Comments on A Growing Tradition: The Winter Garden - An Update (Part One)

In my opinion the modern winter garden is usually ...

2011-07-10T10:07:06.318-04:00

In my opinion the modern winter garden is usually a garden planted either to produce food, or at least to remain visibly planted and slowly develop, throughout the winter, or else a garden whose plants will serve as living decoration all winter.

The spinach look lovely!! Yum.

2010-02-10T17:48:41.527-05:00

The spinach look lovely!! Yum.

Thomas, your winter garden is amazing. Can't b...

2010-02-10T15:05:53.737-05:00

Thomas, your winter garden is amazing. Can't believe all that you do with it. Gorgeous spinach. I've never tried the Russian kales. I'm sold on Scotch Dwarf Blue Curled Vates. I planted seeds in fall of 2007, and the plants are still going strong. They're like little trees now, but the younger leaves are still good.

Hopefully the laggers will size up quickly for you...

2010-02-10T08:36:53.777-05:00

Hopefully the laggers will size up quickly for you come Spring, and you will be enjoying fresh greens while the rest of us are working the soil!

That Red Russian sure does look good, I ordered White Russian seeds this year as well. LOVE the Russian Kales!

Kitsap, that's true. While the soil under the ...

2010-02-10T07:20:02.642-05:00

Kitsap, that's true. While the soil under the quickhoop is pretty much frozen, the soil under my hoops is just frosty and remains loose most of the time.

The overwintered spinach beds both look good - but...

2010-02-09T23:37:52.274-05:00

The overwintered spinach beds both look good - but it does not surprise me that the extra protected bed is doing better. More important than ambient air temperature... is the soil temps. The extra insulation of a double cover probably really increases the heat retention of the soil.

great photos, Thomas. You are an inspiration for a...

2010-02-09T22:28:27.139-05:00

great photos, Thomas. You are an inspiration for anyone thinking about gardening year-round.

Your winter crops have really done well, they look...

2010-02-09T20:24:25.888-05:00

Your winter crops have really done well, they look great. We have yet to have a good snow cover so my season extended never sealed fully at the bottom edge. This in turn caused a lot of damage when the frigid weather hit. Looks like we may get that covering of snow tomorrow though, just a little late...

I agree with your idea to plant the kale closure together. I am going to stick everything close together this fall to counter the fact that things grow so slowly.

Thomas..amazing for the east coast..the hoop house...

2010-02-09T20:01:17.154-05:00

Thomas..amazing for the east coast..the hoop house..it must be really warm in there..
beautiful looking produce, my friend.....

more later,
kary

You've done a great job, Thomas! I, being in t...

2010-02-09T18:20:55.215-05:00

You've done a great job, Thomas! I, being in tropical climate, consider myself a waste when compare to you! I admire you and am glad I found your blog.

I'll definitely be back.

Thomas, I think it is absolutely amazing what you ...

2010-02-09T13:08:51.699-05:00

Thomas, I think it is absolutely amazing what you have accomplished with your garden; I never imagined that one could do that in MA - in the winter- and with no heat. You inspire me (and even at my age). lol

By the way, I thanked you over on my blog for the wonderful seeds. Can't wait to see their little hands waving above the soils surface.

There's no doubt in my mind a double layer wou...

2010-02-09T12:23:26.125-05:00

There's no doubt in my mind a double layer would help considerably since air is a great insulator (the void between the two layers). And abrigon is still light enough to let plenty of light through. Definitely something to consider for my climate, if ever I dare venture into winter gardening ! Nice.

We garden in a climate similar to yours and also g...

2010-02-09T09:34:35.761-05:00

We garden in a climate similar to yours and also grow spinach and various other greens under our row covers. I might have to try the double layer thing, as you did, next winter. Our spinach does not start growing until March when the weather warms a bit.

Isn't kale great! The white Russian does just as well for us as the red.

That is interesting about the row covers adding so...

2010-02-09T09:26:28.739-05:00

That is interesting about the row covers adding so much more to the equation. We have had some decent snow this year, but nothing very heavy. I need to bite the bullet and just build something this year.

vrtlarica - I'm figuring out that a large part...

2010-02-09T08:24:22.027-05:00

vrtlarica - I'm figuring out that a large part of winter gardening is picking plants that will just ride out the weather. You're right, only a few plants are hardy enough to grow during winter.

Daphne - Daphne, I thought about that too but evidently, light doesn't appear to be too great of an issue. I tried not to go too heavy on the agribon material. Also, with the leaves gone, my garden actually gets more hours of direct sunlight during the winter.

Ken - Thanks for the kind words. I've had to make an adjustment to my hoop house design with the addition of a cross bar. Luckily, it seems to be doing the trick. Even though we haven't had more than a foot of snow at a time, they seem to be holding up to that. I would love to have a high tunnel next winter as well. You could probably accomplish even more with one.

Erin - luckily, winds haven't been too much of an issue for me, unless the houses are vented open. I hope you do yet your hoop houses again one day!

I so wish I could do hoop houses again, although I...

2010-02-09T08:14:54.544-05:00

I so wish I could do hoop houses again, although I have learned my lesson 2 years in a row here on the coast. Sustained 30-40 mph winds for the entire winter ensure that won't happen. Until I can get a real hard sided structure, I will have to be jealous of yours! Everything looks great!

Glad to see that your winter garden is doing so we...

2010-02-09T07:01:22.114-05:00

Glad to see that your winter garden is doing so well. Your work has been an inspiration to me. I built 3 hoop houses over raised beds last fall to overwinter some veges. The winter has been brutal on them, though. The first big snow fall was 3 feet of heavy wet snow. The hoops houses didn't stand a chance, they collapsed under the weight. Two of them bounced back after the snow was cleared. Unfortunately, we've had 3 more heavy, deep snow falls since then. Each one took the hoops houses down. This spring I plan to build a high tunnel hoop house. I think this will be able to withstand the deep snows better. I'm making a list of the varieties that have been successful for you to try next winter. Thanks for sharing your experiences. - Ken

It is interesting that the double layer really add...

2010-02-09T06:59:11.413-05:00

It is interesting that the double layer really adds so much. I wouldn't think it would since it also cuts out the light. It looks like things are going pretty well for you.

Winter gardening has been very productive for you....

2010-02-09T02:13:10.333-05:00

Winter gardening has been very productive for you. Spinach looks wonderful. Next year I will have to try to grow it also. There are not much greens that will actually grow during winter. Most of them will, like your pak choi, just wait for spring.