Fall & Winter Vegetable Planting Guide ??s

colin

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Hello friends

Fall and Winter gardening, although an old practice, is an excellent solution for keeping the tilth and fertility of your garden's soil at its peak levels. At the same time it yields crops of delicious vegetables throughout the fall and winter that cost a fraction of produce purchased in the supermarket. When it comes to vegetable and flower gardening, the climatic patterns of the lower elevation areas west of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Northwestern California, and British Columbia are quite suitable for Fall & Winter gardening. Winter low temperatures range from 35oF. to 45oF. with occasional cold continental arctic air outbreaks lowering it to +20oF. to 0oF. or so. The garden soil can freeze 3 or 4 inches deep for short periods, but the usual winters are not severe enough to damage carefully mulched winter vegetable plants.
Many southern areas of the U.S. are actually more suited to winter crops, while some northern regions have to rely on cold frames, hot beds, or greenhouses.
The key to successful winter gardening is knowing the average date of the first killing frost in your region (for example late October in the Pacific Northwest). You then plant your winter crops early enough to let them reach their full maturity before that killing frost. Local garden authorities can give you information about the timing of first frosts and the hardiness of various crops for your area. The planting suggestions in this booklet are based on a late October first freeze. If your killing frosts come earlier or later adjust accordingly.

Thanks for reading
 

digitS'

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Ed Hume has some fairly good seeds available for those of us in the PNW. I don't know if they are available elsewhere. His advice on fall and winter gardening is a little late for us to take advantage of now but it is good to cite where we can find the information:

http://www.humeseeds.com/falwint.htm

Ed used to be something of a TV personality but I haven't seen him in about 20 years.

Steve
 
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