Gardening in the Winter, Fall

Does anyone have a fall, winter garden. My garlic has come up, & my cucumbers are starting to make. I need to plant onion seeds soon.

https://allthingsplants.com/blogs/view/Gymgirl/

^^_^^

great stuff going on for sure there GG. I dont think im going to get any beets from my Bull's Blood variety, no stem bulbing going on at all, but now the golden beets beside it are starting to. This friday comes a big chilly blast, a whole weeks worth of days in the 40's, and nights in the 20s

Jmc1987,
Just put a pvc hoop over the plants. They should be fine! Long as you don't have sustained freezes (more than 3-4 days/nights in a row) of below 30° temps, they should do ok.

I'm heading home to bring in the seed flats overnight. Planning on transplanting a bunch of stuff this weekend, and sure don't need it killed overnight, LOL!

its going to be 32 degrees tonight & in the morning in Houston, Texas. I have old bed sheets covering my cucumbers, which are just now blooming. I'll let you know if they freeze. I have also wrapped my orange trees with sheets. They usually freeze the leaves off, so I finally decided to cover them all throu winter. Maybe , now I might have blooms in the Spring, & oranges in the Fall of next year.

Jmc1987-posted that the next week is supposed to have lows in the 20s with highs in the 40s. That's much cooler for a longer period of time. I don't know if hoop house will work in the conditions he has posted. I never cover mine, once they are established. When I sow beets in the fall they never mature until the spring, I have no idea why....now I just sow them in the spring.

I brought my seedling trays into the garage last night, and covered everything else under blankets on the covered patio, in a protected corner.

Today, I will put up all the hoops, and cover them with the perforated plastic sheeting I got from Territorial Seed Company. Once the plastic is up, it won't come down until spring. I purchased those cheapie mover's blankets from Harbor Freight, with will throw them over the sheeting, as necessary, for the overnight dips.

I've observed that, as long as there's a reasonable break in the dips below freezing, e.g. nighttime in the 20s but highs (with, hopefully, some sunshine) the next day upwards into the 40s, the plants do fine. It's multiple days in a row of total freezing temps, night AND day that does the damage.

Also, give everything a good deep watering before the temp dips. I've read that most of the damage done is due more to plant dehydration than the actual cold. The plants need reserve moisture to keep their tissues from freezing, or something to that effect.

Finally, remember not to let any leaves touch any plastic. Where it does touch, there will be freezer burn. If needed, put an old sheet on first, then overlay with your plastic sheeting, then the blankets. That much layering for a short period should keep everything ok.

LMK how it goes.

1lisac,
I just tranplanted beets last Sunday, and they are taking off in this cool weather. I will cover the bed they're in with the perforated plastic. It'll be relatively comfortable underneath, averaging around 40°-50° underneath, depending on the ambient temp outside the hoop. I vent both ends for airflow, plus, there are holes every 6" on the sheeting. You can see the transplants in the pic below, on the left side of the cabbages.

Linda
Thumbnail by Gymgirl





This message was edited Nov 14, 2014 10:11 AM

All my cool weather veggies are doing fine and I haven't covered any of them. I've lived here for 20 yrs and never cover any of them. I don't have trouble with the beets germinating, they just don't bulb up until spring....all my friends in this area have the same issue. Who knows, we just think of it as normal.

Update:
Pic #1 Cabbages, and collard seedlings
Pic #2 Arcadia Broccoli
Pic #3 Beets (closeup)
Pic #4 Carrots in a container
Pic #5 Cabbages (in containers)

This message was edited Nov 25, 2014 10:50 AM

Been a long time since I've posted on Daves. I like to garden in the fall and winter. I raise cabbage, kale, broccoli, mustard greens, turnips, rutabagas, lettuce and carrots. The biggest cabbage I've cut weighed 7 pounds, the rest have gone between 5 and 6 pouds. Broccoli is doing great 2 primary head weighed 2 pounds even. The rest about 1 1/2 pounds. We had the cold when you guys did but it didn't damage anything but bit the mustard. My experience with lettuce (loose leaf) is let it freeze, it doesn't hurt it and will come back fresh with a couple of warm days. Carrots really like the cold and not even the tops get bit back.