Category Archives: Winter gardening

Late Fall Square Foot Garden

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winter protectionI looked out the window this morning to see that we had our first hard frost.  Last night I was able to cover everything just in time to protect what I have growing.  This is at the lower end of the temperature spectrum that I can expect protection.  The floating row cover is good to about 27 or 28 degrees-which is just right for what we had.  Any colder and it will be time to add the plastic.  Or, if snow is expected you’ll want to cover with plastic because row cover can’t withstand any accumulation of snow.

Right now is a great time to dry out any leftover grass clipping and to collect bags of leaves.  If you make your own compost you’ll find that leaves and things coming out of your kitchen and yard will make the perfect blended compost for next years gardening needs.  I’ll bag up as many leaves as I can and then cover them with plastic to make sure no moisture gets in to them.  That way when I need to start using them when making compost in the spring I won’t have to work with matted, soggy leaves.  After sitting under plastic for the entire winter the leaves become very brittle and breakdown easily and quickly in the compost bin.  I’ll have to collect about 8 bags of leaves to take me through the next year.

I did learn a very important lesson about composting this year.  At one point in later summer I ran out of compost.  I had some that I was waiting to finish but it was taking a lot longer than I’m used to.  From start to finish I’ve been able to produce a quality compost in 6 weeks.  Seven at the most.  But this particular batch was taking upwards of 10 and it still isn’t that close to being done.  What did I do wrong?  I’ll talk about that in my next post.  Thanks for visiting.[ois skin=”1″]

 

 

Square foot garden-low tunnel class coming up

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square foot garden low tunnel for the winter monthsYou northern Utah gardeners-if you’re wanting to learn how to have a winter garden or one that gets going 6-8 weeks earlier in the spring, this class is for you. You bring the number of 1/2″ EMT pieces and I’ll bend them for you while you’re here.

These structures are rock solid, mobile, and are much less expensive than traditional greenhouses. You won’t have to worry about some of the problems with permanent greenhouses either-like excessive salt build up-because they’ll be taken down in the spring time. These are sun driven systems only. You won’t be needing any fancy heating or water systems.

If you are interested in attending please contact me. We will begin promptly at 10:00 A.M. and end at 10:30 A.M. No Utah time arrivals please!

Although you will see what my square foot gardens look like, there will be no SFG instruction at this class. Its specifically how to construct a low tunnel only. You can learn more about the class here.

Square foot garden for winter

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winter lettuce in the square foot gardenThis will be my second season growing this unbelievable lettuce for the winter.  It holds up well in the freeze/thaw cycles better than some of the others-as long as it doesn’t get too big.  In my experience the larger lettuce leaves turn into soup after 2 or 3 freeze and thaw cycles.  I think smaller lettuce leaves do much better than the larger ones in our zone(6B)during the winter months.

 

I’ve only got 3 more squares to plant for the winter, and those will be finished this week.  Everything else is the perfect size heading into mid-November.  There’s only about 3 more weeks of active growing before everything starts to slow down.  At that point even the smaller leaf crops almost hibernate until about the first of February, when they come back with a vengeance.  Either way, I like to get things going as fast as possible in late winter.  For those crops that are a little small right now-they will be the first up in the spring.  If you can plant in late-summer or early fall with the right crops you’ll be able to do the same thing in your square foot garden.  Or any garden for that matter.

 

For you visiting warm weather gardeners-you may not be interested in this variety of lettuce as its made to withstand more difficult weather-as the name implies.  You can learn more about this little lettuce gem here.  For you cold weather folks, you ought to consider this lettuce.  Sure, there’s other great tasting lettuces out there-and I do grow other varieties that I’ll share with you over time.  But you’ll not get a better performer than this for the winter garden.  If you’re too late to order and plant now, which you probably are, then keep it in mind for the late winter/early spring harvest.

 

Or even better, the holidays are around the corner.  My favorite gifts have always been certificates from the seed companies I advertise on my blog.  Why not take the stress out of the crazy holiday shopping season(unless you like that!)and buy your family/garden friends some seeds!  If you keep a close eye on my blog I’ll let you know when these companies are offering free shipping.  If you don’t want to wait for that you can buy anytime.  By the time you pay for a couple of seed packets and shipping, it will be about $12.  If you wait for free shipping, it might only be $7 for 2 packets.  That’s a pretty cheap gift-and one that will last for years!  Gardeners love to get great seeds.  And if one packet of lettuce can give you 500-750 heads, thats a pretty great gift[ois skin=”1″]

Square foot gardening-prepping for winter

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IMG_0050One month to go before the garden comes to a screeching halt! November 14-15 is the day us northern Utah gardeners dip below that magical 10 hours of daily sunlight. At that point everything almost goes into hibernation mode. I think I may have waited a little too long to plant some of my crops but we’ll see.

This weekend I’m hosting a low tunnel class. It’s short-only 30 minutes-but it will show the participants how to build a structure that will protect their gardens in the winter. Even if you don’t have a winter garden I think it’s a good idea to have it in place for the early spring garden. You will be the first in your neighborhood to start harvesting delicious salad greens and veggies. The cost of these tunnels are significantly less than the permanent, expensive, and costly structure we know as greenhouses. From start to finish the entire setup for my 4X16′ garden was slightly less than $100. And that will last me for several years. The only thing needing replacement is the most expensive item of the low tunnel-the plastic. Buy the UV protected 6-mil plastic. It will last at least 4 years if you take care of it. At least mine has. When I’m finished using it, I clean it off, roll it up, and place it in a location that gets no light. This will help preserve your plastic for as long as possible.

The picture is a crop called mache, or corn salad. It’s a weed that originally grew in the corn fields of Europe. Learn more about this crop here. The square foot gardening spacing for this is usually 16, but this particular variety says ‘thin to 4 inches.”  There’s a great picture of it fully grown on the left sidebar of my blog. It tastes a little different than the salad greens you’re used to but its a great crop to grow in the winter. And, it even germinates in the cold winter temperatures we experience. [ois skin=”1″]

My favorite cilantro variety

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calypso cilantroCilantro is one of those herbs you wish could stay around a little longer. It’s great for the cooler weather but bolts and goes to seed as soon as the weather warms. Is there a variety that goes deeper into the summer? Up until this year I had little success lengthening the harvest into the summer months. I had experience with this variety from Cooks Garden this spring and summer. It called calypso. Besides being delicious, it made it’s way fairly well into the summer months. It eventually went to seed but it lasted about an extra 6 weeks, which is significant for us.

After direct seeding it came up within a week, was easy to grow, and tasted absolutely delicious! I’m pretty sure I’ve now found my go-to cilantro. You can click on the Cooks Garden icon in the sidebar to learn more about it. It looks like there’s some other happy calypso fans as well-check out the customer reviews.

I was able to sneak some calypso in two squares of my square foot garden for the winter. It’s doing very well and I can’t wait to use it through the winter. Spacing for cilantro in the square foot gardening method is one plant per square. The other great thing about cilantro is that it’s virtually pest free. I’m trying to remember the first time I had any problem with bugs and nothing comes to mind. If you’re a warm weather gardener and you love cilantro, you should try this. If you’re a cool weather gardener and love cilantro try this for the flavor alone. You won’t be disappointed.[ois skin=”1″]