Winter veg

bertie1

Now that the potatoes are coming out of the ground what would you plant for the winter time ,

Corsendonk

Kale, cauliflowers, cabbage, the last two have winter varieties.

jezko

bertie1 wrote: »

Now that the potatoes are coming out of the ground what would you plant for the winter time ,

Try split your Veg plot into sections where you can rotate crops from season to season.

Try use a green mulch like Clover, Alfalfa deep roots to break up soil and bring up nutrients and Winter vetch all legumes that fixes Nitrogen to the soil. Once they die they add more organic matter to the soil.

goat2

Corsendonk wrote: »

Kale, cauliflowers, cabbage, the last two have winter varieties.

are there others
do we put them in now
or are we too late

Corsendonk

Well a great advantage with growing spuds is that you naturally break up the ground digging them out and most of your winter crops are the brassica family so it slots into your rotation cycle nicely. If you have a decent crop of spuds or carrots in the ground you can top them off and leave them in the ground as you need them. Put hay over the top to prevent frost damage.

You can get away with planting out winter crops now or growing them from seed. The only major difference with winter plantings is that a week is a long time unlike summer were your crop plantings can merge together. A week between winter plantings can mean 3-4 weeks between harvest which for a small gardener can be a good thing as you can use up your crop before the next batch is ready. Use transplants for your early winter crops and seed for the later batches. In cabbage crops in winter you can get a purple tinge to the outer leaves, but its fine just a reaction to cold weather.

You have to make a judgement where you are living in the country, even for a small island we have different climates. I live by the sea so I should have a little more temperature to play with and south facing position just north of dublin but its a drier part of the country. So only you know your local climate.

Cloches can be a help too if you wish to get part of your crop in earlier. The main pests for winter cabbage are pigeons. Kale is a more robust crop to grow and like alot of winter veg the flavour improves with a little frost. Brussell sprouts are another crop to consider.

If you have a decent size garden you could try overwintering veg such as onions and celery, starting them growing now then winter slows them down to almost a stop but it means that in spring you have an early crop of veg.

Growing veg is about trial and error, you learn something new each year.

jezko

Lettuces and Peas
Use raised beds/drills if your soil tends to be too wet,
Winter grown peas need a sunny site, also you can plant them under cloches.