young rather than expecting them to get to be full size.
Parsley is quite happy in cold weather and even under a blanket of snow, but the seed takes forever to germinate and usually does best sown "in situ" rather than as a transplant, but you might want to have a cut at either transplanting (after starting indoors; you must keep the soil consistently moist) or direct-sowing.
Orach tolerates cold pretty well.
Arugula.
Claytonia/miner's lettuce.
Mizuna (Japanese green, with a sort of mustardy flavor.)
Kale, of course, is a good producer in cold weather; select a variety with its heart closer to the ground rather than a taller, plumier one.
Tatsoi. Bok choy.
Beetleaf / Swiss chard.
Early maturing radishes.
The Italian chicory called "dandelion" (this is "chicorium" something, not "taxacum" which is actual dandelions) or "Catalogna puntarelle."
Cavolo nero/nero di Toscana; dinosaur kale is a non-heading cabbage, actually, and not a true kale but folks here in the States with our continental climate and in some places quite cold and snowy winters, report that their dinosaur kale has held up right through snow and sub-freezing temperatures and remains delicious in soups and stews.
Collards can be mighty cold-tolerant.
Bunching onions (these are a perennial, but might need an earlier start at your latitude.)
Plant shallots.
Plant seed garlic.
Try potato onions or other perennial onions.
Fava/broad beans are happy as long as they don't freeze, and you can turn the plants under after you've harvested the last of the pods; some gardeners (like virginiadear) grow them as soil conditioners.
Peas, ditto.
If you already have seed, particularly if you have enough to experiment with and then still have enough for spring planting, why not try?
And you're quite right: you can plant or nature, abhorring a vacuum, will plant for you, usually weeds.
And if I've misunderstood and this wasn't what you were wanting, I do apologize!
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There are other crops which, planted in the middle of the summer, can be kept in the ground through the winter and dug as needed while the soil doesn't freeze (mulch heavily to prevent it freezing if necessary): carrots (by the way, if you have or can get seed for the little "Parisienne" carrots, about 1.25" in any direction when mature, they need only about 55 days to mature and are happy in heavy, clayey soils; so are the "Little Fingers" types, no more than five inches long at maturity); parsnips; turnips; rutabagas; salsify;...h'mm. Not sure about beets; under low tunnels they can be kept going quite late through the season but if they become hyper-developed they also become rather woody.
Late maturing cabbages are cool-weather crops and once harvested store well in a root cellar.
Brussels sprouts want a longer growing season, but handle cool weather and some frost just fine.
Check on-line for articles on "low tunnels," "hoop houses," or "cheniiles," which is what the French call them. American four-season farmer Eliot Coleman has several books devoted to this topic of four-season harvesting (and growing), and a couple of his books have the "Look Inside!" feature offered at Amazon-dot-com in the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Four%20Season%20Harvest
Low Tunnels:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/low-tunnels-quick-hoops-zmaz09onzraw.aspx
http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=844
http://point09acres.blogspot.com/2011/01/somewhere-between-hoop-house-and-low.html
What Coleman and some others recommend is a floating row cover of a non-woven material called, here, "Spunbond," just clearing or lightly resting on the tops of your crops, and then the plastic of the "low tunnel." They state that the double layer of protection is the equivalent, temperature-wise, of moving your garden one full cold-hardiness zone south.
The tunnels must be vented during the day to prevent heat building up, even on very cold days, and cooking your plants to death.
(Yes, obviously I'm a big fan of Mr. Coleman, and of Scott and Helen Nearing from whom he learned, he says, quite a lot.)
One more thing: you are going to be making a demand on the soil. If you're planting a lot of leafy greens, may I suggest you add some source of nitrogen to your soil, such as blood meal, or feather meal, or cottonseed meal or pasteurized, pelletized poultry litter?
Happy winter gardening!
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Thank you for all this help.
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Always interesting! How big is the veg patch at present?
"Thank you for all this help. "
You're welcome, such as it is.
The big challenge with starting veg at this time of year is the question of light: how intense, and how many hours per day.
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Yes, I imagine light will be the main limiting factor.
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Congratulations on your vegetable beds' productivity!
That's enough to dig out, especially if you're starting from turf. I have two slightly smaller ones which I must re-dig, and I'm not looking forward to it.
You're above the 50th parallel, anywhere in the United Kingdom. H'mm... Have you a cold frame?
You can try starting your seeds indoors under lights, but I expect you'll have to harden them off to outdoor conditions just to avoid transplant shock.
(This is all going to be easier next year, when you'll be able to start the cold weather harvest plants early enough to have them grown enough to harvest throughout the winter, those carrots and parsnips and rutabagas/swedes, and the turnips I forgot to mention, above.)
Oh---if this winter or in early spring, or next winter, if you do decide to employ the "unheated coldhouse" technique of low- or mid-tunnels, and if this is in your garden budget, although any plastic sheeting strong enough to do the job (6 mils thick) works, look for a plastic suited to this purpose which holds any condensation as a film, rather than droplets; it allows for a great deal more sunlight to pass through, nourish the plants, and warm the ground, and to reflect back to the ground heat normally lost from it at night. And remember that no matter what plastic you use, you have to ventilate these "tunnels" by day---even where you are.
Hr'rmm.... Now I have to see if I can find the name or type of that plastic film for you....
ETA: My error: it is not a particular plastic sheeting in and of itself, but it is a plastic sheeting with an applied coating which causes the condensation to form as a film rather than as droplets. Unless you have money to burn, the increased cost is not worth the very modest increase in benefits in terms of improved heat retention overnight.
Economically, your best bet is to use ordinary plastic sheeting 6 mils thick, without any UV protection for itself built in. You'll have to replace it every year, however, because of the UV-caused deterioration.
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You're welcome.
Am I? *muffles a chuckle of amusement* Only because it's a mutual interest, I think. Otherwise, I'd be dreadfully annoying, going on and on about something you'd far and away prefer not to hear.
Above, I mentioned that you're above the 50th parallel.
Although Coleman et alia are doing their four-season growing and harvesting (mostly four-season harvesting, as not a lot actually grows during the winter, spinach and mâche being two exceptions) around the 44th parallel, he and a small handful of others are convinced it's possible to pull this off as far north as the 60th degree of latitude. Bear in mind, however, that those prognostications might assume starting spring plants indoors under lights or outdoors in a protected environment such as low-tunnels or cold houses or cold frames; or doing overlapping succession planting using cold frames or low-tunnels, as well as planting cold-hardy plants.
I, at least, will be very interested in knowing how this goes for you, so I hope you'll post periodically throughout the winter.
Happy gardening!
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