fall planting for your winter garden
DESCRIPTION
It’s not too late to sow an edible garden that will bear through winter and/or set you up for an early spring harvest! In this class, we will cover cold-hardy veggie varieties and how to prepare your garden space to be fruitful through winter.TRANSCRIPT
Fall Planting for Your Winter Garden
Independence GardensPortland, OR
January 2012© Independence Gardens LLC
Download the handout that goes
along with this slideshow!
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Winter gardening?
Sure! If you:• Choose the right
varieties of the right plants
• Plant them at the right time in the right location(s)
• And protect them adequately
Fresh tomatoes are probably not on the menu this winter...unless...our summer ‘maters don’t ripen before then!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
In winter, plants...
• Grow slower or not at all; many go dormant through the cold months
• Can be harvested if they are full-grown before winter sets in
• Need protection from the elements• May die, or at least die back
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
• Find your !rst frost date
~Oct. 24, in Portland; this is conservative, and a more experimental gardener might use Nov. 15
• Count backward an appropriate length of time!– Varies by plant; general formula and example follow
When to plant
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
"e Formula/Example: Radishes# of days from seeding or transplanting outdoors to harvest (!nd on seed packet)/28 days# of days from seed to transplant (if you grow your own transplants)/0“Fall Factor” (~2 weeks—this accounts for slower growth during cool, short autumn days)/14 days# of days to count back from !rst frost date to planting date/42 days (Sept. 12 - Oct. 4)
When to plant
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Fall garden activities
September• Sow seeds/transplanting starts• Build season extenders• Control pests (esp. slugs and snails)—if you do it now, you’ll
have fewer problems through the winter and into the spring• Fertilize: top-dress with a li#le bit of compost or use a small
application of a complete fertilizer to restore nutrients to depleted soils; don’t use too much nitrogen, because it will stimulate excess growth of weak leaves
• Harvest frost-tender crops (tomatoes, summer squash, melons, eggplants, cukes, peppers) and storing them—chart follows
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Frost-tendernessTender Vegetables Semi-Hardy Vegetables Hardy Vegetables (damaged by light frost) (tolerates light frost) (tolerates hard frost)
Beans Beets Broccoli
Cucumber Carrot Brussels Sprouts
Eggplant Cauli!ower Cabbage
Muskmelon Celery Collards
New Zealand Spinach Chard Kale
Okra Chinese Cabbage Kohlrabi
Pepper Endive Mustard Greens
Pumpkin Le"uce Onion
Squash Parsnip Parsley
Sweet Corn Potato Peas
Sweet Potato Salsify Radish
Tomato Spinach
Watermelon Turnip
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Fall garden activities
October• Start to use your season extenders• Cease and desist with fertilizers—too much nitrogen (N) will
make your plants grow new leaves, which will be susceptible to freezing
November • STOP WATERING, if you’ve been keeping it up; don’t resume
till February at the earliest—having less water in them will help keep your crops from freezing
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Planting calendar
• $is chart shows what to plant and when you can expect to harvest it in Zone 8 (USDA)/6 (Sunset)
• $e gray columns are months in which we usually don’t plant much, if anything...but we can continue to grow/harvest
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Location
• Mobile: take your garden on the road or move it around as the sun changes direction; grow herbs in containers
• Stationary: most gardens are; location ideally carefully considered• Easily accessible: minimize the need for trekking through the rain• South-facing: sun will be coming from further south in the winter• NOT at bo!om of slope: cold air %ows downhill like cold water, so
it will frost !rst in the pools at the bo#om• Sheltered from the wind: air movement is more stressful to plants
than temperature %uctuations• Good drainage: raised beds suggested• Crop rotation: plant similar things in different beds
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Protection
• Straw• Leaves• Buckets, bags, baskets, boxes,
milk jugs• Cloches• Cold frames• Hotbeds• Greenhouses• Sunrooms• Windowsills (with
supplemental light)
NOTE: You cannot and should not try to recreate spring or summer during fall and winter, but you can protect your plants from ge#ing beaten up, frozen, or blown to smithereens
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Final notes
• If this is your !rst fall-winter garden, strive for but don’t expect perfection
• Weather, scheduling, etc. are unpredictable, and they may get in your garden’s way
• Unless the stakes are really high, any effort is a good effort
• Keep track of what works and what doesn’t• And do it again next year even be#er!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Questions?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012