Umm, did you notice the name of this forum? It's called FOUR season vegetable gardening because people produce veggies pretty much year-round- outside. Thus, there is no "off-season".

Wow, in zone 7 you hardly have an "off" season at all!

Two books got me into 4 season gardening, one called Jeff Ball's 60 Minute Vegetable Garden, and another, the Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. The FSH is on a grander scale, and also expects you to do more experimenting to get the timing right. The 60MVG actually has some schedules, although Jeff Ball's garden is reported to be in zone 6. However, he gives his average first and last frost dates, so I can simply back out a month on either end and have a good estimate. The FSH talks about high tunnels (unheated greenhouses) and cold frames, while the 60MVG talks about low tunnels (plastic covered hoops over each bed) and cloches, which also makes it more friendly for my scale of gardening.

I live on a mountain side, which makes for a cooler summer than most at my latitude. The usual summer crops don't really start producing until late August here, while I need to plant my fall/winter garden in late July and early August to have it harvestable by first frost. Then the plants just hold in the garden (covered by a low tunnel) for harvest through the fall and into the winter. When the summer garden bites the dust in late September or early October, I clean up the garden like everyone else (but then I spoil it all by planting a BUNCH of garlic), mulch well, and basically shut down the back yard garden for the year.

Oh, did I mention that the fall/winter garden is in the front yard, just steps from the front door. When it snows in the winter, I know I will shovel the front walk, so it makes sense to put the fall/winter crops where I can get to them easily. While the weather is nice, the garden is uncovered, and is planted with diagonal lines of different vegetables in different colors. This year the main ones were green lettuce, red lettuce, green kale, and ruby chard. A few volunteers self-seeded, so I also have some mustard, carrots, and spinach. Oh, and two pea vines, which have been surprisingly hardy. It was quite decorative until I covered the bed (which is only 3ft by 7ft) in early November. I mulch heavily, so after transplanting, I had very little to do other than watering (I live in an arid climate). Weeding is an occassional chore, and usually no problem in the mulched soil.

My only "gardening" chore for the last month or more is harvesting. We have been eating the lettuce and some chard for quite a while, and have just made the first big harvest of kale.

The 60MVG says to plant 2 4ft by 8ft beds of fall/winter crops per person in the family. I'm the only adult in my household, with 6 yo twins, and this is the first year I can tell that my little 3ft by 7ft bed is WAY too small.

Catherine

catherine_nm
Thanks for the information on those books. I enjoyed reading your post. My garden is now all EarthBoxes. The 'summer' EarthBoxes are now in winter hibernation but the fall/winter EBs are growing garlic, chard, kale and cabbage. This is my first year with EB so I do not know how it will turn out but I am enjoying the kale and cabbage leaves. I do not know if cabbage will head in fall/winter because I planted them in September.

I will plant in my front yard in 2008. I plan to put some rhubarb and rhubarb chard in the front because it is so pretty when it grows. Tomorrow I am going to Google those books -- it will be great winter reading/research.

DL

I, too, was inspired by Coleman in his books TFSH and The New Organic Grower. TNOG is a bit more technical than TFSH for the home gardener, but it is a wonderful read no doubt. This fall I erected a 14' x 24' hoop house with no heat. In it I have planted a variety of lettuces-- 'Jericho,' 'Black Seeded Simpson,' 'Buttercrunch,' 'Deer Tongue,' 'Really Red Deer Tongue,' 'Freckles,' 'Galisse,' and several more. I also have 'Bull's Blood' beet, a couple of spinaches (I need to sow more), 6 plants of 'Redbor' kale, and 'Napoli' carrots planted. Probably the best crop in the house right now are the three 'January King' cabbages I am overwintering in there. THEY ARE HUGE!!! One is about 2.5 feet in diameter, and this is almost December.

