Winter gardening - hoop house suggestion?
Bonnie
I'm putting in my winter garden and am looking at options to keep it
'warm' over the wet and cold months. I'm thinking of putting a home-
made hoop house over my 5'x10' bed, but don't know how much plastic
sheeting to get to cover it. I'm thinking it should be 4" talk at the
apex. Can anyone give me an idea of how much I need and if this is a
good option? I am mulching with clean straw, too.
I was thinking of cover cropping my other bed, but it seems too late
to do that. Thoughts? I may just mulch it and let it be until early
spring.
I'd also be interested in knowing what others are doing for a winter
garden.
(I went to the NW Permaculture Conference last weekend and one of the
things I learned is that I really can have a productive, though slow
growing, winter garden! Being from the mid-west, it was a hard concept
for me to really 'get' before then.)
Thanks!
Bonnie
steff
I have a 3 by 8 foot bed, with hoops that are about 3 feet high--which
seems
plenty high for most plants and is easily covered by 3 mil clear
plastic
sheeting sold at various outlets (like Fred Meyers). When we have
extra
cold snaps, I lay a blanket over the top. Some plants survive better
than
others, eg. collards, kale, root veggies--some might freeze but
reappear in
the spring like chard. Mulch is definitely a good idea also.
It is getting late, but you could still plant cover crops, except for
fava
beans. It's been my experience that they need a bit of growth (6")
to
survive the winter--even then a hard freeze might kill them. Austria
field
peas and crimson cover are my favorites to plant--the sooner the
better.
I've found that even if they don't sprout in the fall, some of the
seeds
winter over and sprout in the early spring. But there are other
options you
could consider also.
As an alternative, mulching as you suggested is fine, which leaves you
the
option of composting your kitchen scraps directly in the bed during
the
winter--pull mulch to one side, dig shallow hole, put in a pile of
kitchen
scraps and recover with dirt and mulch. Repeat in different spots as
you
accumulate scraps and by the warm spring days your bed will have nice
rich
humus.
Hope this helps!
Steff
.
Cindy Koczy
Straw is mulch, isn't it?Or tree leaves?I would like to cover up my potatoes and carrots to over winter- at least for a few months!Can I do this with straw? Is there a certain kind I must buy- weed free?Who would have it? Cornell Farms, Jill?
Thanks for the tip on digging scraps,compost directly into the bed, it's a good idea Steff! I will try it. The squirrels wont want to dig it up will they?
I have harvested a few potato plants,3 different sorts- 2 purples and one red! I dug up potatoes as big as my hand is long!!! Thus far each plant produces about 12 lbs.It's like digging up big treasures! I am hooked on potato growing!Maybe it's my latent Irish tendency!
I took the patio umbrella and placed it in the tomato bed,it prevents the rain from splitting them, I am still enjoying fresh tomatoes.
Cindy
Ji...@nwveg.org
Bonnie - re winter gardening & hoop houses: I agree with Stephanie, that 3' should be a sufficient height, and using a blanket too if it gets especially cold. I think it is going to be hard to start much from seed this late, except for maybe mache (corn salad.) Starts of kale and collards and other hardy greens should do well, and possibly an overwintering variety of cabbage for a late spring crop. And garlic cloves can still be set out too, and won't need cover. My experience with favas is the opposite of Stephanie's - maybe it depends on the variety, or else I've used too much nitrogen (succulent growth) when my beans have been taller? I've had better luck with favas that haven't been more than 2" before cold sets in, as long as they have already germinated.
My microclimate is about 6 degrees cooler than Portland, plus we tend to get frigid east winds tearing through the garden. I haven't used hoop houses for years, but I do mulch (even kale) heavily in the years a super cold snap is predicted. I'll bury plants in leaves, and often put deep plastic buckets or bins over them, with a brick on top to anchor. Most years all carrots and beets get a mulch of leaves and wood chips just before the hard freezes we get anytime from late Nov. through January. Parsnips seem to do fine without.
