What Vegetables can I grow through the winter.

[Cheryl Litchfield]

Morning Everyone, I was just wondering what vegetables can I grow through the winter? I have swede in at the moment and they seem to be coming along nicely. Are there any other type of vegetables that doesn't mind the Winter Months. Would be really grateful for some suggestions.

[rainbowgardener]

Sorry, but I'm not very educated about what winter is like where you are, Cardiff, UK. How cold does it get? Is it snowy? Does the ground freeze solid? All that makes a difference on whether or not there is anything you can grow through the winter.

Where I am with winter temps that go down to -20 F (occasionally) and ground that freezes solid, nothing grows in winter. That doesn't mean that there is nothing in my garden. I plant garlic , onions, and some cold weather crop seeds about now. They over winter in dormancy and start growing in early spring.

[Cheryl Litchfield]

The coldest I have had here is -10 in January, but that is not all of the time. Though our winters are getting worse. I have been told by a friend that I can grow garlic as long as I keep it under cover. so I am going to give that a go, but any other suggestions will be welcome.

[hendi_alex]

You should be able to grow collards, kale, various cole crops, arugula, parsley, cilantro well into the winter, but when temperatures drop below the mid 20's production will be shut down and plants may even get killed. With the use of a cold frame, you could probably keep them going several degrees colder. Place a light bulb in the cold frame on the coldest of days, and perhaps keep a bed of greens going until they really begin to jump in the early spring.

One thing that I'm not sure of wrt your location is the latitude. Your winters are colder than here in zone 8 and your days may be shorter as well. Very short days could cause growth to slow considerably during the shortest day parts of winter.

[applestar]

USDA Zone 6b in a cold pocket here and minimum winter temp can sometimes drop to negative single digits ...°F. When temps have stayed above 0°F or as warm as single digits, I have more options.

Garlic definitely. Leeks and shallots. Parsley and arugula as mentioned, spinach, winter hardy varieties of mustard greens, and Asian greens (Tatsoi, Misome) are what I'm experimenting with this year. Greens benefit from frost cover like floating covers, or you could put up row tunnels. Watch out for slugs. When planted earlier, like you did with the swedes, cold hardy varieties of carrots, beets, and radishes could stay in the ground until just before the ground freezes and are sweeter for it.

I'm also going to try putting in young transplants of broccoli for overwintering under protection.

I'm also working to extend the season beyond first frost with strategic use of frost cover and plastic sheeting covered low and medium tunnels. Is that something you might consider trying?

[Bobberman]

Just make a shelter with double plastic and add a few 100 gallons of water drums to hold the day heat through the night. You now have a solar geenhouse that very seldom will go below 32 degrees!

[!potatoes!]

The coldest I have had here is -10 in January, but that is not all of the time. Though our winters are getting worse. I have been told by a friend that I can grow garlic as long as I keep it under cover. so I am going to give that a go, but any other suggestions will be welcome.

just for clarity's sake, is that fahrenheit or celsius/centigrade? I know many of the figures thrown out in this thread have been in F, but I'd guess in cardiff, you're probably generally using C? just so we're actually using the same language ...(-10F=-23.3C, -10C=14F)

as far as garlic goes, even at -10 F, with decent mulch it should be fine over the winter without plastic. it's pretty hardy stuff.

[Artemesia]

Most of the good fall and winter vegetables have been listed.
The only ones left I can think of are:
Tendergreens (mustard spinach cross) - will literally grow all winter. Very rich in calcium. Cook to reduce the bitterness.
Fava and peas will grow well into the early winter if you get the right varieties.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, the garlic sails through my winters with no protection but some mulch. Last year I planted spinach and broccoli seeds in mid-Oct. They sprouted, but it was too late in the year for them to get very big. But we had a very mild winter last year and they overwintered just fine and started growing again very early in spring (actually late winter). I had the best spinach crop ever! The spring planted spinach never lasts very long: as soon as it warms up, which is pretty early here, the spinach bolts and is done. The fall planted spinach lasted and lasted and was healthy and more productive than I had ever seen.

[ACW]

I am from London UK so climate is reasonably similar ,
don't do a lot of winter gardening as its prime time for Grayling fishing which is all part of my seasons and its great way to get out of town.
However I do sow broad beans for the spring and grow a fair bit of Chard which over winters well even in the last few winters that have been rather colder than normal .
My garlic does over winter but they don't seem to bulk up ,guess I need to improve my clayey soil even more .

[Cheryl Litchfield]

Thank you all for your great suggestions. Hi 'potatoes' it is centigrade yes -10 C, I will try out some of your suggestions about how to protect the vegetables from the cold and frost. I am now going to keep my other half really busy, going to get him to build me all protective frames for the winter. He doesn't like gardening but is a dab and with a saw and a drill.

Anyway I am going to spend some time out looking for some of the plants you all suggested for me to grow and will give it a go. Fingers crossed I get some of it right if not all and end up with a nice winter crop to fill us all up with.

Thanks for all those suggestions.

[applestar]

@ACW - make sure you are planting correct garlic variety for your region. Where you are, you need to plant long-day variety which is triggered by lengthening days in the summer to form bulbs. Size of the individual cloves depend on the variety as well.

But you are right that they benefit from more nitrogen during the growing season than you might think for a "root" crop -- the cloves are fed by the leaves so bigger the leaves, the better size to the garlic bulb. They also do better with more sun.

[ACW]

Applestar,thanks for the input .
the big problem with my garden is shade from the huge mature trees that surround it .The sunny spots are at a premium and get used for Zucchini ,peppers and Tomatoes.Garlic beans and garlic get squeesed in where ever there is space oh along with chard which seems to do well .

[rainbowgardener]

But if your climate is anything like mine, which it sounds like it might be, the tomatoes and peppers are about done for the season. I just pulled mine and am busy replanting the space.

[applestar]

Rainbowgardener has a point. You might be able to get garlic and the hot weather crops to share the space since you'll be planting garlic now and hot weather crops will be small transplants when you plant them in late spring/early summer, and garlic might be harvested by the time the hot weathers have their growth spurt and start casting significant shade/take over?

...unless you are already using those in between spaces for something else.

[ACW]

Your right there will pull the tomatoes and Zuchini mid October and try some garlic where they have been ,
Cant do much before mid month as away to Scotland chasing salmon {hurah}

[jal_ut]

Grow through winter? Good question. Here you don't grow anything through winter. Too cold. Garlic and Egyptian onions can be planted in the fall for growing first thing in the spring. Depends on your climate.