winter gardening

kshimpi 1/22/2011, 4:53 pm

We mulched our front flower beds earlier this week after *finally* getting all the leaves raked (lots of snow/ice in our area lately). Mulching and some warmer temps have got me itching to garden!

I have read you can plant sugar snap peas in the winter (I am zone 7 or 8 I think).
I do have some plastic to put over the dome netting I made in the fall. My 7 yr old asked a great question, so here it is...should I poke holes in the plastic over the domes? Or leave them solid and take them on and off the plants when there is a chance of freezing?

Also, I need to add compost, I think, to get the beds ready. Can I add one kind or do I need to add different kinds.

Any advice on winter gardening would be greatly appreciated :-)

Kristan

miinva 1/23/2011, 12:45 am

The risk of leaving things covered is steaming them, so be careful about covering them completely and leaving them that way. Winter sowing leads me to think that leaving a vent hole wouldn't damage the plant. I haven't planted peas that early, I usually do it at the beginning of April here in central Virginia.

Our plan is to add compost each season and we're going to add a combination of five kinds of compost for the same reason Mel recommends it in the first place... to make sure the full spectrum of nutrients are addressed.

Lavender Debs 1/23/2011, 10:30 am

Hey there kshi! I don't think we have met, hello!

I am in Washington the state in one of the zone 7s. I celebrate President Lincolns birthday (February 12) by planting my first pea seeds. They survive snow and drenching PNW rains. The only cover I give them is the one that keeps Stellar Jays away. Playful birds, not weather are a problem for my peas.

I personally do not poke holes in my cloches. I am in the garden enough that I remember to tilt or remove the cloche on a warm day and put it back in the evening.

Fava beans can go in now, but I am going to wait until Lincoln's B-day to plant mine.

Deborah.....who just posted chores for January in my Everett Washington garden on Music of the Rain. Click on the page/tab called "The Toy Box"

kshimpi 1/23/2011, 3:28 pm

thanks for the replies. My daughter and I went out this afternoon with a few goals:
1) repair the deer fence (the snow and ice had pushed down the poles a bit)
2) rake all the leaves out of the fenced in area
3) plant some sugar snap peas

We accomplished 1 and 2, but not 3. The soil in my boxes was frozen solid! Imagine my surprise when I tried to till up the soil with my hoe.

Anyway, we put some plastic on the net domes I made last spring. Maybe that will help warm up the soil?
winter gardening Img_3211

Kristan - really wanting it to be spring, in case you could not tell :-)
Below is a link to my first square foot garden project -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kshimpi/sets/72157624695599142/

miinva 1/23/2011, 4:07 pm

Your pictures are wonderful! I look forward to seeing what you grow this year Smile

I take pictures sporadically but I rarely sit down and transfer them to the computer and organize them. I need to get better about that.

I know what you mean about wanting spring, I can't wait! We're going to start some seeds inside this year and I'm champing at the bit Smile

I'm going to try to grow some herbs from seeds that I collected and I hope to have better luck inside than I did outside last year. I have some winter savory seed that sprouted, but the little sprouts didn't last very long for some unknown reason. Hopefully they'll fare better inside.

I love your avatar picture, peas are my favorite veggie off the vine Very Happy

kshimpi 1/23/2011, 5:13 pm

thanks miinva!

This was my last attempt at growing veggies. I was determined to make it work :-)
I am considering taking down a big oak that blocks my morning sun so that I can add some additional beds for the spring.

My daughter eats most of my crop (especially sugar snap peas :-) right off the vine. There are worse problems to have, right?

I need to be better about reading posts on the forum. I got a little slack after my last harvest and our first snow.

Kristan

miinva 1/23/2011, 5:19 pm

I know what you mean, by the end of the growing season I was a bit 'gardened out', although some of my favorite crops are cool-weather, so I wish I'd done more with cold weather gardening. There's always next year Smile

I just ordered some yellow and blue podded peas because a generous soul from this forum sent me some last year (thank you Selandra! Very Happy

) and I loved the beautiful flowers as much as the peas themselves! The blue pods aren't labeled as edible but that didn't deter my husband. I didn't get a mature pod because he kept snitching them off the vine and eating them! *giggle*

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