My gardening zone is 5 and I live in northern Michigan, in the upper part of the lower peninsula.
I'm just wondering what can be grown in early spring, this is in regards to vegetable gardening. I would be container gardening, so not being able to plant in the ground due to frozen soil, doesn't apply to me. When I say 'early spring' I basically mean early to mid April until when the main growing season starts where I live; for me this is at the end of May, about 29-30th.
I have a some questions about it. A planting chart was given to me. Now the chart isn't for the state I live in, but the gardening zones that the planting guidelines give in the chart (zones 5-6)
fall under my gardening zone which is 5. Basically what I'm asking is although it's for a different state, could I use it as my planting guidelines for spring planting and growing cold weather crops?
People have also suggested that I need to prevent my soil from becoming frozen, which I do by insulating the containers and overwintering my containers. However how do you overwinter a container? I tried to do research on this, but all I found was info on overwintering containers for planting trees, nothing for vegetable gardening.
People have told me that it's possible to grow stuff in containers in early spring if I were to insulate the containers and/or use row covers to warm the containers and boost the temperatures.
However which is the best way to insulate the containers? Should I just wrap them in black mulch (on the outside of the container) or should I cover them with row covers? Or should I use a combination of both black mulch and row covers, or would this overheat the plants? By black mulch, I mean the black 'paper' that is used for gardening that you use to warm the soil.
Below is the link for the chart for reference:
http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/...anting-schedule
Another question I have about the chart, is with the cold weather crops and the planting dates given, it doesn't specify whether from direct seeding, or from transplants. With the planting dates given for the cold weather crops, could I just direct sow from seed outdoors?
The other question I had is that I know all cold weather stuff likes to be grown in cold weather, and it's when it grows best; however I know that some cold weather vegetables are hardier than other cold weather vegetables. The two questions I have in regards to this are these; some cold weather veggies are considered hardy.
What is the temperature range they can stand? That is what is the lowest temperature range that they can survive (and by 'survive' I mean that they will still be healthy after enduring it, not just struggling to survive and/or dying). I'd also like to know which of the veggies listed below are considered very hardy and which are considered more 'tender' that is they're still hardy but can't survive temperatures as low as the 'very hardy' vegetables. All of this is in reference to cold weather stuff.
I would REALLY appreciate clarification and information regarding the hardiness of cold weather veggies! This would be greatly appreciated!
carrots, kohlrabi, beets, turnips, cabbage (red and green), broccoli, lettuce, spinach, collards, kale
mustard greens, kale, collards, daikon (which is a large white Asian radish), red radish, swiss chard
I'm just wondering what can be grown in early spring, this is in regards to vegetable gardening. I would be container gardening, so not being able to plant in the ground due to frozen soil, doesn't apply to me. When I say 'early spring' I basically mean early to mid April until when the main growing season starts where I live; for me this is at the end of May, about 29-30th.
I have a some questions about it. A planting chart was given to me. Now the chart isn't for the state I live in, but the gardening zones that the planting guidelines give in the chart (zones 5-6)
fall under my gardening zone which is 5. Basically what I'm asking is although it's for a different state, could I use it as my planting guidelines for spring planting and growing cold weather crops?
People have also suggested that I need to prevent my soil from becoming frozen, which I do by insulating the containers and overwintering my containers. However how do you overwinter a container? I tried to do research on this, but all I found was info on overwintering containers for planting trees, nothing for vegetable gardening.
People have told me that it's possible to grow stuff in containers in early spring if I were to insulate the containers and/or use row covers to warm the containers and boost the temperatures.
However which is the best way to insulate the containers? Should I just wrap them in black mulch (on the outside of the container) or should I cover them with row covers? Or should I use a combination of both black mulch and row covers, or would this overheat the plants? By black mulch, I mean the black 'paper' that is used for gardening that you use to warm the soil.
Below is the link for the chart for reference:
http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/...anting-schedule
Another question I have about the chart, is with the cold weather crops and the planting dates given, it doesn't specify whether from direct seeding, or from transplants. With the planting dates given for the cold weather crops, could I just direct sow from seed outdoors?
The other question I had is that I know all cold weather stuff likes to be grown in cold weather, and it's when it grows best; however I know that some cold weather vegetables are hardier than other cold weather vegetables. The two questions I have in regards to this are these; some cold weather veggies are considered hardy.
What is the temperature range they can stand? That is what is the lowest temperature range that they can survive (and by 'survive' I mean that they will still be healthy after enduring it, not just struggling to survive and/or dying). I'd also like to know which of the veggies listed below are considered very hardy and which are considered more 'tender' that is they're still hardy but can't survive temperatures as low as the 'very hardy' vegetables. All of this is in reference to cold weather stuff.
I would REALLY appreciate clarification and information regarding the hardiness of cold weather veggies! This would be greatly appreciated!
carrots, kohlrabi, beets, turnips, cabbage (red and green), broccoli, lettuce, spinach, collards, kale
mustard greens, kale, collards, daikon (which is a large white Asian radish), red radish, swiss chard