Cindy - I have used straw too, leftover from when my son used to do archery. We bought it from Linnton Seed & Feed, out on Hwy 30. You want straw rather than hay, as hay will have lots of seeds. I'm not a big fan of it, as it gets really slimy in our wet climate, and doesn't compost very quickly. I know lots of people like leaving potatoes in the ground, but I hate mucking about in the soil during winter, so I dig all mine in the fall. I store them in paper grocery bags in an unheated room in our house. I'm really envious of your huge harvests - what are you using to fertilize, and how much?
Cindy Koczy
, but I have since lost track of it.The potato patch area was the recipient of most of the kitchen compost in early spring- the soil is so beautiful now, and teaming with life!I had our dirt tested before I planned the garden, it showed that we needed supplements of lime,I purchased green sand and alfalfa pellet too- all from Concentrates, Inc.I rather like to apply when I feel it's needed, not an exact science for me,but everything is green,growing, thriving and taste's delicious!! Frost is expected tonight,I will be blanketing my collard greens, and pick the last of the green beans, and second planting of pea pods.Take all the chances you can to load up on the Vit. D, the sun is shining ;)~
MAY YOUR EARTH WORMS PROSPER OVER THE WINTER!
Cindy
Ji...@nwveg.org
Cindy,
No need to blanket your collards unless we get a major deep freeze - light frosts will make collards, kale and Brussels sprouts a lot sweeter. Your peas may weather it just as well too, but it doesn't hurt to be more careful with them.
I am so enjoying this weather! It's nice to work out in the garden when it's not wet and drippy. I finally got my garlic in over the weekend, prepared the bed where I'll plant early spring peas, and took a gamble and planted out some fava seed. I also scattered a lot of orach and mache (corn salad) seed around, and noticed that mache I left to self-sow from last spring is coming up nicely. It will make it through whatever winter tosses at it without blinking.
Jill
From: Cindy Koczy
[mailto:cindy...@gmail.com]
Subject: Re: [VEG] Re: Winter
gardening - hoop house suggestion?
Bonnie Hildebrand
I'm in a mad rush to finish my hoop house today to protect those delicate plants in my winter garden.
I bought a home soil testing kit and turns out the ph of my main bed is about 7 (not exact, as it's a color match test). I decided against any amendments (though I could have added a little iron to bring the ph down .5, but I thought what I planted would be fine without it.)
I did notice that there were no earthworms in my bed where I dug. I don't understand why. Can I get earthworms to add to the garden? Should I just move some that are in my other bed into this bed?
Jill, do you just scatter orach or do you plant? If you scatter, do you mulch over it?
Bonnie
Bonnie Hildebrand
Re: orach, do you mulch over what you scatter? I have some orach seed and would like to use it for my side garden. I'm going to pull out the volunteer tomatoes and carrots early this week and want to get something in.
Bonnie
steff
I prefer to use leaves as my winter mulch (sometimes I keep them from
being blown around by covering with a black, woven ground cloth (cheap
and reusable) weighted down with a few bricks or if you have it,
burlap is supposed to be good and degradable). I've read recently
that straw, hay and other animal fodder is now frequently grown with
biosolids (sewer sludge), which can contain heavy metals and other
contaminants. In fact, I think it's even being used to grow human
crops in some cases now (unless organic). Peter would know more about
this. Tree leaves are so plentiful this time of year. I gather as
much as I can, and take my neighbors too. I fill plastic or paper
yard debris bags with leaves and leave (pun intended) them to
overwinter and turn into leaf mold by spring. Makes a great
amendment.
I don't have any trouble with squirrels digging for kitchen scraps.
They do tend to dig little holes everywhere looking for and burying
walnuts from the local trees. But the scraps don't seem to attract
any wildlife, even raccoons and opposums--which we do have in the
neighborhood. I tend to let my scraps sit in closed produce bags in a
covered bucket on my porch until I get around to digging them into the
soil. By then they are fermenting like pickles (similar to the
Bokashi method?) and perhaps not appealing to wildlife.
It sound like you are doing things right and that your garden is very
productive.
