root vegetables and winter

[Oscgrr]

This may be a ridiculous question but here it goes: I heard somewhere, I can't remember where, that some root vegetables survive the winter and pick up where they left off in the spring. Is this true? Could I plant something in the late summer or early fall and it'll grow until it dies, or lays dormant, and come spring it'll sprout new leaves and resume growing? I know it's a stupid question but since I'm relatively new at gardening I'm excited to get a jump on next years planting.

This year, all my root veggies were a dissapointment. Some kind of grub ate all my radishes, and I planted a ton of radishes but harvested none. My carrots didn't stand a chance against the bunnies nibbling them down to the ground as soon as they poked thier leaves up and my beets were supposed to get to about three inches across and I was lucky if I got a dozen out of ninety that were an inch and a half across.

 

[digitS']

Most of these are biennial, Oscgrr. So, their growth next year should be flowering and setting seed.

Carrots cannot survive a winter here. There may be some orange root a few inches into the soil but the top of the carrot will rot as soon as it thaws in late winter. The same is true of beets. I am not sure about radishes.

But, what you are asking is whether you can sow seed and if the seedlings would survive and continue their growth until they can be harvested. I think that may work where winters are milder and shorter. All I can say is that I don't think that would be successful in zone 5 winters.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your zone is different than mine and some of the stuff I do is not always successful. I'll try to go through some of it.

Garlic does much better for me when planted in the fall. It overwinters well and resumes growing in the spring.

I can plant Chard and Kale in the fall and eat off it until frost. If I mulch it, they will usually survive the winter and start growing early spring. Surprisingly my Chard was more hardy than the Kale. I did not expect that. My kale did not make it through last winter but my chard did.

If I plant carrots and get them to proper size in time, I leave them in the ground, again mulching them heavily. I have also had some success covering them with sheets to protect against a frost. I think they get sweeter the longer they are in the ground. Some years I can eat on them as fresh carrots all winter. Some years they freeze out. As soon as they start to grow in the spring, they become worthless, turning woody and bitter.

I have much greater success with Leeks if I plant them in the fall and overwinter them as opposed to trying to sow the seeds in the spring. As always, protect them with mulch, though I'm not sure Leeks really need it that much.

I've had horrible experiences trying to grow celery here. It is a hard one for me. But I noticed that some I planted in the spring and just left alone overwintered on its own. I'm trying to get some seeds started now to see if I can have better luck starting it in the fall.

I've heard of other things people do but this is all I can think of that I have had any experience with. And I'll mention again the differences in our weather. Your winters will be colder and longer than mine. Hope this gives you some ideas. Good luck!

 

[vfem]

Your zone isn't cooperative with such thing as over wintering veggies as my climate is. Here we grow carrots, onions and garlic from fall until spring. :watering

But, with row covers, and some protection on your part you may be able to grow long after the season has ended, and maybe start early in the spring. You should research row covers, green houses and make shift grow boxes for your using. Covering a row of carrots with a plastic grow tunnel, may get them good to go until the end of December for you!

There is always a way!

I'm glad to see you so excited about gardening, that's exactly how I feel.

 

[Oscgrr]

Thanks for the replies. I thought my question might have been a dumb one. I think I remember where I heard that some vegetables benifit from being left over winter. I was told that if I plant onions from seed not to expect anything more than scalions the first year and that I can't pick them if I want onions the following year, but that makes sense since it's a bulb. I also seem to recall that some cooking show mentioned that parsnips that were "wintered" were sweeter because the cold caused the roots sugars to develope. I just wondered what if anything else might benefit from wintering. I also should've figured New England winters aren't hospitable to much of anything.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd suggest you talk to your county extension agent, in the phone book under county government, about this. That office should be able to tell you what can be done in your area. The subject might make a great question to whoever writes the local gardening column in your local paper. Or you can try to find someone local in the master gardener program. Your county extension agent may be able to help you locate someone. All gardening is local. I would imagine there are some things you can do. You really need to talk to someone knowledgable about your local conditions to find out what might work in your specific area. Then come back here and let us know how it went. We might get some good ideas from you.