winter garden

[chicken stalker]

I would like to plant a winter garden but I have no clue what I could plant. I live in Zone 4 in New York State...am I to late to get started. Any advise? Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

County extension agent, local library, your local Master Gardener Program, local people who garden can all give you advice specific to your area. This thread discusses it some.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26459

 

[lesa]

Hi there! I am in zone 4, as well. I would say the only way we can have any kind of "winter garden" is with some kind of cold frame system. It is quite possible we would have our first frost in September, so that does not give you much time. You could try to plant lettuce and radish, right now. You would have time to harvest them. You can plant garlic in a month, for spring harvest...I am about to plant hops- but again, they will die back in a month and come back for spring... Enjoy- and think spring!

 

[kathyschix]

Hello,

I just finished reading Eliot Coleman's "The Winter Harvest Handbook" and can't recommend it highly enough!!! I got it from the library.

His farm is in Maine and I was just amazed at their winter harvest. I am anxious to try (on a much smaller scale of course!) some things around here.

Regards,

Kathy

 

[davaroo]

Unlike where I live in zone 8, the winter in zone 4 is a killing one. There are no garden vegetables I can think of that can be planted out of doors and withstand the hard freezes found way north. We're talking freezes that turn water to ice, and so destroy the tissues of the plants. The ground water around their roots freezes solid as well, destroying them. This isn't about light frosts or cold snaps - this is killing weather. Some garden plants can overwinter in the ground to regrow in spring, but they are not in their useful state then.

What is needed is hard protection from winters freezing in both the plant tissues and the ground itself, and plants that do best in cool conditions (although that is flexible depending on how much heat you wish to input). The goal is to heat the soil and air so as to maintain growing temperatures. The wind and snows can howl outside as long as you artificially maintain these conditions inside.
My uncle in MN has done if for years, in an attached, south facing greenhouse.

So, as suggested, we are talking hard protection in the form of cloches, cold frames and greenhouses. With the smaller enclosures, some sort of soil warming technique will be a real help. These structures don't hold much daytime heat due to their small air volume, so they quickly freeze up at night in hard winter conditions. Heating cables, warm water piping or manure heating are what is wanted with these.

Larger greenhouses have better thermal buffering abilities, and so soil heating systems can possibly be dispensed with - although it would still be beneficial to have them...

Plant selection is important too. Cool weather crops are the primary choice here. Carrots, brassicas, lettuces, mustards and so on are best suited for this. Heat lovers, such as tomatoes, can be greenhouse grown, if you select one of the early varieties and give supplemental heat - in other words create a hot house for them.

As you might guess, it isn't easy to do this well. There is a good bit of pre-planning that goes into it and some costs associated with it - both in time and money.
But anyone who does it well says it is worth it. Do your homework and know what you are doing before you jump in and I reckon you should be alright.

 

[Rence]

My great-grandparents used to cover spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli raab and brussel sprouts with sheets overnight to protect from frost. He told my grandmother that a lot of winter vegetables can handle the cold down to the 20s or 30s but not the frost. So if you cover them with something, the frost will go on the cover, and the vegetables will not frost.

You can also use hoops and covers for your rows.

Now, I have no clue if that all works or not. I live in a warmer zone now, and I bought row covers. So we'll see if that all works.

We should start some kind of journal system for winter gardening by zone or something. I wonder if the mods can do that. Or if anyone is blogging their winter gardening adventures, PM my your URL and I'll look you all up I certainly find it easier to journal online, or at least on my computer, because I lose book journals left and right :/

 

[ecopepper]

A quick fix I have heard of is stringing christmas lights around plants. Just be careful of fire and all!!

 

[HiDelight]

mulch high on the sides of the beds and then cover with cold frame

where there is a will there is a way

I would love to follow how it turns out as I am doing my first winter garden this year!

I am determined to grow year around

I think the key is to keep the frost off the plants ..the cold is not as hard as the frost ..

good luck!

 

[davaroo]

mulch high on the sides of the beds and then cover with cold frame

where there is a will there is a way

I would love to follow how it turns out as I am doing my first winter garden this year!

I am determined to grow year around

I think the key is to keep the frost off the plants ..the cold is not as hard as the frost ..

good luck!

Unless of course the ground freezes in your locale. You have to beat cold ground, no matter where you live. The average soil temp one musnt go below for long is 43 degrees f, or therabouts. Lower than that, for too long, and growth is arrested - and bad things happen to roots in the too cold ground, etc.