How to Plant your Fall & Winter Garden

Mid to late summer is the perfect time to get your fall/winter garden crops in the ground.

There are a few things to consider when planning and planting your fall and winter garden. Some things that make year-round growing a success are:

• Knowing what your growing zone (click here for Canada) and weather is like during these months
• What season extenders you’re planning on using (if any, warmer climates can get away without them)
• Choosing the right crops
• Succession sowing to get the right timing

Planning your Fall & Winter Garden

I’ve found some invaluable resources for planning and planting our fall and winter gardens, some of them are books, others are free resources provided by my favorite seed company. Be sure to check out these great posts too:

Niki Jabbour’s book ‘The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener: How to Grow Your Own Food 365 Days a Year No Matter Where You Live’

West Coast Seeds Garden Planting Charts

The one below is for our area but they have many areas in both U.S & Canada

Eliot Coleman has fantastic books for year-round growing

Choosing the Right Crops

Before & after heavy frosts: ‘January King’ Heirloom Cabbage

Many crops thrive in cooler weather and some are frost tolerant. Other crops can handle light or even hard freezes and with the added protection of season extenders can be harvested during the winter months.

Leeks and root crops benefit from being mulched with straw during the colder months. Remember the lower to the ground the crops are the less exposed to the elements they’ll be: for example shorter baby leaf kale versus the taller ones. There are certain varieties for each crop that will have better frost tolerance too. For example ‘Winter Density’ lettuce is a romaine lettuce meant for colder temperatures whereas many of the other varieties aren’t suited for your fall and winter garden.

Many fall and winter crops ‘rebound’ after thawing out from freezes.

Cathy over at Mother of a Hubbard (soon to be Gardening under Cover) has a great video of how they rebound after frosts.

Using Season Extenders

Here’s some info on building & using season extenders:

Conclusion

I hope this information helps you grow more food year-round. Adding extra months to your gardening season reduces your grocery bills by increasing your produce window. It’s definitely worth the time to learn

Original article and pictures take http://www.familyfoodgarden.com/how-to-plant-your-fall-winter-garden/ site