The Winter Growing Challenge
20 Aug 2024 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursulas_alcoveYes, I signed up with SeedTime.us. Not everyone can do this. Some areas of the country have a frost line 8 ft below ground level. We don't. Our house water pipes are 2 ft below ground IF. The house even has exterior wall water pipes - uninsulated on two sides. The worst is along the west wall going into the kitchen. In the 1920s and 30s, the house had a cistern below ground and was fine. We do heat those pipes in winter on cold nights. You can't have a cold frame or greenhouse if the ground freezes that hard - down to 8 ft below ground. There is no way you can heat it unless you put it in a huge manure pile that gives off heat.
We've covered what to plant. That is pretty much based on Eliot Coleman's Winter Harvest Handbook. The second day of the webinar covered when to plant for fall and winter. Tonight was on where to plant, based on wind direction, sun, etc. In the hills that can be real important. What I learned is that your plants won't grow if there is less than 10 hours of sun. Effectively, winter growing has to happen before winter. Then you use your garden to overwinter the harvest like a big refrigerator. A row cover or possibly two for colder temperatures, keep the winter lettuce and spinach in good shape. You don't touch the plants until it warms up to freezing. Then you harvest for that week.
To find your dates for 10 hours of sun, visit timeanddate.com/sun My last day of 10 hours of daylight is November 13th. Then it picks up again around January 27th. During that time frame, all plants are dormant except maybe claytonia and mache. Knowing the "too little sunlight" date is another way of working backwards to determine when to plant each crop for winter. You add days-to-germination plus days-to-maturity plus 2 weeks for less light than in summer. Then subtract from November 13th. The SeedTime App does a lot of this for you so you don't have to calculate each crop.
Another thought is how much to plant. Knowing that there are a little over 9 weeks with no growth, how many salads do you want to eat each week? That's how much lettuce you should plant. I never thought of that before. I was just grateful to have any fresh produce in winter. I found it very important last year. The stores and farmers had planned for Thanksgiving. There was no lettuce at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It sucked.
Another thing is to plant varieties of plants bred specifically for winter, like Pink Hungarian Lettuce or Winter Density Lettuce. Giant Winter Spinach produces way more than Bloomfield Spinach. The seed catalog should give you this information. Like everything, climate change or just plain weather can throw a curve ball at you too. I put in a new bed just for winter in a shadeless area, south facing, and fenced. I just transplanted my leeks which are not fully grown yet. I also have carrots called Little Fingers, with a short growing season. I did toss in peas but am not sure I'll get an actual harvest from them. The time is too tight. Chard, lettuce and spinach are in the house in a grow tray. It'll hit 48 degrees tonight but will also head back up to 90 on Tuesday. That's rough on plants. I also planted flat parsley, dill and napa cabbage. The dill is outside and can always just grow in spring. Parsley has a long germination period. It may not work. Pennsic interferes with a lot of fall/winter crop plantings. If I wanted beets or brassicas, they should have been planted during Pennsic.
Honestly my goal is to have salad the week after Thanksgiving. I'll take what I can get. I also need to lower my weekly food bill. There have been too many problems as of late with getting what I need at the store. I went to three stores before I could find organic crackers. I think it's because 2024 wheat has not yet been processed and demand was too high. But it is little things like that that make you think.
We've covered what to plant. That is pretty much based on Eliot Coleman's Winter Harvest Handbook. The second day of the webinar covered when to plant for fall and winter. Tonight was on where to plant, based on wind direction, sun, etc. In the hills that can be real important. What I learned is that your plants won't grow if there is less than 10 hours of sun. Effectively, winter growing has to happen before winter. Then you use your garden to overwinter the harvest like a big refrigerator. A row cover or possibly two for colder temperatures, keep the winter lettuce and spinach in good shape. You don't touch the plants until it warms up to freezing. Then you harvest for that week.
To find your dates for 10 hours of sun, visit timeanddate.com/sun My last day of 10 hours of daylight is November 13th. Then it picks up again around January 27th. During that time frame, all plants are dormant except maybe claytonia and mache. Knowing the "too little sunlight" date is another way of working backwards to determine when to plant each crop for winter. You add days-to-germination plus days-to-maturity plus 2 weeks for less light than in summer. Then subtract from November 13th. The SeedTime App does a lot of this for you so you don't have to calculate each crop.
Another thought is how much to plant. Knowing that there are a little over 9 weeks with no growth, how many salads do you want to eat each week? That's how much lettuce you should plant. I never thought of that before. I was just grateful to have any fresh produce in winter. I found it very important last year. The stores and farmers had planned for Thanksgiving. There was no lettuce at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It sucked.
Another thing is to plant varieties of plants bred specifically for winter, like Pink Hungarian Lettuce or Winter Density Lettuce. Giant Winter Spinach produces way more than Bloomfield Spinach. The seed catalog should give you this information. Like everything, climate change or just plain weather can throw a curve ball at you too. I put in a new bed just for winter in a shadeless area, south facing, and fenced. I just transplanted my leeks which are not fully grown yet. I also have carrots called Little Fingers, with a short growing season. I did toss in peas but am not sure I'll get an actual harvest from them. The time is too tight. Chard, lettuce and spinach are in the house in a grow tray. It'll hit 48 degrees tonight but will also head back up to 90 on Tuesday. That's rough on plants. I also planted flat parsley, dill and napa cabbage. The dill is outside and can always just grow in spring. Parsley has a long germination period. It may not work. Pennsic interferes with a lot of fall/winter crop plantings. If I wanted beets or brassicas, they should have been planted during Pennsic.
Honestly my goal is to have salad the week after Thanksgiving. I'll take what I can get. I also need to lower my weekly food bill. There have been too many problems as of late with getting what I need at the store. I went to three stores before I could find organic crackers. I think it's because 2024 wheat has not yet been processed and demand was too high. But it is little things like that that make you think.
