Winter Vegetables

For many of us, November signals the end of our vegetable gardening for the year. Frankly, I look forward to this time as it gives me the opportunity to focus on creating new recipes, baking bread, taking naps. Not that I don't take naps in the summer, it's just that I feel less guilty about it.

It really isn't difficult to extend your vegetable harvest to four seasons, particularly if you live in a milder winter climate. And if you live in a place like southern Florida, it is probably a better time to grow edibles. And before you say that gardeners living in the north just can't have edibles all year, let me say that you can. Sure the variety will be less, but many root crops and cole crops can be stored in ground (with the proper covering).

If you want to try growing winter vegetables and you are in a zone that has some form of winter, try thinking about it in terms of extending fall and starting spring early. In order to do that, you need to consider a few things:

• Type and Variety of Vegetables: This means broccoli, kale, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, rutabagas...but it also means choosing varieties of these veggies that are well suited for the cold. 
• Warm the Ground: In both seasons, a warmer ground means edibles will last longer and start sooner. Try using mulch, clear plastic, cold frames and row covers to cheat the weather. If you live in a very cold climate, try storing root vegetables in place with a layer of plastic and about a foot of straw mulch on top.
• Container Growing: Grow vegetables in containers that can be brought into the garage or under the eaves to reduce frost. 
• Greenhouse Growing: If you have a greenhouse, consider using seedling mats to keep plants warm instead of heating the whole thing. It will cost less and conserve energy. 
• Indoor Vegetable Growing: There are a number of systems available for growing edibles in winter. If you don't like the prepackaged variety, buy a set of shop lights and install full spectrum bulbs. Set aside a space in the house just for the veggies. Keep the light up close, the plants warm and the soil watered.

I would love to know other ways to extend the harvest...what ideas do you have?

Comments

[aimee]

i just brought my dwarf meyer lemon into the house next to the sunny window to keep it going here in oregon as we prepare for winter :)

[Gary]

Your readers with late season herb and vegetable gardens may well find that they will grow more than they can use, preserve or give to friends.

They may want to visit www.AmpleHarvest.org - a site that helps diminish hunger by enabling backyard gardeners to share their crops with
neighborhood food pantries.

The site is free both for the food pantries and the gardeners using it.

More than 1100 food pantries nationwide are already on it and more are signing up daily.

It includes preferred delivery times, driving instructions to the pantry as well as (in many cases) information about store bought items also
needed by the pantry (for after the growing season).

AmpleHarvest.org enables people to help their community by reaching into their back yard instead of their back pocket.

Lastly, if your reader's community has a food pantry, they should make sure the pantry registers on www.AmpleHarvest.org. Its free.

[TC]

I was at our monthly Master Gardener meeting the other night and we were discussing our January, 2010 MG winter "Going Green" seminar and the catering. I brought up the point about having as much fresh and local foods as we could get in order to show our guest speakers that we were conscious of the need to support our local farmers (and market growers). I was somewhat surprised to hear one of the attendees (a perspective MG) respond to my suggestion with a comment about fresh produce not being available in our region now (western PA). I plan on checking with the caterer to be sure they are aware of the fact that salad greens, and some cool season crops can be had in winter, if they're willing to find the closest CSA (we have several that are within 20 miles of the caterer's place of business).

[custom essay writing]

Quite interesting post, especially for me now, I have been looking for this information for the last week.

[Kirsten]

These are all great ideas. I've recently moved from a zone 8 where I easily grew food year round to a zone 3 so I've been looking for ways to extend my harvest. I was checking out Elliot Coleman's new book, The Winter Harvest Handbook, which I think would make a good resource for anyone interested in this topic (although he writes more for the commercial grower than the individual).

[TC]

This zone 5 northeastern gardener goes dormant during winter, just like the perennials in his garden. Perhaps in his younger days he might have extended the season, but he's no spring chicken anymore.