Posted on 09/30/2013 10:47:39 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat
ost people think that Springtime is the time to start growing that vegetable or herb garden. But there are many types of plants that should mainly be grown during the cooler months.
Fall is a great time to try your hand at growing leafy greens, and that makes this a great way to save some money on produce. If you end up with a good harvest, you'll have a bountiful source of vegetables while other people are paying higher prices for greens at the grocery store.
Here are 6 cooler weather plants you may want to try your hand at growing this Fall:
1. Broccoli. Now is the perfect time to be planting broccoli for Fall harvests. I've even had my broccoli plants survive entire winters that included cold and snowy nights. Serving fresh or steamed broccoli with dinner is a great way to get that vitamin K.
2. Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard is becoming a new favorite green for many people because it's packed with more nutrients than kale, but has a much milder taste.
3. Carrots. Plant carrots now for a late Fall or early Winter harvest. I've even had carrots last all winter long. If you do attempt to grow carrots all through the Winter, make sure to keep them covered well with mulch and soil to protect them from freezing.
4. Cabbage. These beauties are simply gorgeous, and always add an ornamental value to gardens. You can harvest them through late Fall and early Winter.
5. Lettuce. Lettuce just keeps growing back and doesn't stop, even after harvesting the leaves over and over again. It's a hardy plant and great for salads. Plant more seeds every few weeks for a constant crop, but keep them in shady spots if you want them year-round. Lettuce definitely prefers to stay cool.
6. Spinach. Known for it's superfood benefits, spinach is actually pretty easy to grow. If you live in a mild Winter climate, you can plant spinach in the late Fall for an early Spring harvest. Or if not, plant it late Summer in a shady spot for harvesting before the harsh Winter hits.
These are just a few of the types of plants that are perfect to plant this Fall. I'm especially going for the lettuce, cabbage and broccoli this year, as this will really help me save money on produce during the cooler months.
No Garleek?
Don’t forget turnips & beets! Yum!
This will come in handy if things go to pot.
Sorry, pot is not a cold weather plant....
Weekly Garden Ping!
I do still have 5 cabbages in my garden even though its getting in the low 40's and high 30's here...they are so small....I am hoping maybe they can grow a bit more....
That is nice at a lower latitude. It is time for fall harvest here, and that includes the root crops.
I’ve been studying up on hydroponics and have taken the first steps in building a small 10 pot ebb and flow and 2x4 NFS tray for outdoors next spring. I intended on growing Tomatoes, Zuchinni, yellow squash and Eggplant in the 10 pot system and butter leaf lettuce and spinach in the NFS tray.
The equipment is very expensive if you buy it already made, but cheap if you build it yourself out of buckets and PVC pipes — which are perfectly suitable for hydroponics. So that’s what I’m doing. There are plenty of Web Resources and booklets.
However I haven’t looked into growing anything this winter where I’m at. I guess I just assumed you don’t farm anything in winter. I’m in SC Upstate, so the winter is definitely mild.
Sorry, cherry. I have to plead ignorance. It’s so hot in South Texas, I hope (!) it’s going to stop being such a struggle here.
Do Y’All use cold frames at all? I’m sure I can’t even fathom real Winter, but there is something called Poly Flute (there’s another name for it, too) that we have used to enclose our plants & it’s *so warm*, we’ve actually had to find ways to ventilate it.
I love cabbage (& brussel sprouts are my favorite veg). I don’t know how to keep it from going bad before we could eat it)
I grew these yummy snack peppers in Florida in the spring and they are still growing. Very tasty too!
http://bonnieplants.com/products/vegetables/peppers/yummy-snacking-pepper
Clark Howard lives in Georgia so he’s talking about a Zone 7 or 8 type of winter. YMMV if you live north of that.
A friend who is a terrific gardener has kale plants that survive Wisconsin winter weather well into January. Another friend dug a pit for a cold frame, set glass at a 45 degree angle and has more lettuce in January than she can use.
I’ve grown miniature bok choy year round in a hydroponic setup. I prefer it to hydroponic lettuce, as it has more flavor and substance.
However, I can afford under $2 every 10 days for red leaf lettuce and the hydro system costs some for electricity, besides nutrients or replacing the bulbs, so last year I just didn’t bother.
The pit cold frame is the best way to go, IMO.
I have almost 4dz tomatoes that are ripe and will go into the dehydrator today. Today I will also finally harvest the green tomatoes. I think I have about 2 dz of them and perhaps half of those are showing at least some yellow, so they will ripen. The rest will go into a cooked salsa verde that I freeze in small batches.
This year is nearly the latest for frost I can recall. Makes up for the late Spring. I am hoping we have a warm-ish December, like a couple of years ago.
The two required items in my fall/winter garden are purple top turnips and kale. Both will typically survive through the winter all the way to spring. Both are cold hardy for our southern climate although kale is a lot hardier. Snow and ice may knock our turnip greens and kale down for a couple of weeks, but a week or so of sunshine and 40-50 degree highs and the kale pops right back up ready to pick. Fresh turnips and greens in January and February is a real treat with a pot beans and cornbread.
I grew some dwarf bok choy 2 or 3 falls ago and I was surprised that they grew well in low 30’s to mid 20’s lows at night as long as I covered them with a sheet each evening. The sheet would have frost on it each morning, but the plants would still be good as new. They lasted into mid-January until I forgot to cover them one night. If I hadn’t forgotten to cover them it makes me wonder just how much longer they would have lasted. Based on that experience, I bet bok choy would make a great greenhouse winter crop.
I live in Massachusetts. We may have as much as 3-4 feet of snow and ice covering the ground in winter. :)
Collards ya’ll, collards.
Zone 6b.
Have lettuce, turnip, cabbage and fava beans growing.
Planting cos lettuce every two weeks for continuos crop.
read fava beans go bad after a year so I planted my leftover seeds.
It’s reccommended as a winter cover crop because it ‘fixes’ nitrogen into the soil so if I don’t get a crop at least it will be good fertilizer. But they’re growing like gang busters. They’re also reccommended as a side dish for one food source likely to be abundant in apocolyptic economic scenarios.
Wish I’d planted broccolli and carrots but didn’t think of it until too late for growing from seed.
Sure is nice to walk 30 feet to the garden for fresh free vegs instead of driving 20 miles to get wilted expensive vegs at the store.
Mmmm. Yummy!!!
I cut off bottom of stems only, then put in pot whole or split up middle. I never, ever chop or cut before cooking or serving. They lose flavor. Add water to cover. Season (a little salt or gasp! Salt pork)
Bring to boil, cook down & simmer all day.
I add a little apple cider vinegar when they reach my plate.
It goes without saying do not discard the liquid (some call it pot liquor, we called it the juice when we were little). It tastes as good as the collards. :)
The good news is Chard grows like a weed around here!
The bad news is, it’s CHARD!!!
;-[
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