Tag Archives: kale

Prepping and planning for winter garden

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First week of September marks the time when I begin transitioning summer to fall and winter gardening. To make room I’ll need to pull up a few things like beans, kale, and maybe even a tomato plant or two, which really hurts!

I counted 16 different crops that I grow for winter. All do well in our freezing, snowy winters. As long you know how to put up a simple structure for protection and match the crop to the season anybody can enjoy the winter bounty. And, it’s so fun to do. The taste? It can only be described as awesome. Freezing temps turn starches to sugar so your carrots are delicious. The same for spinach and baby lettuces. Arugula is less spicy.

I’ve also mass planted several grow bags with lettuce varieties that will begin to be harvested in 40-45 days and will last until about the end of November, though I will have them under cover when the temperatures get to cold. I continue to discover great varieties that can’t be bought anywhere in the stores that have great taste. When those are done the salad greens planted today and through mid-October will all be ready. Those crops will last our family until about mid-March.

On October 25 I will sown a cold frame with lettuces. Lots of lettuces. That will be ready by the time all winter greens have been harvested-third of 4th week of March. That’s my rotation anyway.  

My square foot garden coming out of winter

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It’s about time to start planting some things directly into the garden now. This is a picture of what mine looks like under cover. The empty spaces have been the latest things that I’ve been having for lunches and salads, and even a few things for breakfast(baby arugula in scrambled eggs?) Some have been replanted, and some I’ll hold off on to put transplants in the next several days. I’ve still got a lot of good eating under there. Claytonia, spinach, cilantro, onions, carrots, lettuce, tokyo bekana,  bok choi, and some green onions.

Today I direct seeded kale, more spinach, french breakfast radish, and some turnips. With the exception of kale, these will be up quickly and harvested long before the summer garden gets here. 

A quick start for spring gardens

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I don’t have a soil block so I put together a homemade version. And it works perfectly. In 17 days, or sooner, these will be ready to plant right into my sun box. After about 10 days they go right into the garden, where they will grow very quickly. What the difference between a sun box and a cold frame? A lot. I’ll be teaching a class on how to have the earliest spring garden possible in zone 6.

Spring planting with vertical gardening in mind

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In years past I’ve planted my spring garden and put things wherever I wanted. When it became time to put in my summer vertical crops I often had to either wait for the existing squares to finish, which meant putting my tomatoes in a little late, or pull the plants which were in the square which hadn’t finished yet. For many years I’ve learned to put in the earliest crops where my vertical summer crops will grow.

What do you grow right now so your squares will be ready for summer vertical crops? All the cool weather crops: lettuce, spinach, chard, endive, kohlrabi, arugula, bok choi, mizuna, kale, even radicchio. etc. Radishes can go in later because they only take about 30 days. I know there will be 7 weeks until the summer crops go in, so this leaves me with time to grow all the things that love spring. Mel always taught to think one season ahead[ois skin=”1″]

Kale in the summer garden

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Kale is thought of as a cool weather crop, and it is. Kale wouldn’t normally do very well given our very, very hot summer temperatures we’ve experienced this summer. Aphid infestations are common in our geography this time of year, and it begins to not even look good. We’ve had a scorching summer: 95+ for over a month, with several days in the low 100’s.

I’ve kept this plant covered and watered it more than I normally would have. Its looks great and we’re almost getting ready to say good-bye to these high temperatures, which will make my job easier. The goal was to have great tasting kale in the summer and then have it last throughout the entire fall, where it gets sweeter after the first frost.

And for the local folks wanting to know what those kale plants I sold a couple of months ago should look like, this is it. This is the same crop you bought and it was planted on the same weekend you received yours. Keep it well watered and cooled down if you can, and you’ll be rewarded with a great tasting fall crop of kale.

In just a few weeks it’ll be time to planning a winter garden. I’m teaching a class on how to do just that. If you’re local and are interested in learning how to do it, click here for more information. I’ll probably only be doing one of these.[ois skin=”3″]