Steff
>
> - Show quoted text -
steff
You can move earthworms to your bed if you want. Just make sure you
have plenty of organic matter (eg, mulch for them and they will
stay). Or by putting organic material (esp, burying kitchen scraps)
"they will come."
Steff
>
> >> Bonnie - re winter gardening & hoop houses: I agree with Stephanie,
> >> that 3' should be a sufficient height, and using a blanket too if it gets
> >> especially cold. I think it is going to be hard to start much from seed
> >> this late, except for maybe mache (corn salad.) Starts of kale and collards
> >> and other hardy greens should do well, and possibly an overwintering variety
> >> of cabbage for a late spring crop. And garlic cloves can still be set out
> >> too, and won't need cover. My experience with favas is the opposite of
> >> Stephanie's - maybe it depends on the variety, or else I've used too much
> >> nitrogen (succulent growth) when my beans have been taller? I've had better
> >> luck with favas that haven't been more than 2" before cold sets in, as long
>
> >> ** **
> >> My microclimate is about 6 degrees cooler than Portland, plus we tend to
> >> get frigid east winds tearing through the garden. I haven't used hoop
> >> houses for years, but I do mulch (even kale) heavily in the years a super
> >> cold snap is predicted. I'll bury plants in leaves, and often put deep
> >> plastic buckets or bins over them, with a brick on top to anchor. Most
> >> years all carrots and beets get a mulch of leaves and wood chips just before
> >> the hard freezes we get anytime from late Nov. through January. Parsnips
>
> >> ** **
> >> Cindy - I have used straw too, leftover from when my son used to do
> >> archery. We bought it from Linnton Seed & Feed, out on Hwy 30. You want
> >> straw rather than hay, as hay will have lots of seeds. I'm not a big fan of
> >> it, as it gets really slimy in our wet climate, and doesn't compost very
> >> quickly. I know lots of people like leaving potatoes in the ground, but I
> >> hate mucking about in the soil during winter, so I dig all mine in the fall.
> >> I store them in paper grocery bags in an unheated room in our house. I'm
> >> really envious of your huge harvests - what are you using to fertilize, and
>
> >> ** **
> >> ------------------------------- Hide quoted text -
Randy
Ji...@nwveg.org
Randy, welcome to our group - how did you find us? We're still a small group, primarily in the Portland, OR metro area. If you are in our area, we'll all need to compare notes next spring to see how all our winter garden strategies paid off (or not.)
Jill
Ji...@nwveg.org
Randy and everyone else too! If we want to reply to the whole group in threads we need to "reply all," or it just goes to the original sender. I've made that mistake a couple of times! So I'm passing Randy's reply to me (2nd down) on to everyone else, as I think many of you would like to see it.
Randy, I think Roseburg is colder but much sunnier than Portland, which is more zones 7 through 8, depending on elevation. We rarely get even partly sunny days here in the winter, and if we do it's usually right after the holidays and accompanied by strong winds and super cold weather coming from the East through the Gorge. It's the freezing wind that does in my winter greens, and having the ground frozen for a couple weeks does in most of my roots unless I heavily mulch. But I know people in other parts of Portland have more of a banana belt situation than I do in Northwest at 800'. Yet I'm still thinking that your rocks and water bottles would work better here in spring, which is a bit sunnier but can still use extra warmth, often into early July.
From: Randy Gogolin
[mailto:randy....@gmail.com]
Jill, I found you
gals/guys thru an Internet search for veganics and PNW. Most of my experience
is growing and being a vendor at the farmers market in Western North Carolina
(zone 6b-7a). I am however from Klamath Falls and am here visiting. People
think I'm nuts when I ask what they're growing now (zone 5?). My Dad lives
in Roseburg (much like Portland I think) and will be trying to push the season
there also this winter. I am intensely interested and pursuing growing fresh
365 veganically wherever I'm at.
btw if you would like to see some pics of what we've been doing with the mini
tunnels Backhome, I have a Facebook page called Mighty Mini Hoops
Randy