It was over 100°f yesterday and supposed to hit that mark again, today. So, of course, I am thinking about winter gardening!

Five years ago, I had a post on RMG on that subject - Winter Greens link.

I'm not sure if that was the final winter that I had beds of veggies but I said something in that thread that it was the 4th year to have them in the unheated, winter greenhouse. There has been a hiatus since, of a couple 3 winters. One winter may not quite count. I had peppers planted in there thru the summer, left them to mature a nice crop until severe outdoor cold took them out. No winter greens that time but nor, to decide again.

For me, it means a decision on when to sow seed for a crop of Asian greens to be transplanted to a greenhouse bed. It also means carrying out the heavy greenhouse benches so that the soil under them can be those winter beds.

Decisions, Decisions! But, what Eliot Coleman in his books called the “Persephone Period” is coming. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the Greek Goddess of the Harvest. Each year, Demeter allows winter to overtake the Earth when Persephone is with Hades, in the Underworld. Spring comes when Demeter daughter returns to the living world .

Coleman decided that this period begins when the hours of daylight fall below 10 hours each day. According to the NOAA Solar Calculator (LINK) that period for my home begins right about November 1st. (Just move the red pin to your location on the map, pick some dates to see when the last 10 hour day occurs in 2020.) Then, you can count back several weeks for a sowing date.

Here is Johnny's Seeds on what and when you can plant under cover for winter harvest (LINK). I have no idea why it's so limited. When I have done this type of growing/harvesting, Asian vegetables like bok choy have played an important and successful role.

Steve