Winter Garden time??

Hi guys.

June is the first month of winter where I am, and I have growing:

Cabbage
Broccoli
Cauliflower
A few different variety of lettuce
Basil
climbing peas
mustard greens
spinach
marigolds
and my cherry tomatos are still hanging in there just...

This is my first SFG so I'll keep you posted on what produces well.

Ward, in the fall we usually plant purple top and golden turnips, mustard greens, winter radishes, and potato onions (for spring growth). The swiss chard from summer just keeps on growing. This year I'm going to plant beets, also, since rabbits ate my early crop.

Occasionally I also plant late spinach and lettuce, but we don't seem to have the taste for spinach in fall as we do in spring.

Isn't it amazing how our taste buds seem attuned to what is in season in our own locale? In the fall we want to eat things like butternut squash, turnips, and apples, while in the winter it's the stored, starchy root crops that taste so good. Then in spring we can hardly wait for the first salads, greens, strawberries, and asparagus. And of course, summer brings cravings for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and green beans.

I think The Preacher had the right of it when he said, "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Thanks for sharing the info about the winter seed catalog - I had no idea they made such critters.

I plan on doing more of my "early spring" stuff, and add garlic. Lettuce, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, spinach. I'm going to arrange it differently - the peas will go on the far east side of the back row and the broccoli on the west. And the lettuce will go in their proper boxes (I didn't have my grids yet when I planted them and I sort-of missed).

and potato onions (for spring growth).

Ander217: I have ordered my potato onions for fall planting (first time). Any special advice on how to care for them, harvest, etc? Thanks

What surprises me is that you got a TTS winter catalog in Virginia. Steve Solomon who founded the company used to advertise that he would do no business west of the Cascades. New owners, new philosophy.

In the PNW (TTS is in the PNW) we know the difference between the summer growing season and the winter growing season by how long our days are. Maybe it isn't that dramatic, but this year, with record June rain and winter snow storm alerts for travelers in the Cascades it seems like it.

In my garden I start Brussels in early June to transplant into the garden when the peas have finished. We do not even like to eat Brussels until the frost has sweetened them.

There is always a bed (square this year) of winter carrots that will take me through the spring thaws. Sometimes they have to be chipped out of the frozen earth with a pick-ax but are SO sweet in winter. Same with leeks. I’m told that some of the old fashioned beets will live, but again, my guys do not favor beet greens or roots.

Kale and other greens get sweet in the cold. They need to be protected from excessive rain so they don't rot. In spring they put out seed pods that are eaten like broccoli rabe.

I’ve not done this, but I had a neighbor in the valley that was careful to remove the main summer cabbage head from the root so that little cabbages would grow for winter. I do not eat enough cabbage to give it the space it needs. Fava apparently makes nice greens (like pea sprouts) and beans in the spring. I plan to try my first fava this winter.

This is my first SFG, I have always had a large garden in the mountains. The coast is wet but seems almost tropical in winter after the snowy valley. I thought I would have a box dedicated to winter gardening by August, not sure if that will happen because I keep scattering winter seed in available squares. I may have to start collecting square cloches.

Having an old fashioned root cellar for winter squash, apples, potatoes and onions seems like a good idea. The grandparents did that. We ate seasonally with a few peas and corn that had been frozen (shocking in the late 50’s to have frozen veggies instead of canned). Frozen veggies were saved for holidays and Sunday dinners. It was a different era, but I just don’t miss tomatoes in winter because they are a summer treat to look forward to.