![]() ![]() Savoy (deeply crinkled) types tend to be more cold-hardy than flat-leaf varieties, so try Tyee or Winter Bloomsdale for your winter garden. If your goal is to harvest salads all winter long, however, you’ll want to grow spinach under a medium to heavyweight frost cover so it keeps producing. ![]() It overwinters easily in my zone (6b in the Central Oregon high desert) without protection, and bounces back in early spring with renewed vigor.Ĭolder climates may see their crop die back after a hard freeze, but sprout new leaves in spring. So if you never thought about growing food in winter, hopefully this list will inspire you to try!ĭespite its tender leaves, spinach is a tough little plant. On the other hand, if you live someplace that gets heavy snow cover all winter, your plants will be better insulated from the cold (though growing them under cover will make harvesting easier). In these environments, your crops will do better with some type of protection against the elements. They don’t take into account cold, drying winds or cold, wet weather, both of which can destroy plants quicker than cold temperatures alone. The killing temperatures listed below are merely guidelines. Now, keep in mind that cold tolerance will depend on your particular climate, including soil conditions, rain, and snow. Some of them can even go unprotected all winter! That means no greenhouses, no cold frames-they’ll get through with just a simple low tunnel and a layer of frost cover, if that’s all you have. These crops are just as (if not more) cold-hardy as most kale varieties and don’t need a lot of babying in winter. There are plenty of vegetables that can survive a freeze in zones 6 or below, and even improve after multiple freezes. This is all part of being prepared ahead of time for best gardening success.Ĭheck out these cold-weather growing methods to extend your growing season.If you think winter gardening involves months of eating kale, think again. The beauty of paying attention to the weather is that you can harvest your crops, even things like unripe tomatoes, and bring them in to continue ripening inside your house.īefore getting into the list of veggies that are frost-hardy and which aren’t, another gardening must is getting a jump start on early spring gardening, and also doing these must-do garden tasks to prepare the gardens for winter. As those temperatures start dipping down at night, these crops will no longer grow and you may not get any fruit off them at all. Warm weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, etc. Similarly, if you plant your crops too late in the summer, as fall approaches, you may not have enough growing time for the crops to come to maturity before the cold weather hits. This is no good for anyone, especially when you’ve already spent all that time planting and tending to them. If you plant too early in the spring, some of your crops may have enough warmth to germinate and even sprout, but if they get hit at a young stage with a frost, they won’t be able to tolerate the cold and will die. If you find you’re losing your crops to a frost, whether it’s a light frost or a killing frost, you may have planted either too early or too late. ( Learn how to start seeds indoors for the best success here.) This is fantastic for knowing when to start seeds indoors, as well as when to transplant those starts into the garden without fear of frost. After a few years, you’ll be able to use your own data and follow the garden planner recommendations with more accuracy. Then do the same thing in the spring, record the date and year of your last frost date. In the fall, keep a record of your first frost each year, it’s as easy as writing down the year and the date of that first frost. Having your own records is the best way to get a good understanding of the seasons where you live. Your general average first and last frost dates by zip code are helpful, but where we live there are several microclimates, and many gardens freeze well before others throughout the county. You must first know your average first and last frost dates for a garden planner to be helpful, so we love keeping records of our first and last frost dates in a garden journal. This little calendar will give you a good window for understanding when the right times are to plant various crops. If you’ve been following us for long, you know we’re avid proponents of using a garden planner, we happen to love Clyde’s Garden Planner. ![]()
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