Category Archives: Winter gardening

For those who have no room for a garden-grow bags!

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I’ve been experimenting with these for the first time this year.  All I can say is: wow! They are just spectacular!  I tried one for potatoes in the spring because I didn’t have any room left in my square foot gardens.   I haven’t harvested those yet but I can tell you, it looks like its grown a massive amount.  I also grew on deck corn successfully-a special container variety from Burpee.

These grow bags come in many sizes.  The one pictured is 5 gallons.  I’m growing my brussel sprout plant in it and I think it’s going to do well.  I’m hoping it will.  Brussel sprouts can be a challenge around here with aphids in late spring and summer.  So, I’m now trying-again-to grow them in the cooler season and use floating row cover over it in a couple of weeks.

These grow bags are solid.  Because of the nifty side handles they can be moved wherever you want them. For folks who want to have a garden but have no room, these are perfect!  You could have several of them on the patio, move them around, and grow many different crops in them.  You can look at the different sizes and colors here.  Garden Supply is having a great year end summer blow out with items up to 80% off.  You might find some items you’ll use next spring at huge discounts.  Give it a look.

If you’re lucky and have a kale transplant around, plop it in one of these and place it next to your backdoor.  It will perfect for winter use and you can’t kill kale.  You won’t even have to cover it!    For those who took my winter harvest gardening class this morning, their floating row cover looks pretty good[ois skin=”3″]

New potatoes

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new potatoes 081816Today I decided to dig up all of my new potatoes in preparation to have my cold frame planted for fall/winter. I’ve been harvesting from the cold frame-functioning as storage for potatoes since spring-all summer long. This is what’s left and they’re just delicious. I’ve got 2 or three different kinds of potatoes-but the favorite around here is red pontiacs

My cold frame is as simple as you can get. Two by fours and a two by six placed directly on existing soil. I’ll place a $5 window that I bought from ReStore on top for protection. That’s it. The wood is leftovers that I’ve had for a long time. I did empty out several inches of the existing soil and filled it with homemade compost. Its performed perfectly. Because it’s not very big-2X6′-there’s not a lot that can be grown inside of it. I’ve planted 4 rows of late fall/early winter greens.

All star gourmet, rainbow swiss chard, spinach, and sweet repeat are all planted as of today. The timing should be perfect. The greens will be established and not too large so they’ll be able to survive the freezing temperatures without damage.

For those close by and interested, I’ll be teaching a winter low tunnel class next week. Details are listed here. It’s only 90 minutes long but you leave with the knowledge of how to build a tunnel, what plants to grow during this time, and when to plant them for a full harvest through the winter. It’s the easiest time to garden, and we talk about why in class[ois skin=”3″]

Winter spinach-square foot gardening style

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winter spinach in the square foot gardenI had a good friend of mine tell me many years ago that if your spinach plants are established by the beginning of winter you could cut them back to just above the crown and you’d be the first person in your neighborhood to have fresh spring or even late winter spinach.  He said you didn’t even need to cover them as the snow would act as an insulator during the winter months.

Well, he was right about the earliness part.  I’m pretty sure I had the first spinach harvest in the neighborhood.  That particular year I took his advice and cut everything back and didn’t worry about protecting any of it.

By the time spring rolled around it certainly grew.  However, it grew unevenly-the leaves were more crinkled than what they normally would have been.  The biggest difference, however, was in the taste, which could best be described as close to shoe leather.  I learned that advice wasn’t going to work for me.

From then on out, I did cut back the crop in late fall, but I then protected it.  The difference in appearance and most importantly-taste-was huge.  Gone was the crinkle and shoe leather.  Back was the smooth texture and sweetness of the spinach I’d been used to eating all spring.  This picture is what it looked like today after being under cover since November.  The variety is Space, and it’s my favorite variety of spinach to grow.  This is the time that I direct seed my spinach for the earliest spring harvest that I can get[ois skin=”1″]

Early square foot garden planting

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early spring planting of arugula and lettuceI know it’s probably way too early to start but I like to experiment on cheating the seasons. I’ve still got 2 layers of protection over my square foot garden main beds and feel pretty confident that I can get these two crops to germinate and grow.

I decided to give this an attempt because I looked at the weather report and saw low’s in the mid-20’s, highs in the upper-30’s to low-40’s and some sunshine. That should be good enough to start a few things. The real issue is bang-for-the buck.

This will successfully grow(hopefully)and be done in about 80 days. If I wait another 3 weeks and began planting lettuce then, it would be ready in 55-60 days. So, why start early? Because I’m bored. We hit the 10 hours of sunlight later this week which is another early sign that spring is close.

To learn more about the two crops planted click here and here. I love this variety of arugula. It’s milder than any I’ve had before, and it’e even more so when harvested in the baby stages.

By clicking on any of my Burpee links, you get free shipping for online orders of any size by entering “B1FA” into the promotion code box when checking out. Its a great time to start ordering your seeds[ois skin=”1″]

How to water your square foot garden in winter

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how to water your winter garden with snowNot too far away to start planting your spring gardens! Mine have been covered and protected since mid-November. As the main spigot has been turned off since then, I have no easy way to water during the winter. I know there are some that say it’s not necessary to water from November until mid-late February.

As a general rule that might be okay. My experience has been a little different. I have had years where I didn’t water any winter crops the better part of 3 months and things survived. But not very well. When I removed the protective covers and started to water them again, most things perked right up and started to grow immediately in early spring. There would be times when I looked at a crop, such as chard, and saw that it wasn’t doing very well and could benefit with some water. In previous years I wouldn’t add any and would wait until February. But now if a plant looks like it’s struggling, it’s going to get watered. And I noticed a dramatic difference. I’m happy to report that I think that’s true for everything under your protective coverings.

This picture shows my newest thought on how to water in winter. Roll back the covers and shovel some snow on top of everything! It works so well and your watering with something that is free-and very clean! Because the soil has remained warm, the snow melts in a matter of hours, but your plants get what they need. I’ve covered my entire garden with snow and it’s really amazing to see how much better the plants do with jus a little bit of attention. For those interested in this particular variety of spinach click here. It’s my favorite, it’s easy to grow, hasn’t had any pest/disease problems, and it’s always reliable. I get it from Burpee.

As a side note and a very good inside tip, if you’re interested in buying seeds from Burpee you can click any of the links on my page. If you add “B1FA” into the promotional code box its free shipping! Can’t beat that.[ois skin=”1″]