What next?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a gardening question for you all. This is my first year with

what I consider a " big garden " , and I am loving it. I planted greens,

beans, carrots, radishes, broccoli, snow/snap peas, pumpkins and

potatoes. I still have room for more, it is about a 30x50 ft space and

I am only using about 1/3 of it. I did all I could do this summer, but

now I am thinking ahead for once about when this crop is done. What

are some of your favorite fall and winter crops? Also, do any of you

have a greenhouse? I am seriously considering it , I would love to

continue some fresh produce throughout the year. What veg/fruit have

you grown? Anyone have eperience? I live in Washington so I might be

limited a little. Thanks!

[Guest guest]

I think it depends on what zone you are in. Popular fall crops include carrots, broccoli, kale, cabbage, peas, etc. What I did for me was go to the UC Davis website and looked up their recommendations for what to plant in my area, and when to plant it. I am ignoring part of their suggestions, lol, and I'm experimenting planting different things this fall to see what happens. Plus, my husband is going to build a hoophouse of sorts to go over our beds to see if we can get year round crops.

You mention fruit-I know in Washington you guys grow great apples. If it were me, I'd look for some true dwarf apples and other true dwarf fruit trees hardy for your area. I have dwarf lemon and lime trees i am trying out. I don't know if they are totally hardy here, but we planted them out this spring (I've been growing them in pots) and we'll see what happens.

 

If you get a lot of snow, you'd probably would not want to grow crops in a greenhouse that you'd have to heat all winter. It would get really expensive very quickly. A hoophouse over your beds might allow you to keep it snow free and allow you to grow your cool season crops all year too. Like I said, it depends on your climate. You can also try your local county Extension office. They have all sorts of information about growing plants in your area. I went thru the Master Gardener program in Houston, and volunteered many hours in the county extension office there. The people are VERY knowledgeable and helpful. it was great fun and I loved it. :-)Cyndi

 

In a message dated 8/17/2008 8:33:49 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, meggersgraham writes:

 

 

Hi everyone,I have a gardening question for you all. This is my first year with what I consider a "big garden", and I am loving it. I planted greens, beans, carrots, radishes, broccoli, snow/snap peas, pumpkins and potatoes. I still have room for more, it is about a 30x50 ft space and I am only using about 1/3 of it. I did all I could do this summer, but now I am thinking ahead for once about when this crop is done. What are some of your favorite fall and winter crops? Also, do any of you have a greenhouse? I am seriously considering it , I would love to continue some fresh produce throughout the year. What veg/fruit have you grown? Anyone have eperience? I live in Washington so I might be limited a little. Thanks!

 

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[Guest guest]

> I have a gardening question for you all. This is my first year with

> what I consider a " big garden " , and I am loving it. I planted greens,

> beans, carrots, radishes, broccoli, snow/snap peas, pumpkins and

> potatoes. I still have room for more, it is about a 30x50 ft space and

> I am only using about 1/3 of it. I did all I could do this summer, but

> now I am thinking ahead for once about when this crop is done. What

> are some of your favorite fall and winter crops? Also, do any of you

> have a greenhouse? I am seriously considering it , I would love to

> continue some fresh produce throughout the year. What veg/fruit have

> you grown? Anyone have eperience? I live in Washington so I might be

> limited a little. Thanks!

 

For fall and winter growing concentrate on cold hardy greens, peas,

lettuces, kale, carrots and so on. A great book for year round

gardening is Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman.

 

I am in the process of setting up a hoop house-an unheated greenhouse

to keep cold hardy produce from freezing for winter harvest. I put in

two 2 by 14 by 12 inch wood sided beds. I have a walkway between and

will make a quonset style top with PVC or other framing and cover with

plastic. Inside I'll be able to provide more protection with row

cover and straw mulch. I'm a bit late getting it started here in

northern Utah. I planted one bed yesterday with kohlrabi, kale,

mustard greens, mesclun mixes, carrots, spinach and arugula. I

planted a couple broccoli seeds, but since I'm pretty sure I'm way too

late for that I only put in two. I might get a very early spring crop

out of it. Next year I'll get some seeds started earlier for fall

broccoli. It's all a big experiment for me.

 

In your climate you might be able to harvest things like kale and

arugula year round from you regular garden.

 

Much as I'd like to harvest fresh tomatoes year round, unless I had

access to a hot spring or geothermal heat source the energy needed to

provide enough heat would be much too wasteful. I dry, freeze and

plan to can tomatoes for winter use.

 

With all that room in your garden, try corn. It is so worthwhile to

eat an ear of sweet corn minutes after it has been harvested. Or

asparagus or berries.

 

Good gardening.

 

Also check out Freedomgardens.org, where people are taking the pledge

to tear out their lawns and plant gardens. Lots of good advice on the

forums there, even if you aren't quite ready to tear out your lawn.

 

Ellen

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> " Let food be your medicine " Hippocrates