[Gardening] Winter Gardens

[Wednesday]

green beans are dead now too, and same story in my MILs garden across the lake so i know its not me

the tomatoes are about 12 feet tall now lol, and no they are not special, i got em at Wal-mart of all places

im going to move some things around this fall, the climbers get their own boxes, i have never seen things grow so fast

lets do the berries in the spring, end of summer is going to be very busy for us, things should settle down around october

[mommy22]

As far as winter gardens go, I've got the following in the ground, and have started some containers for root veggies, like beets and carrots (I have really clay-y soil, and maybe ther'll do better in pots..I'll keep you posted. In the ground, I've just put in some broccoli, cabbage, broccali raab, spinach, and the last of the peas. I'll be putting kale, lamb's lettuce (also known as mache), and a variety or 2 of lettuce in containers for the deck. many of those are cut and come again, meaning that, unlike roots, they grow back and you get several cuttings out of the same plants. My Swiss Chard is still producing really well, and will continue through early winter (they actually love the frost!). I'll have a cold frame of some kind on my deck, so I don't have to trudge out to the garden on snowy days. oh yes...radishes like cool weather, and I've got a few rows of them in. Also, I started last week with the potatoes in a tote idea...we'll see what happens! There are tons of options for winter garding...just dont' hop for red, ripe tomatoes...that's for the summer!
I think that if someone can experiment with winter gardening, they should give it a try, even to see what does well in one's own particular land patch, be it 50 acres or a small patch in the backyard, like me. I've been impressed with what our little, 200 sq ft garden has produced. Nearly every meal has had something from the garden since late April...something green and alive. I think that storing up canned items and MREss are great, but to stay strong in times of problems, our bodies need enzymes and other things that only fresh produce can offer.

[kelee877]

Can anyone tell me..I have planted an indoor garden and have just replanted rom the nurseries and I have all of the trays in my basement and i have to floresunt(not spelled right) hanging over them..they seem to be doing really well down there..I have cabbage corn broccilli..romaine and potatoes..should I be using a special type of light..

[bobaloo]

A strong flourescent will be fine until the plants get to be 6-8 inches high. As the plants get bigger you need more light. If you're really planning on growing veggies indoors the two options are metal halide or high pressure sodium, both of which are specialty bulbs that require a ballast and a reflector to work.

A 400-watt bulb will light an area about 3' X 3' to 4' X 4', and you'll need to run it at least 12 hours per day. So... that's 5-6 KWh per day, or for most people in the ballpark of a buck a day, 30 bucks a month for electricity, YMMV.

I just have to wonder if you can grow enough veggies in that small of space to make it worth the electric cost, plus the $200-$300 cost of the light.

Lots of folks do this, just for higher value crops than veggies....(or so I hear).

[kelee877]

This one that I have just put togther is a trail and error sorta of garden to see what I can grow through the winter months..and we have about 8 of these going they from the fish aqauruims..we have 4 tanks in the house..my second oldest son is into fish..lol..he left the hamster stage and is into this now..so I took his spare sets of lights and used them for this garden...

[Wednesday]

kelee, that light will be fine

You can also start putting them outside to 'harden' them for a few hours of sunlight a day, I use a big tray to make them easier to move.

[kelee877]

ok I can do that they are all in the long white garden boxes and will rotate them each day..I am very fortunate my frint livingroom window is big and gets alot of sun..so I will bring up a couple each day and allow them to have regular sun and then rotate around..

[skyemoor]

We are designing our cold frames to be regular raised beds in the summer, with glazing removed. Anyone else doing this?

Anyone using automatic vent openers? I'm thinking of having long coldframes with three sets of windows each, with the middle one controlled by an auto vent opener (as they are $45 each). The two on the sides would be a little warmer, but the air from the middle one should circulate fairly easily as it will be one long compartment.

[mommy22]

OK...I'm bummed today. I had planted a bunch of cool weather items like broccali raab) in my garden, figuring they would produce for a while as the winter kicks in. I went outside and some little green worms had eaten every leaf, and also ate most of the stems. My potted plants are mostly OK...the lettuces seem to be doing very well, but some little bug is enjoying the spinach....grrrrr! I'll try the soapy water treatment tomorrow on that.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Oh, that bites, (pun intended)

I am putting in two more (for a total of five) tire planters. because they are raised it will keep them warmer and draw heat to them. I am going to plasticize them and see how they do. I am also going to go to the local farmers supply and see if I can find some electrified wire systems for keeping the ground inside them warmer.

I was going to see if I could find some old shower stall doors to build some cold frames but I think that's a bit beyond me this winter.

[Ludi]

We are designing our cold frames to be regular raised beds in the summer, with glazing removed. Anyone else doing this?

