So, here we're in the last gasp of warmth before the real cold starts. We're having fires in the evening and sunny, warm (but dry) days. Confession: I started this post three weeks ago. It's much chillier in the day now! I have been giving a lot of thought to what I'd like for this winter and I would love, love, love to have at least my own greens growing all winter long. I do have seedlings growing in the greenhouse and tall broad bean plants in the garden but they're already seeming to feel the bite of the cold. Why broad beans? They can tolerate some pretty significant drops in temperature. They're not as hardy as kale but they're decent. I may, however move them into the greenhouse or at least under the overhang of the greenhouse to keep them limping along. What else do we have growing for the winter? There's the kale and broccoli that survived the dreaded cabbage moth and is now truly spectacular. Beets And some stunning herbs, as well as seedlings coming up in the greenhouse. Those are collards, more kale, various Asian greens, corn salad, leeks, cabbage, and chard. Maybe there are others but I don't think so.
At this point, I will be ecstatic to have anything that overwinters well. I just love zipping out to the greenhouse or garden for a fresh bit of this or that. I think I'll have to consider hooping over some of the raised beds but maybe not this year. I might just have to make do with row cover. Though a hoop house inside the greenhouse and with row cover directly on the plants... that might be something to consider. If you'd like more winter gardening resources, I really enjoyed these pages: http://www.motherofahubbard.com/10-vegetables-more-cold-hardy-than-kale/ https://littlehouseontheurbanprairie.wordpress.com/ Now I don't know about you but here we re having a major drought. Summer came early and it came hard. I have raspberries ripening about two weeks ahead of schedule and lacking about two week's worth of flavour. Bummer. Everything's kind of like that this year too. So, here I am thinking about the fall and wanting to be sure I have an awesome garden that sustains us and I have no idea of how to go about that. Is it a warm El Niño year, or a cold one? I have no idea. Both seem to be written about. And if the season is two weeks (or more) ahead, will we have a longer growing season or an earlier winter? Yikes! So many decisions and as you all know, two weeks can mean the difference between life and death for a young plant. So, to that end, I've decided on a couple of courses of action. First of all, I'd always thought we were Zone 4 and truthfully, I'm sure we are some years. But largely we're just not. More like Zone 6 according to most of the hardiness charts. So, I'm going to garden as though we're Zone 5. I'm not just splitting the difference. I think if I go with the expectations that it will be a slightly harder, slightly earlier start to winter, likely the plants will survive. After all, it's better to have them a little mature at the start of winter, rather than too young. So, better to have it be all a bit more mature and harvest it sooner than have this happen too early: Though I confess, by the time it comes I will so be happy to see it! So, my plan is to use one of the garden planners to figure out what I need to be planting and when. Now, if you're super fancy, you could use this frost date finder along with this handy chart of temps that keep plants happy. While I am super fancy (of course) I'm also going to cheat and use something like this: Here's another one specifically for zone 5. Either way, it's definitely not too early to start thinking about which delicious things you'd like to eat over the winter fresh, from your own garden or greenhouse. And also think about ways to make that happen.
Not sure what I mean about that? Well, that will be a great topic for the next post, won't it? 'Night! |
AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
August 2017
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