Your winter garden is an extension of your fall gardening efforts and you need to get started planting (either indoors or out) earlier than you might expect. You need to be planting seeds and seedlings for your fall and winter garden between 6 to 8 weeks before your average first frost date.
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are brassicas (also called Cruciferae) and the plants in this species are wonderful for the fall/winter garden. In fact, you can continue to harvest Brussels sprouts even after a snow. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are tolerant to about 26°F.
The fall is the best time to add compost or manure to your garden soil. There are many forms of nitrogen that can exist in compost or manure. Not all forms of nitrogen are forms that plants can use. Some forms of nitrogen need to be broken down by bacteria or other plants into forms that are usable.
Whether you're new to gardening, or a seasoned pro, building better soil is the single most important thing you can do to improve your gardening success. And fall is the best time to do it! To learn more, read Building Healthy Soil.
Fall and Winter LEAFY GREENS
A beautiful sampling of some of the leafy greens you can grow in your fall and winter garden, including different varieties of kale, spinach, lettuce, chicory, and even wild chickweed! Spinach is a very fast-growing, cool weather vegetable.
According to Myers, the hardiest vegetables that can withstand heavy frost of air temperatures below 28 include spinach, Walla Walla sweet onion, garlic, leeks, rhubarb, rutabaga, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage, chicory, Brussels sprouts, corn salad, arugula, fava beans, radish, mustard, Austrian winter pea and ...
Fall and winter vegetables can be started by seed from late August to mid-September, then transplanted into the garden later. Seeds should be started indoors where temperatures are cooler, then the seedlings slowly transitioned outside once temperatures cool down in early October.
Plant your fall vegetables so that the crops you choose have time to reach maturity before the first frost in your area. Find your first frost date, then count backward based on days to maturity for each type of veggie you want to grow. That's your ideal planting date.
Winter vegies need a rich and nourishing soil. Replenish the soil by adding animal manures and plenty of compost and lightly rake it through. Winter vegetables do well with cow manure and dolomite lime added, as well as a layer of pea straw, lucerne or sugar cane mulch on the surface.
Potatoes are a great winter-early spring crop and at this time of the year you will find seed potatoes available in local garden centers and on-line. And there's a potato planting solution for any sized garden! They can be planted in the ground in rows or in mounds, in containers, in potato bags, or in potato towers.
Tomatoes are a warm-season crop that dies back when cold temperatures threaten. This usually means no home-grown tomatoes in winter, unless you have a greenhouse. You can, however, grow tomatoes indoors, but they are usually smaller and produce less prolifically than their summer cousins.
Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) is a good choice for an outdoor winter plant because it's an evergreen that keeps its leaves on its branches all winter long. It's drought-tolerant and thrives in both full and partial sun. Hardy to Zone 4, Japanese yews can survive harsh winters.
Autumn is a great season for annuals, low-maintenance perennials and evergreen shrubs to shine. In fact, some of the most popular flowers, like colorful mums, roses, dahlias, purple pansies and yes, even bright yellow sunflowers, all bloom around September and October.
Although each plant's needs may vary and some will be more winter-hardy than others, in general about a month before the last fall frost is sufficient in giving the plant enough time to establish itself and take root.
Fall is a good time for developing tomatoes because the cooler temperatures allow for better fruit set and insect problems diminish. Mid-July to the end of August is the ideal time to plant. When choosing your fall tomatoes, make sure you know if you're selecting a Determinate or Indeterminate type.
On other edible crops, fresh manure applications should be made at least three months prior to harvest. With just a four month or so growing season, this means you should only apply fresh manure in the fall; not in the spring or during the growing season to any area that is or will be planted with food crops.
Fall is the best time to add compost to perennial gardens. Apply a top dressing of about an inch or 2 of compost. You can work it into the top few inches of soil or just leave it on top as mulch. Applying compost in autumn will give perennials a healthy boost for the coming spring.
Plants that are fertilized in the fall have an earlier green up, and regular fertilizing throughout the year makes for healthier plants in general. The same logic applies to your shrubs, trees and perennials: give them a nutritional boost before winter to help them bounce back vigorously in the spring.