Gardening | Outdoor Survival Gear And Preparedness

How to Grow Your Garden In The Winter Most of us don’t associate gardening with the cold weather of wintertime. However, there are ways to continue growing produce in the winter! With this quick guide, you could be enjoying your home-grown goods in no time. There are 3 different ways to grow a garden in the wintertime. Plant a specific set of vegetables in the fall that will last through the winter and produce an amazing harvest in the early spring. Cover your plants with a makeshift garden bed cover to extend the gardening season by a month on both sides of the season. Use a full-sized greenhouse or plant some veggies that thrive when planted indoors. Many cold-loving plants actually taste sweeter and more flavorful if planted in late summer and harvested in winter. Although they may pause their growing process in the coldest months, with proper care, they will resume growing when the weather turns slightly warmer. And the produce just may be the best you’ve ever tried. Here is a really simple and cheap way to grow salad greens all through the winter: When Should I Plant My Winter Produce? There are three main answers to this question: You want to plant “short season” crops first so that they will be ready to harvest in the winter. Examples of this include greens, peas, parsley, kale, winter lettuce, and root vegetables such as carrots. You can plant these at the regular time as the rest of your summer garden, but you simply harvest them later. Next, when you harvest your summer crops, you will want to immediately plant “short season” crops which thrive and grow late in the season, in the vacancies left by the harvest of the summer crops. These crops will be harvested in a short 3-6 weeks before the weather drops too significantly. These crops include tendril peas, lettuce, turnip, arugula, and mustard greens. Third, you will want to plant slow-growing crops in late summer or early fall to grow throughout the winter. These plants will grow dormant as temperatures freeze, but with proper protection, they will continue growing when the temperature rises. These crops include cauliflower, garlic, and broccoli. What produce can I grow outside during the winter? Not all produce is suitable to plant in the winter. Spinach is the most popular plant to grow in cold weather. It can survive the climate with some simple frost-cloth draping (described next). The following plants are cold-loving and can thrive in cold weather: Arugula Asparagus Beets Broad Beans Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Carrots Collard Greens Endive Garlic Kale Kohlrabi Leaf lettuce Mache Mesclun Greens Mustard Onion Peas Radishes Scallion Spinach Swiss Chard Tatsoi Turnips (List adapted from empressofdirt.net) What Fruit Grows In The Winter? Your best bet for growing fruit in a freezing climate is pears. Pears have been shown to be the most resilient. Other crops that have the chance for doing well in freezing climates include Honeycrisp apples, cherry plums, apricots, and cherries. If the winters in your area are milder (as opposed to below freezing,) mandarin oranges, lemons, winter squash, kumquats, pomelos, avocados, passion fruit, guavas, and kiwis are most likely to thrive. Kiwis actually ripen during winter and spring and grow beautifully in winter. How Do I Keep The Plants From Freezing? Even cold-loving vegetables will not grow if they actually freeze. They will thrive in the cold weather as long as the soil does not freeze completely. To prevent freezing, try using raised beds with lids, insulated with straw to keep the soil from freezing. In addition, you can use frost cloths, polytunnels, and/or greenhouses to keep the soil from freezing. Frost cloths are a great idea for when you are anticipating a frost overnight. Simply drape the frost cloth over the plant containers one-two hours before sunset, but ensure that they are not touching the plants directly. What Is The Best Way To Grow Produce Inside During The Winter? If your climate tends to be especially frigid in winter, growing plants indoors is certainly an option. First, choose fruits and vegetables from the lists above of plants that can grow in winter. Don’t forget to add herbs--such as rosemary and juniper--to your indoor garden! Next, find good quality potting soil (instead of garden soil.) Choose containers with good drainage, with a size suitable to the particular plant you have chosen. Consider using supplemental lighting if you live in an area without much sunlight. Study germination phases for whichever plants you choose. Plant the seeds, keep near a window, use supplemental light, and water and prune often depending on the needs of the particular plant. Enjoy your winter gardening!