I also put a 4' x 8' wooden cold frame in there. That is where I have a few seed trays. I am also experimenting to see if I can overwinter coleus cuttings and begonia plants in there. Although it has double cover, I will probably have to bring them in some when it gets really cold. I have also experimented growing calendula in the hoop house. I have a few plants and they have bloomed some on and off this month. Right now, I can see unopened blooms on them. I am waiting for it to get warmer so they will open. Also, I sowed some hardier greens the other day that I will be harvesting in January. That's what I'm doing.

Well, I've come here to this forum for the first time because I wish I could garden in four seasons...my dream.

This thread is just what I needed.
I'm still eating chard and kale and a few other greens that came with a mixed package of salad seeds from Johnnys Seeds which is up in Maine and specializes in plants that grow in cold climates. There is some dill and oregano and thyme which keeps on growing, and I eat viola leaves, too. Very nutrient-rich.

I have lights for indoor seed starting but I'm hesitant to grow food in potting mix/plant food solution...that's just me....maybe I could be persuaded. So I stick to the food that can winter in my soil outdoors, use a cold frame, and read catalogs and Gardening magazines. I keep in the groove that way.

We have a 12 X 30' hoophouse to extend the fall and spring seasons. When the ground in the hoop house freezes in winter (as is happening today), I cover everything with remay for extra protection and wait for a stretch of warm sunny days to get things going again. It might be next week or the next thaw might not happen until April.

Meanwhile, in the house, I've got potted herbs and cut and come again greens (arugua, lettuce, etc.) in all my east and south-facing windows. Tiny onions and shallots can be planted in pots for cutting too.

I've found that I can dig up a piece of perennial herbs like oregano, lemon balm, spearmint from the garden in fall and put them in pots. It's best to do it early enough so they can adjust to the pot outside for a while before bringing them in.

Tender herbs like basil and marjoram sometimes cooperate and let you dig them and bring them in too. This year I've got a pot of Thai basil indoors -- so far so good. My 20 year old Rosemary is trained as a standard. It goes into the ground in spring and gets potted up and brought in before winter. It loves the dry, circulating heat at a window next to the wood stove.

Lemon grass, bay, meyer lemon and key lime plants all live permanently in pots, going out in summer and back in for winter. Scale is a problem with the latter 3 but occasional treatment with neem oil in summer and washing leaves in the sink in winter, keeps them healthy.

For years I bought new organic potting soil for all these indoor pots but the last couple years I have dumped all used potting soil into a couple of old whiskey barrels outside and let the rain, air and outdoor micro-organisms, refresh the soil. When re-potting food plants to bring indoors, I add good compost and maybe some perlite if the soil seems too heavy. I add a squirt of fish and seaweed emulsion to my watering every week to keep the plants nice and green and producing new leaves even duing the short winter days. It works pretty well.

Also last year I started a small vermicomposting operation in a 5 gallon bucket in the house. It's not an optimal container, but the worms are doing their thing and they create really nice potting soil from leaves/wet newspaper and a little kitchen waste. Amazing.

We're going to start another vermicompost container and put the worms to work on our kitty litter (not for use on food plants!). The wood-based kitty litter is much nicer than the clay type and the worms should produce some good compost for use on ornamental plants outside.

One more very easy winter harvest tip: grow belgian endive. Grow them as a root vegetable that you harvest in fall. I crowd the harvested roots, leaf side up, into a large plastic pot, put potting soil around the roots, water, and put the pot into a 5 gal bucket. This goes into a perfectly dark place with temps around 60 F. In a couple months you have gorgeous little white heads of endive. I like to exuse myself before a winter dinner party "to harvest the salad from the bedroom closet."

faithling,
Wow!! You have a really nice system. I have a new Meyer Lemon and am so excited to see blooms starting!! I had the tree on my front steps for about a month and now it is in my only 'good' south window. I hope the blooms make lemons.

How did you start your 5 gallon wormbin?? I want to do this in my kitchen but can not find any info about how it is done inside. I have lots of shreaded paper and kitchen waste like coffee grounds and egg shells. Do you keep a lid on your bin?? Air holes for the worms?? Post a "how-to" if possible.

