Some questions

I have a hold on the SFG book at the library, but I guess so does the rest of my town I am still learning, but figured I hsould trial and error as I go

It is a little early I know, but I figure I would ask anyway.

I have planted some fall veggies that should be ready for harvest right around first frost. In winter months do you completely pull out the entire root of the plant after you have harvested?

Do you mix up the mel's mix before planting in the spring or just plant in it as is?

If you don't have plants in it for the winter do you need to cover the surface?

Worm bins...can they be outside in the winter months? Do you put anything you would put in a compost bin into the worm bin instead?

Thanks
heidi

Heidi, I can't help with the worms. The only ones I have are naturally occuring.

However, I can tell you what I do with the rest...

First, I bought my copy of the book without thinking. I KNEW I would need to refer to it again and again and again. In fact, I just looked up beans tonight after not looking at the book for 2 months.

Second, I completely yank everything when winter finally forces me to quit and compost it all. I rake the garden smooth and cover it. I cover it because weed seeds blow in at any time of year and I want my spring to be as weed free as possible. Covering my garden also makes it heat up a little earlier in spring if I do so with plastic sheeting and brick anchors. If I use plywood, I find tons of bugs crept in to find shelter and I get no heating help.

Third, I also add compost in the winter when done. I put in around 1-2 trowels per square. I use my own compost for this. I rake it all in and stir it around good. Then, I apply the cover and plan for the holidays.

I hope that helps. I'm sure others do things differently, and I hope they jump in because we could all use choices when deciding which works best for us. Happy Gardening!

THanks for the info!...Good point about the book...maybe it's time to buy it

I think you will be very happy with your All New Square Foot Gardening book purchase. I even take mine to work for downtimes. Since my purchase last summer it has smudged pages, notes to myself in it, carry it out to the garden with me, etc. Mel gives you his very friendly format making it a pleasure to read. Enjoy!

Don't forget to beer your garden:

Natural Fertilizer


Beer is full of sugars and nutrients that grass and plants can absorb
and use. Pouring beer on bare patches of lawn will cause the grass to
grow.



For the garden, pour beer into a spray bottle and spray lightly on
the soil. When sprayed lightly on the leaves, beer seems to have some
anti-fungal properties. Use organic beer, such as Wolaver's brand
organic beer, as organic fertilizer for an organic vegetable garden.

Composting with Beer


Students at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin put together a study
to determine whether beer was useful in compost piles. At the
completion of their carefully controlled study, they concluded that beer
is useful as a compost accelerant in the warmer months.

Therefore, pouring beer into the compost pile helps the compost break
down more quickly than compost piles without beer. Even for
teetotalers, beer is useful in the garden.


http://www.suite101.com/content/using-beer-in-the-garden-a238124

Not all your fall crops have to be harvested by the first winter's frost.

Swiss chard and kale can be harvested up to 5 wks AFTER first frost date.

Broccoli, cabbage, peas, lettuce, parsley and spinach up to the 4th week AFTER first frost date.

Carrots up to 3 wks AFTER first frost date.

Beets, cauliflower and radishes up to 2 wks AFTER first frost.

You can leave your parsnips in the ground till next spring and your garlic til next summer.

When you reach your first frost date you can pull up all the remaining tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, winter squash, bush beans.

A week before first frost your corn, cucumbers, pole beans will be finished so pull those out of the ground, put vines in compost pile.

Two weeks before first frost you can pull the melon and summer squash vines.

If you cover those cool-hardy fall crops with hoops or layers of plastic or heavy row cover or you've started them in a coldframe, they can go even longer before you need to pull them out.

You needn't close your garden down just because the first frost has arrived. There's more veggies to be harvested even after that first frost date.

Two questions about thing I want to try to overwinter:
1. I'm assuming they need to be open to the environment, otherwise they'll die from lack of water, CO2, etc?
2. When do I plant them in the fall? Should it be long enough for shallots or garlic to put up a couple shoots? Or should it be like the last thing I do in the garden before the winter?

Good questions, Moswell. I'm not very experienced with overwintering vegetables, but I know from planting spring flower bulbs that anything that you plant in the fall to come up the next spring should be well protected from the weather outside.

But that's all I know! Waiting to see if anyone else has any ideas.

littlesapphire wrote:Good questions, Moswell. I'm not very experienced with overwintering vegetables, but I know from planting spring flower bulbs that anything that you plant in the fall to come up the next spring should be well protected from the weather outside.

But that's all I know! Waiting to see if anyone else has any ideas.

Thanks. I may repost this question in its own post - now that I've posted that I'm thinking it's a bit unfair of me to hijack htanguay's thread.

quiltbea wrote:Not all your fall crops have to be harvested by the first winter's frost.

I hope others saw I was implying exactly this when I made my comment. A little frost doesn't shut down gardening. It takes a long stretch of subfreezing weather to get me....and others.

Wait for that time of year. A few of us will hold out as long as possible. Some use cold frames. Others use various methods of heated hoop houses. If you are new, and would like to further your education about SFG, you MUST stay plugged into the forum even after your season ends.

Ok, I'll take the worm question.



I didn't catch what area you are from but worms cannot be in weather colder than 60 -70 degrees. I actually keep mine in the foyer ( we don't use the front entrance to my house) all summer.there is no odor.



edited to add: I see now your in the north, you will need to bring the worm bin in. don't feed your worms lettuce, garlic. they are vegetarians, so no giving them the tomato plant when it's done producing but the tomato would be a nice meal. I hope that helps.

madnicmom wrote:Ok, I'll take the worm question.



I didn't catch what area you are from but worms cannot be in weather colder than 60 -70 degrees. I actually keep mine in the foyer ( we don't use the front entrance to my house) all summer.there is no odor.



edited to add: I see now your in the north, you will need to bring the worm bin in. don't feed your worms lettuce, garlic. they are vegetarians, so no giving them the tomato plant when it's done producing but the tomato would be a nice meal. I hope that helps.

Question...Does this mean my worms that are in my raised bed are going to die during the winter?

AprilakaCCIL wrote:Question...Does this mean my worms that are in my raised bed are going to die during the winter?

I can only share that worms in my TT's survived the last two winters when I had a week or two of single digits temps. I was surprised they made it.

boffer wrote:

AprilakaCCIL wrote:Question...Does this mean my worms that are in my raised bed are going to die during the winter?

I can only share that worms in my TT's survived the last two winters when I had a week or two of single digits temps. I was surprised they made it.

Awesome...I feel hopeful for them worms again. I think I've gotten attached to them--Like pets (lol) Everyday I look in on them in the beds & feed often.

madnicmom wrote:don't feed your worms lettuce, garlic. they are vegetarians, so no giving them the tomato plant when it's done producing but the tomato would be a nice meal. I hope that helps.

Why can't they eat lettuce?

They can eat lettuce, but in moderation. The excess water in the lettuce can kill the little darlings. A worm grower wiped out his whole box by feeding them strictly lettuce. Be conservative with it.