Anyone using automatic vent openers? I'm thinking of having long coldframes with three sets of windows each, with the middle one controlled by an auto vent opener (as they are $45 each). The two on the sides would be a little warmer, but the air from the middle one should circulate fairly easily as it will be one long compartment.

Eliot Coleman has some clever ideas about coldframes in "Four Season Harvest" - do you have that book?

[skyemoor]

Eliot Coleman has some clever ideas about coldframes in "Four Season Harvest" - do you have that book?

Yes, and I'm planning on treating the cold frames in a manner similar to raised beds from late spring through early fall (removing the glazing).

There will be times when we may not be around in every instance where the glazing needs to be raised in order to avoid high, withering temps, and I just didn't want to pay $48 for a vent opener for every single cold frame glazing window (of which there may 2 dozen or so). We often take a winter vacation, and sometimes, the weather can jump the 70s in December, which would result in 140F temps in the 'cold' frames, decimating the crop. Or we could forget just once to lower the cold frame windows, perhaps freezing the plants. Hence, we want to have an automated approach.

Here's what some look like;

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Does anyone know if when you are drying onions, is it ok if they are just really leathery or should they be brittle once dried??

[WisJim]

Does anyone know if when you are drying onions, is it ok if they are just really leathery or should they be brittle once dried??

I notice that some of the onions that we dry never seem to get crisp or brittle, but stay leathery. I aim for brittle, but settle for leathery. I think it might depend on the variety of onion, the season, and the part of the onion that the particular dried piece came from, as I sometimes notice both leathery and brittle on the same tray coming out of the dryer.
We store them in the French-style canning jars (the ones with a rubber gasket on a glass lid that is held to the jar with a wire hinge and a wire latch that can close the jar tightly with a good seal) that are sold as storage jars. We pick the jars up cheap at garage sales, sometimes replace the rubber gaskets, and use them to store the smaller amounts of dried food, seeds, etc.

[cestlavie]

Howdy all,

This year I've planted lots of stuff to hopefully last through the winter months. I planted blue hubbard squash and grey zucchini. My garden this year is 1/2 potatoes (my dad thinks I'm putting all my eggs in one basket), also have a large bed of squash, and a similar bed of zucchini with the rest devoted to corn, carrots etc. I'm ready to give lots my summer veggies to friends & family and hoping to store the carrots in sand in the fall, we'll see how that works out. If I dont grow enough then next year I'll just have to grow more. But at least its a learning year and I'll know just how much I need to grow.

Is anyone else looking around and thinking and acting this way? What are your experiences and what are you doing this year? Last year I didn't have anywhere near this sense of urgency or importance but now its hitting me. Is anyone else out there with the same mindset, of planting and getting ready getting ready for next years food storage? With the rising food and fuel prices never know what to expect for next year...

[Revi]

We have some stuff planted, but my garden isn't big enough to store much. With the rising price of food I think you are smart to grow some storeables. Hubbard squash are awesome things to have!

[Ludi]

Yes, I'm planting more sweet potatoes, turnips, and carrots. Also various beans to dry.

[eastbay]

Tonight for dinner we had zucchini from last fall and blueberries from last summer. We still have blackberries and tomato's from last summer too!

This year we're kicking up the volume a bit and will be cool-storing, canning, and freezing way more than last year. We have space to grow quite a bit more and next year we plan to plant and harvest at full volume.

The plan is to grow enough vegetables and fruit to wean ourselves from reliance on the local organic farm whose harvest we've shared starting last year. They're getting quite costly (next year we've already been warned will be very expensive!!) and the plan is to be on our own after this year.

[thylacine]

I spent some of the weekend digging up a few more square metres of our lawn so that I could put in potatoes. I ache all over, but it's looking good. At least, I think it looks good. Due to having a small backyard, we don't have room for much else out back - so the vege garden has gone out front. A few of the neighbours think it's odd ("are you Earth People?"). Once the potatoes are in I'll then have to find out how to combat the 28 spotted ladybird. That was quite revelation to me, I always thought that ladybirds were good, but not this one apparently!

[WisJim]

We eat mostly what we grow year-around, so we have already planted potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, etc., and of course garlic was planted last fall. We will do monthly plantings of carrots, cabbage, and cabbage family vegetables until Aug or Sept, and we grow lots of dry beans, too, and also 3 or 4 varieties of winter squash. We just finished most of last year's onion crop, and we are still eating potatoes and winter squash from last year's garden. We are eating Egyptian walking onions from the garden now, and eating last years carrots and apples yet, also. The spinach that self-seeded last fall has been big enough to eat for a couple of weeks, and the first planting of lettuce is big enough, too. We sometimes have carrots and potatoes from storage up until we are eating them fresh from the garden. And of course we have lots of dried, canned, and frozen food, too.