Food Roots: Resources for Planning a Winter Garden

Posted on | July 30, 2009 | 3 Comments

IMG_2919This week it has been over 100 degrees for the past several days and it’s been too hot to even have my hot laptop on my lap, so I’ve retreated into “paper blogging” and have been doing lots of reading.  Thank goodness for our public library; I’ve been putting all kinds of gardening books on hold and just reading them constantly. I feel like I’m in grad school again!

One of the most interesting books I’ve been reading is Steve Solomon’s Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades.

This book is very interesting and informative, and it’s certainly not for the faint of heart. But since it’s one of the only books I know of that deals specifically with our particular climate and soil, not to mention the fact that Mr. Solomon has years and years of “take it from me” experience, I’ve been happy to sit at his feet (so to speak) and glean all that he’s learned.

Anytime you open an expert book on gardening, you quickly realize what you’ve done wrong and right.  Surprisingly, there are a few things I actually did right (on instinct!) and other things I’m now happy to know about, like his recommendations for a complete organic fertilizer.  I had always thought that compost was enough, and he very logically explains why that is so just about everywhere else in the US except  for the Maritime Northwest.  Interesting. But that would totally explain some of the soil problems I’ve noticed in spite of really, really good compost applications.  Not that compost is bad, but it’s simply not enough to restore the mineral deficiency in our native soil.  Luckily, there’s an easy recipe for a really good, organic, natural fertilizer that’s pretty darn thrifty if you purchase the components in large quantities:

Complete Organic Fertilizer

4 parts linseed meal
1/2 part agricultural lime/dolomite blend
1/2 part bone meal
1/2 part kelp meal

In anticipation of the excruciatingly hot days this past week, I went to the very awesome Urban Farm Store in SE Portland on Sunday afternoon and purchased the components listed above.  I “side-dressed” my plants in hopes that they would get the nutrients they needed to survive the week of intense heat.

I digress…..

So this book has been informative and inspiring, particularly because it outlines a way to “extend the season” by growing vegetables all year long!  I never really thought that was possible in rainy, mild Oregon, but through further research into my Oregon State extenstion service as well as other resources, it seems that growing a fall/winter garden is totally possible!

Why grow a winter garden?

Well, not having any real experience doing so yet, I’m going to just assume that the reason is obvious: you have access to fresh, organic (free) food throughout the winter.  Now we’re not talking cucumbers and tomatoes, here.  If had known all of this a few weeks earlier, I might have had time time to plant more than I will at this point, but it even so, it looks like with the right timing I can enjoy fresh salad greens, spinach, kale, chard, scallions, broccoli and other brassicas throughout the winter.  Plus, I might be able to enjoy some “overwintering” varieties that will perk up for me in early spring!

This article was a very helpful guide in showing me dates for planting specific fall and winter veggies. The Oregon State Extension Service also has a helpful guide.

All this excitement has got me in major research and planning mode. From what I’ve read, the execution of this idyllic situation involves impeccable planning and timing.

I’m in the process of researching the most thrifty way to build a cloche or cold frame.  Here are some really great articles I’ve found that have been very helpful:

Grow All Winter in a Cold Frame talks about how to make one from completely recycled materials (I love the sound of that!)

Good old Mother Earth News has done it again, this time with an article sharing all you need to know about growing in cold frames.

Earth Easyhas some simple, cheap, downloadable plans for how to build your own portable garden cloche, which allows you to both extend the season and get a jump on things early in the spring.

And if you don’t want to pay, the Oregon State University Extension Service (the angels that they are) give a comprehensive, step-by-step guide: How to Build your own Raised-Bed Cloche.

According to Mother Earth News (in the article referenced above) you can easily grow arugula, broccoli, beets, cabbage, chard, chinese cabbage, green onion, kale, lettuce, mustard, radish, and spinach in a cold frame. These can be sown in late winter under a cold frame. 

I don’t know about you, but I like the thought of fresh food in January! Without solid numbers, I estimate that I could ideally save about $20 per week from my produce bill if I had all of these veggies at my disposal in the winter!

I’m still working through all the details; I’ll post my progress in these area. Right now I’ve made a scale map of my garden and am planning exactly where everything will be sown for fall and winter.  This past week, I sowed broccoli, cauliflower, more lettuce, and mustard.  I plan to sow more scallions, arugula, radishes, and kolrabi.  I am very curious to try asparagus too, and am going to research the best time to put this in.

Oh so many veggies, so little space.  I’m using 244 square feet this year, which is actually quite a lot.  I have dreams of asking neighbors if I can use their yard in exchange for veggies, but I’m a bit of a wuss. I’ll try to work up the nerve. Some folks around the corner have this ideal plot of land; it gets like 10 hours of direct sun. It’s currently being used for absolutely nothing; it’s just this abandoned plot and it’s just calling out for me to put several raised beds on it and grow all the sun-loving veggies next summer. 

I guess I have a few months to butter them up…..what would you do?

For more inspiring reflections on local food and sustainable gardening, please visit this weeks’s edition of Food Roots at Nourishing Days.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Food Roots: Resources for Planning a Winter Garden”

  1. Sarah
    August 1st, 2009 @ 3:53 pm

    Great post! We are also planting an autumn/winter garden. We get semi-heavy snow here so it is hard to overwinter anything, but I’m going to try it with shallots this year. Wish me luck1

    We are also planting several winter squashes, specifically the varietals that are good for cold storage. We’ve got acorn, spaghetti and butternut squash as well as cauliflower and kale and lettuce greens. This is my first year gardening, so we’ll see how it goes! Also hoping to transplant my herbs into smaller pots and winter them in our sunroom/three-season porch. We’ll see!

    Looking forward to reading more and seeing how your garden grows!

    Best,
    Sarah

    PS – Thanks for the links!
    PPS – I know what you mean about taking advantage of sunny spots. I just spent two hours weeding an overgrown plot in our front yard to plant tomorrow. Thinking we’re going to try the cauliflower there. I bet we’re the only people in the neighborhood with vegetables growing in our front yard! :)

  2. Nina
    August 4th, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

    I’m a Seattle reader and very much appreciate all this information. I just received dandelion and radish seeds to plant. We have a second planting of Lacinato Kale growing and hope to plant spinach.

  3. Shannon
    August 5th, 2009 @ 5:19 am

    We just planted some cabbage, kale, chard, spinach and lettuce for our fall garden. I think with a cold frame we could stretch the season a bit more, but it gets too cold here to grow through winter without a green house. I love the idea, though, and we have dreams of a green house “someday”.

    Thanks for participating in food roots last week. I always look forward to your contributions.

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