The blooms on the meyer lemons should make fruit but it takes almost a full year for the fruit to grow to size and ripen. I don't know if it's necessary but just to be on the safe side, and for fun, I help with pollinating the blossoms, either using a fingertip or a Q-tip.

I hesitate to offer advice on the worm bin since I've put very little effort or thought into vermicomposting. I googled on 'vermicomposting indoors' and found a lot of promising hits including the one here. But just to show you how easy it is, here's my story.

My neighbor gave me a quart of vermicompost filled with red worms last year and lent me her 'Worms Eat My Garbage' book that I quickly scanned. I then tore up some newspapers into strips and wet them down so they were damp but not dripping, filling the bottom of a 5 gallon pail about 6'. Then dumped in some kitchen refuse, a discarded potted plant with it's soil along with the worms. Then topped it with more damp shredded newspaper. I cut some cardboard in a circle to fit on top and wet it down a bit, then set the bucket cover lightly on top so air could still get in. No holes in the bucket -- but careful that water doesn't accumulate in the bottom and turn anaerobic and stinky.

I tend to forget about it for a couple months at a time, adding a little more kitchen waste and less often, newspaper or leaves when I think of it. This fall I started using the resulting, rich compost for my potted plants.

I haven't really figured out how to completely separate the worms from the compost except to expose the part I want to use to light, which repells the worms.

Here is a link that might be useful: vermicomposting directions

faithling,
Thanks for the vermicomposting info. Also for the info on pollinating the lemon blooms.

DL

In the winter we planted lettuce and carrots in a raised garden box. We kept it covered with glass and raised it as the plants grew. We also added timed released fertilizer to the soil. Below is a link to my garden site that I update pictures of my own garden if you want to check it out and click on articles that interest you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Sight Site

I build insulated cloches over my raised beds and raise cool season vegetables. I use a different cloche design than those found most winter gardening books with vertical south glazing and an insulated sloped northern side. The lettuce, spinach, komatsuna, broccoli, and other greens that come out of the cloche are of much better quality than those produced in open air culture since they have a constantly moist environment and their leaves stay clean since never get rained on. The cloches provide about 25 degrees F worth of protection (I still have tomotoes growing in them despite a 20 degree F low so far this winter) and they are built so I can slip in under the plastic glazing and tend to my plants in the warmth of the cloch (a nice benefit on a cold winter day). Under this protection, the plants keep growing well all winter, so I don't have an off season. I find that many Chimese vegetable varieties (such as Chinese spinach cultivars) are particularly productive during the short days of late fall/early winter. Usually when I take them down in the spring, I find spring peepers and other treefrogs have taken up residence inside the cloches.

Hi d.lemons
if you still have some room in your basement then google the word aquaponics. you can also find some video of it on
youtube.com ,I think you will enjoy this. jon

Off Season? Oh, you mean when I don't have to water, and only weed once in a while. We're rolling in food: the carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, chard, Chinese cabbage, and Brussels sprouts planted in late summer are all in full production. Flavored with the scallions and leeks planted at the same time.

I LOVE my winter garden. We're expecting the first frost of the year tonight; hoping it will kill off the aphids as well as sweetening up the parsnips.

I grow carrots and kale in my raised beds throughout fall and early winter. I microgreen veggies under lights during the winter. I grow lettuces and beets and chinese veggies in my shed that is converted to a greenhouse.

Winter doesn't stop me, I plan for it and grow during it.
~tom

I get the biggest garden bug during the middle of winter. and, then conversely, in the middle of summer, all the sudden I want to do inside hobbies--go figure!

I've been re-vamping the compost area and doing some greenhouse gardening. I also started my "fall cleanup" of the veggie garden (as in last fall--wee bit late, oh well) Sometimes the freezing temps make clean up easier (it's much easier to pick up a frozen solid tomato vs. a mushy rotted tomato.)