doing a winter garden?

16 years ago

First please don't treat me as stupid for asking questions. I'm very much a novice with gardening, and yes I tried to grow stuff this year; this year and season was really my first real experience with growing things. I don't know all of the information others have accumulated with gardening via experience, because I don't have a ton of experience with gardening. If I need help with something I'll ask. I don't think it's stupid to ask advice about something you don't understand; I think it's stupid to attempt to do something by yourself that you have limited experience with.

Basically I have a few questions about winter gardening. It's something I'd like to attempt and I'd like to try the hot bed method, which is basically just covering the area you plan to grow your stuff with peat and manure. I know that I'd have to plant veggies now because seedlings aren't hardy like older plants are. This brings me to my first question which is do the plants have to be at full maturity for a winter garden to survive, or can they only be partially through their maturity provided their not seedlings?

Also I know that most cold weather stuff is hardy. However I know that even cold weather veggies have their limits and some cold weather vegetables are hardier than others. Basically what vegetables are candidates for winter gardening? The only stuff I know of that can be grown in the dead of winter (the colder the climate, the more the flavor improves) are collard greens, kale, and parsnips.

The only other things I know of are lettuce and pak choi (baby bok choy), and that's because I grew and harvested them in the spring. I didn't even know if they would germinate because the top layer of soil I planted them in became half frozen. However I don't even know if these could be grown in the winter, because when I sowed them it was late spring where I'm at (mid to late April).

Would it be feasible to grow root veggies in a winter garden since the edible part will be underground or not?

I know with winter gardening you have to have some type of covering to protect the veggies. I've done a little research and you can make such a thing by using old window frames. Unfortunately this isn't an option for me. Can anybody recommend something easy to construct that is cheap for the cost of materials?

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Comments (5)

pitimpinai
16 years ago
First of all, I would like to know if you live where the ground is frozen solid in winter. If so, I don't know of any vegetable that will not freeze unless grown in a greenhouse.

Collard greens, kale, and parsnips can be sown now for fall harvest because they prefer cool to cold weather, but will freeze in deep winter in zone 5.

On this forum, we sow seeds in winter then set the containers outside and wait for the seeds to germinate when the weather warms up a bit in early spring.
Some people do sow some seeds and grow them indoors or in a greenhouse, though.
Have you checked out the FAQ above? Please check out the FAQ first.

Welcome to the forum.
mnwsgal
16 years ago
I have heard of people covering carrots with a very thick mulch to prevent the ground from freezing until later in the winter but think the ground does eventually freeze. Also as snow accumulates it is harder to even get to those carrots.

Using a hot bed one can grow some veggies through part of the winter though don't know if you could do that all winter in your zone.

This forum says winter sowing but we aren't really growing our plants outside in the winter. We sow the seeds in the winter in containers, set them outside and wait for them to germinate in the spring.

Perhaps you will get some answers from the Four Season Vegetable Gardening forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Four Season Vegetable Gardening
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kqcrna
16 years ago
We plant seeds in containers in winter, outside. Nothing sprouts, nothing grows in winter in the north. Our seeds sprout in spring.

Maybe the guys on the soil forum could help you. I find them very helpful :-)
curt_grow
16 years ago
kawaiineko; I know of no plant that can grow where you live outdoors in the winter. there is not bright enough sun and of course it is to cold . Perhaps you could grow lettuce indoors by a window and with some extra light Pock choi can also be grown this way It will not grow as large as it would outside but it is still good eating. The u.p. is very cold brrrr.

Curt
kawaiineko_gardener
Original Author
16 years ago
Well essentially how far into the winter months would I be able to grow cool weather stuff? I live in Northern Michigan in the upper part of the lower peninsula.

Last year winter didn't really start to occur until around late november, and the weather was really strange.