Do you like to Garden?
Hope you are staying warm with these cold winter days! Today I am sharing my winter garden. This is my second winter garden and am still learning, but I love the challenge! I read about a gardener several years ago in Canada who winter gardens and decided if they can do it so can I. To say the least, I was totally interested! This year I am growing several types of lettuce, a microgreen, cabbage, onions, peas and carrots. Microgreens are a new plant for me. I am growing, Beet Early Wonder Tall Tops. These are a mild beet flavored leaf, advertised as easy to grow, easy to harvest, and delicious. They are also high in nutrients! The microgreens are pictured here and some are still popping up. Cannot wait for them to grow and try them! I will probably place them in my salads.
Several of these plants are forgiving as they enjoy the cooler weather.
So what exactly is the method of winter gardening? Not sure I do it like the pros, but I usually begin planting in the early fall in a raised bed. This gives the seeds time to get a good start. As the weather gets cooler, I leave the raised beds uncovered until the first frost. I then place five gallon buckets in the bed around the bed, but not over the plants. I lay plastic over the buckets, cover the plastic with heavy cardboard. Over the cardboard, I lay three layers of sheets or any cloth material, using all these items as insulators. Using the buckets elevates the insulation so the snow and ice do not crush the plants. Make sure the cloth material is tucked in the bed and maybe weighted so the wind does not pick it up and blow it off the garden bed. On sunny warmer days in winter, I uncover the bed and let the plants enjoy the warmth of the sun. Last winter, I harvested lettuce until New Years Eve. I then insulated the bed up and when warmer weather arrived, I still had lettuce growing. I must say it does grow at a much slower pace in the winter garden. This year I planted some of my seeds later than usual. I am anxious to see how these plants fair. These pictures , taken in December, are some of the plants growing in my winter garden.
I love gardening whether it be vegetables or flowers. I enjoy growing unusual seeds as well.
Next winter give this winter gardening thing a try. I will warn you it is a bit of work, covering and uncovering, but so worth it. Let me know if you decide to try this and share your results! I would love to hear them.
Until spring, hopefully this will help the gardener in you like it does for me. Have an awesome day!
Talk to you soon!
Angie
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