let's talk about wintertime greens (REAL winter, like up north <g>)

[patandchickens]

Anyone have experience with this? I'd really like to try spinach, maybe something else. Never done it before. My thought is that perhaps in late Jan or early Feb I will start some seeds under lights in the basement, then after a few weeks I'd like to move them into the window of the (unheated but roughly 32 F) chicken building. Also I have a plastic-wrapped lean-to run on the S side of that building that I could potentially put plants in (with a chickenproof cover) if I could set things up so the plants didn't get too freezy at night. Maybe later in the winter.

So how cold can spinach take (nighttime, daytime) and still grow? Any other good wintertime greens you'd recommend, nothing too mustardy-tasting? What kind of setup do other people use for this?

TIA,

Pat, trying to pretend spring is coming, despite lack of actual evidence

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think the hardest part will be getting the seeds to come up, but if you start them with plenty of light and relatively warm temp in your basement, I don't see why they wouldn't do ok.

The next biggest difficulty would be hardening them off at the right time (so you don't scare them from growing, of course!).

But that said, I have had spinach and mixed greens survive into the 20's just fine (not for extended periods of time). I have noticed that the hardiest greens for me are some sort of endive (I think) . . . I should really try to id it, and mizuna. Mizuna is sort of dainty -- doesn't make for a huge salad.

In other news, I kept some romaine alive in a plastic covered greenhouse under 4 layers of row cover, while the outdoor temp dropped to 12 F. I think I kept it covered all day and night for at least a week! So I think with adequate protection you could probably grow a variety of lettuce and greens.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[me&thegals]

Pat--You're hilarious As I was stomping in snow shoes over my ice and snow encrusted garden today, I, too, was considering the distant possibility that spring will actually come again, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Two falls ago, I planted Bloomsdale longstanding spinach. The crazy stuff overwintered, got snowed on repeatedly last spring and grew to leaves as big as my head! So, either that was a fluke or it is absolutely hardy.

I find my heirloom lettuces and chard can take pretty intense (20s?) and longstanding cold before biting the dust. Strangely enough, it was my curly kales that bit the dust first. Maybe dinosaur kale would be bettter?

I've been hearing that broccoli raab is exceptionally cold tolerant and am excited to try it this spring. Hope this helps! Oh yeah--also my mizuna, arugula and mustard greens were VERY cold tolerant, took mulitple frosts and even snow before my husband accidently plowed them under--grrrrr.

Also, I'm experimenting with leaving my carrots and radishes in ground, under a dense cover of snow. I will let you know if they overwinter for a nice super-early spring crop. Parsnips are great for overwintering, too.

 

[Reinbeau]

You can sow spinach in the fall, it'll come up, but grow ever so slowly under poly tunnels - you can cover the poly tunnel with a layer of remay or a heavier frostproof layer. When it's too cold, it won't grow, but when it warms up a bit it will. Elliot Coleman did a talk on growing greens, carrots and beets throughout the winter, you may not get much of a harvest in January, but in late February you'll be eating fresh veggies. Your biggest problem will be mice and voles living within the tunnels, he had boxes that contained traps he had to clean out occasionally.