Starting A Fall and Winter Garden

Planting a fall garden

Planting a fall garden

IMG 1213 200x300 Starting A Fall and Winter Garden

Planting a fall garden

Last month, we talked about getting out the cool season seeds and starting a fall or winter garden. The weather, again, was weird and temperatures in the high 90s don’t suggest cool season crops. A couple of us standing around in the garden with temperature in the high-90s and we were discussing putting in more tomatoes…

But lets assume it does cool off. If that happens we should be looking at planting veggies from this list:

Asparagus: If you have the patience, asparagus is a great investment. It takes a couple of years before you can bring in a big harvest, but once producing the plants will provide shoots for years. Look for asparagus ‘crowns’ the size of your hand – the bigger the better. Plant the crowns in a trench filled with compost, aged manures and soil. Fill the trench in each year with fresh manures. The crowns will grow when you allow the spear to develop into foliage. Taking too many too early will deprive the roots of the nutrients they need to develop.

Follow this link to read more about how to grow asparagus.

This is a good time to get in your root crops like beets, kohlrabi, chard (chard is related to beets), and turnips. Beets grow all year long, are slower to develop in cold weather, but are sure to please.

You can start putting in the cabbage family plants. These include cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.

Other cool weather veggies appropriate for planting now include carrots, endive, garlic, leeks, lettuces/mache, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, and spinach.

Here are some on-line resources to help you along the way:

Seed Suppliers:

Informational Sources:

When to Plant Vegetables

When to Plant Vegetables” is a really complex question. In California alone, there are 27 different climate zones, from tide pools to frozen rocky crags. In between the extremes, there are many combinations of long season (mild winter) and short season (short, hot summers and cold winters).
There is a web site I found with good information on when you can plant different types of garden veggies. the site lists plants and planting dates for many veggies with dates given for both long and short seasons. With spring coming I thought I would share this link with you: When to Plant Vegetables
With the wide variety of climates in the world, local information is always best. Check with your gardening neighbors, your local extension service or your local Master Gardeners.
As an alternative, there is some cool software that helps you adjust your starting, growing and harvesting dates. Check out GroVeg, the on-line garden planner. There is a good write-up on it on this vegetable garden design software review page.

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