Learn how to garden in winter both indoors and outdoors, even if you live in a cold climate.
Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t grow vegetables.
In fact, some vegetables taste better when grown during the winter.
Growing a garden during the winter months is the best way to make sure that you have a sufficient supply of fresh vegetables ready to harvest even if it is the weather outside if frightful.
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January is a good time to get started implementing your vegetable garden ideas.
Here are tips to help you get a head start on your early season vegetable garden.
Start planting cool season crops in the garden covering them with a cold frame or frost cover.
Get your seed starting supplies ready for the upcoming season.
For those who were unable to get into their garden in January due to snow and cold weather, there is plenty of time in February and even March to get a head start on the gardening season.
Seed catalogs are arriving almost daily in the mail reminding gardeners that spring is not far off.
It’s time once again to sit inside where it is warm and decide what vegetables, herbs and flowers to grow from seed.
For gardeners who plan to get an early start on the season, now is the time to place those orders so the seeds you want are not sold out or arrive at your home later than you want.
Even gardeners with a short growing season can begin planting some crops outside in mid-January as long as the ground is workable.
Cabbages as well as other leafy greens can be direct seeded around the 16th of January.
Plant seed potatoes that did not get planted in November or December now.
With winter sown potatoes, remember to plant them eight inches deep and use grass mulch both under the seed potato as well as on top of the seed potato.
Cover the mulch with about an inch of soil and by mid-summer you will be digging potatoes.
The key to success is to pre-sprout the seeds and use dry grass mulch under and on top of the seed potatoes.
Some gardeners prefer to place a small cold frame or a frost cover over anything they plant early in the season.
Although it is not necessary, using a cold frame will bring a faster harvest because of the heat buildup inside the cold frame.
It will also protect your seeds from being washed away by harsh rains, heavy snows or eaten by birds or other seed eating animals.
January is a good time to start cultivating and weeding the vegetable garden as long as the ground is not wet or frozen.
Weeds that were not removed last fall may still have seeds on them so it is a good idea to cover the seed head with a bag so the remaining seeds do not fall on the ground and germinate.
A weed seed can lie dormant for up to seven years before germinating.
This is also a good time to look at expanding your existing vegetable garden and adding a drip irrigation system.
Since there is not much to do in the yard or garden during this time of the year, cultivating an additional plot or adding an irrigation system can take priority.
Once the size of the garden plot has been decided you will have a better idea of how many plants to start from seed.
January is a good time to gather small pots, flats and row markers.
Flats and pots that were saved from last year will need to be cleaned and sterilized.
Hydrogen peroxide is a good choice for a sterilizer because, unlike bleach, if any residue remains it will not harm your seedlings.
Once your flats, pots and markers are clean and ready to go you can prepare your soil.
A good homemade seed starting mix consists of equal parts peat moss, vermiculite and perlite.
If you prefer not to mix your own soil, there are many good seed starting mixes on the market.
Avoid top soil because it is too compacted and the seeds will struggle to survive.
By the end of January, you should have a head start on the upcoming spring sowing season.
This early preparation will help you stay on schedule as the sowing season becomes more hectic.
Cool weather leafy greens and cabbages will have a head start, weeds will be taken care of, new plots will be cultivated and best of all, the flats and containers will be ready to go when you get ready to start germinating this year’s vegetable seeds.
I am located in Indiana, which is USDA Hardiness Zone 5/6.
With a little protection is is possible to have a year-round garden, even in a cold climate.
Gardening during the winter months has many advantages such as no pests plus the ability to harvest fresh cool season crops from your own garden instead of buying them at the store and paying a premium price.
Want know more?
Than check out The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening by Sheri Ann Richerson and Delilah Smittle.
I highly recommend the following articles:
Use the buttons in the upper right hand corner to share this article with friends or family who might find it useful. Pin the picture below to your pinboard on Pinterest for future reference.
Gardening in winter in a cold climate outdoors is possible if you are willing to grow cool weather crops and protect those crops with frost cover, cold frames or a similar structure.
It is a cold, snowy 16 degrees F here today however it is January 1 and I am harvesting and planting vegetables in my Indiana garden.
Below I share my tips on how I harvest and plant all year long.
My little unheated high tunnel is not in a protected area.
Behind it are the towers of the city water company however we get really strong crosswinds because of their open field being right across the street.
Last fall I planted some Wakefield Cabbage in there as well as some lettuce, spinach, snow peas and radish seed.
The lettuce and spinach seed did not germinate for some reason, but the radish seed germinated and grew just fine.
Today, January 1, I harvested fresh radish from inside the high tunnel.
I did use frost cover inside of the high tunnel but I did not get the bottoms and ends secured to the ground.
If I had done that plus put an extra layer of 6 mil. plastic over the top of the frost cover, I am sure the harvest would have been better.
Some of the smaller radish were frozen and soft, so I put those in the compost pile.
The cabbages faired pretty well, although I suspect they will bolt come spring, however that is ok because I will let them set seed so I can save it to plant later this summer when I start the plants for my fall and winter garden.
The best thing about saving the seed is it is adapted to my climate which means the plants grown from it are going to do better in my garden.
One huge mistake I made was closing the high tunnel up too early last fall which meant the inside was much warmer than what cool crops like it.
I was in a hurry and not really thinking about venting it on warm days.
That caused some plants to bolt early because it was much too warm inside the plastic.
After harvesting the radishes and pulling up any tiny weeds that were trying to sprout, I used my handy circle hoe to work the top of the ground.
The soil was quite dry and easy to work which is always nice.
The next thing I did was water the raised beds.
I did not drench the soil, I just gave it a gentle watering with a watering can.
The top half inch or so of the soil needs to be damp enough that the seeds begin to germinate.
In another couple of days, I will go back out and give the soil another sprinkling of water.
It is important to make sure the soil stays moist anytime you are trying to germinate seeds.
The established plants need enough moisture to thrive, but not so much that they end up water logged.
Learning exactly how often to water and how much water to apply is essential to winter gardening success.
My rule of thumb is to apply just enough water to wet the top inch or so of soil and not to water again until that soil begins to look – and feel – dry.
This year I made two beds inside this high tunnel.
One is half filled with cabbage and the other half of that bed is where the radish are.
I left one bed unplanted. I chose seeds from Renee’s Garden to plant in that bed.
I planted Romeo Round Baby Carrots and Asian Baby Leaf Gourmet Mesclun Salad.
Both of these should do fine.
I do not expect the seeds will germinate immediately, but once the weather outside begins to warm up the inside of the high tunnel is going to get warm enough to encourage the seeds to sprout.
This means I am going to be harvesting these crops several weeks before it is warm enough to plant these same crops outside without protection.
I am located in Indiana, which is USDA Hardiness Zone 5/6.
With a little protection is is possible to have a year-round garden, even in a cold climate.
Gardening during the winter months has many advantages such as no pests plus the ability to harvest fresh cool season crops from your own garden instead of buying them at the store and paying a premium price.
Want know more?
Then check out The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening by Sheri Ann Richerson and Delilah Smittle.
I highly recommend the following articles:
Use the buttons in the upper right hand corner to share this article with friends or family who might find it useful. Pin the picture below to your pinboard on Pinterest for future reference.
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