Just got a new plot, what should I plant right now?

Hello all, sfgardener from Cincinnati here! I just obtained two 8x4 plots at a community garden and I am going to plant a winter crop on Friday. I know for sure I am going to throw some garlic in but what all else would you all suggest starting at this time of year in my area? The plots get a lot of sun and I am going to amend the soil with peat and manure before I plant. Thanks in advance for all your suggestions!

Egyptian walking onions and shallots!

What the heck is a walking onion??? Where would I get seeds for that?

Yoso, this is my first year of SFG and Egyptian walking onions. If you put 'Egyptian walking onions' into the SEARCH box on this site and you'll get a few recent posts on them. If they work like they are supposed to they look very cool! I planted some for the first time this fall and they have sprouted already.

Good luck with your community plot. Do you have an SFG already?

CC

Thanks! I found that thread about the walking onion https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t13755-friday-rookie-topic-egyptian-walking-onions ; Great stuff!

You might want to try some Mache (aka Lambs Lettuce). Supposed to be good even if temps get lower than freezing (can't take hot weather though). I bought some seeds from Johnny's Seed (they also show the name as "VIT"). It supposedly grows pretty slowly so I've planted a few squares. Per someon's recommendation here, I've planted 16 to a squre though it's possible 9 might be a good number too. It's supposed to be a good spinach substitute when it gets too cold for spinach.

How cold will Kale survive? How cold can spinach survive? I am going to plant some onion seeds/sets, some corn salad per your suggestion, lettuce, swiss chard, and snow peas and see what happens.

I also plan on covering the 2 8x4's with some plastic and making them into mini cold frames for the winter. I want to pile up a bunch of dirt beside them to try and insulate.

You might want to look up Eliot Coleman's book '4-Season Harvest' at your library. Its about gardening with hoop houses and coverings thru the winter with crops that can handle the cold. In your area you'll definitely need protection of some kind but you don't need a greenhouse.

If you just want to sow seeds to overwinter that will come up very early the next spring, try sowing carrots and spinach. You won't get any crops during the winter, but they will restart growing in early spring and you'll have the earliest harvest on the block.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks for the reply! I will add carrots and spinach to the list. I have two plots at the garden for a total of 64 square feet, so, I am going to spread the love around and plant a large variety for my winter and spring harvest. Hopefully, by spring, I will have 1-2 more plots and can rev those up with summer crops come spring.

yosoypanadero wrote:How cold will Kale survive? How cold can spinach survive? I am going to plant some onion seeds/sets, some corn salad per your suggestion, lettuce, swiss chard, and snow peas and see what happens.

Kale, if it is already established with a good root system may go past Thanksgiving and into December in your area. Seeds are cheap, but I fear it is too late for sowing onion seed, but probably worth a try. You may want to hold back some of that seed for sowing indoors in March, then set out the plants in late April. Swiss chard will tolerate some cold if it is well established, but will not make it past Christmas, depending upon the weather. Snow peas take 70 days, you would be better saving the seed for planting on Saint Patrick's day.

Good luck with the winter garden. If it were me I would put in garlic and gray shallots if you are lucky enough to find any (I leave red shallots for early spring planting). Then I would leave it at that. At this time I would concentrate on finding as many leaves as I could to build a compost pile to rot over winter, so there will be compost to add to beds in the spring. Realistically in the north, the hoops will allow you a few weeks on either end of the normal growing season. Then comes old man Winter to give the gardens a few months of rest.