Category Archives: Winter gardening

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″]

Square foot gardening-the winter potato harvest

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winter stored and protected potatoesIt’s been a mighty cold winter so far! We’ve already had to deal with frozen water lines on New Years day. Talk about starting the year off on the right foot!

One of the things I can always rely on, no matter what the weather brings, is a good potato harvest from my square foot gardens. Under protective covers I’ve got somewhere in the area of 35-40 pounds of potatoes. This is plenty to get us through the winter. If I needed more to feed everyone I would just have to plant more at the right time. Each square of potatoes is further protected by a thick layer of fall leaves, which provide even more protection. The only work I have to do for harvesting them is to pull back the protective covers, locate the square of potatoes, and then dig in for the gold. Even with temperatures in the single digits(and lower at night)the dirt is loose. None of them have frozen because of the three layers of protection.

This year I experimented with several varieties of potatoes. I’ve always been partial to Red Pontiacs. The taste is unsurpassed. However, I’ve now discovered a few other varieties that are every bit as good, but they come in different colors. You can see the Red Pontiacs, but you’ll also see the yellow and purple potatoes. The taste is magnificent! I’ll certainly be planting more of these this year.

And this year is almost here for us northern U.S. gardeners. I’ll be harvesting what I have under protection for at least another month, when I’ll then begin planting anew. Get those seed catalogs out! Right now I’ve seen one variety of squash that I’ll be growing for the first time. I’ve always heard great things about it, so I’ll be trying it. Its an Italian squash called Tromboncino. Give it a look.[ois skin=”1″]

The Winter garden, part 3

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winter garden of goodies under the coversAnd that’s what underneath. Lots of snow with a lot still to come. Wish I would have planned a little better for the winter. I waited just a tad too long to plant because I was too busy growing for customers. I might have enough to take us through January but that might be about it. Since many of the seed catalogs have arrived I’ve begun to plan for the early spring. Nothing better than sitting inside in the dead of winter with a good seed catalog to look over.

This will be a very short post. I wanted to put something on before the big day got here. With that I wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I’ll be taking some time off until after the first of the year.[ois skin=”1″]

The Winter garden, part 2

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swept off winter gardenIt took me a while to broom things off. Thirteen inches of snow and about 15 minutes later I’m able to now get underneath the hoops of my low tunnel. I’ve learned another valuable lesson about hoop material. Bigger is better! In one of my garden beds I used 1/4″ PVC hoops that were spaced 3-1/2 feet apart. It worked fine when there was only 3-4 inches of snow on it. The amount from this last storm bent the PVC and collapsed it. There was one hoop of 1-1/2″ PVC that I used for the back of the box that held up perfectly and protected at least some of the winter crops. The area that collapsed weighed down everything under it and probably ruined much of my mizuna and lettuce. Because the last hoop remained in place there are some crops that made it through unharmed. But we’ve got a lot more snow coming. Sixteen to thirty inches are in the forecast between now and Christmas. I’m a big believer in low tunnels-they work very well when put together correctly-not using wimpy size PVC. Click here for a great crash course on constructing your own alow tunnel. Happy gardening? Well, maybe. But I still love it.[ois skin=”1″]

My square foot winter garden is here

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snow covered winter gardenCan you believe there’s a garden back there? That’s thirteen inches of snow my low tunnel endured! Wow! We had more snow yesterday than we did all of last year. I had several low tunnel/winter gardening classes at my home this fall. Several of the participants doubted that the hoops would be strong enough to withstand a serious snow storm. I assured them that it would and here’s the proof that it does.

Often times in northern Utah after a snow storm we get very cold night temperatures with the clear skies. I like to keep the snow on the hoops as an insulator for a couple of days until it warms up a bit. To do that I use a broom to sweep the snow off the top. Another thing about the snow is that it seals the tunnel completely along the base of the garden. Thats perfect for me because I don’t bury any of my coverings. I keep the material taut and then weigh everything down with 5 gallon bucket filled with water-which are now ice. These are certainly heavy enough to hold things in place. And this winter we’ve had 2 days of 50 and 70 MPH winds.

Tomorrow I’ll broom a portion of the snow off and lift the top up to harvest enough salad greens to last us for a few days. It’s easy to do because the protective covers have been pulled tight along the length of the hoops. Lettuce, spinach, mizuna, and carrots will be the choice this week. Spinach, claytonia, and chard next week. A different lettuce, minutina, beet greens, and tokyo bekana the week after. I wish I could tell you how fun it is to eat seasonally like this.[ois skin=”1″]