八月来了,我们很多人开始看着花园,带着悲伤的叹息。黄瓜正在逐渐凋零。番茄的生命力依然旺盛,但第一场霜冻(真的已经近在眼前了吗?)会让番茄(和秋葵)在明年之前都无法生长。夏天的南瓜又瘦又累,我们在想那些最后的花朵是否会及时成熟。
But wait! Your garden can yield another harvest this year — no need to let it turn into a wilted, brown graveyard. Many plants that thrive early in the spring can be planted again now, giving you both a late fall crop and an over-wintered spring harvest to banish the frost-nipped doldrums for sure.
Seasonal crop rotation, mulch, cold frames, and a bit of foresight will have you pulling fresh arugula, nutrient-packed greens, crisp peas, sweet beets, and parsnips from your cultivated plot as the autumn leaves fall. If you’re used to letting the garden go as summer wears thin, try something new this year with eight winter vegetables you can grow during the gardening “off” season.
Spinach
Did your spring planting of spinach leave you as disappointed as mine did? Our harvest was cut short by a wave of hot Ozark weather that sent many of my plants into bolting oblivion. But with fall comes a second chance at success.
Check outmy earlier article entirely dedicated to growing spinachand get your Popeye game on this winter!
Parsnips
近几十年来,这些甜根冬季蔬菜似乎已经不再受欢迎,但这只是意味着它们准备好了神奇的回归。在精制糖进入欧洲市场之前,这些颜色苍白、像胡萝卜一样的蔬菜曾被用作甜味剂,生的、烤的、煮的和土豆泥都很美味。你甚至可以在现代厨房里尝试制作历史悠久的防风草布丁,重现18世纪的风味。
Parsnips take a long time to mature — sometimes up to 150 days — so if you haven’t planted them this year, plan to get them in the garden next spring. Then, you can enjoy digging them from the garden after the first frost of fall. Their long growing time is more than made up for with their hardiness. You can plant these long roots from zone 2 and warmer.
If you struggle with rocky soils (like I do), you could try shorter-rooted varieties likeFullback.Otherwise, if you are able to provide the deep, uncrowded soil that they love,Hollow CrownandHarris Modelare some favorite cultivars that produce long, tender roots.
Related Post:How to Protect Plants From Frost: 12 Clever Methods That Work
For an old gardener’s protip, interplant radishes with your parsnip rows. Radishes are one of the winter vegetables that have a quick germination rate in cold weather and will remind you where the parsnips are. Their fiery little bulbs will help loosen the soil, their greens are fantastic with eggs, and their quick harvest will tide you over while you wait patiently for your parsnips to be ready.
Bok Choy
My love for bok choy is only surpassed by the ease in which it can be grown. If you are unfamiliar with the plant, just get yourself some stir-fry takeout. It’s guaranteed the crisp, sweet leaves of this cabbage will be there, swimming in some zesty sauce.
Related Post:4 Asian Vegetables You Should Add To Your Garden
These winter vegetables are absolutely divine roasted, fermented, grilled, or eaten raw. Don’t pass over this plant just because it’s unfamiliar! Sometimes called Chinese cabbage or pak choi, these quick-germinating cabbages can be ready to harvest in as little as 45 days.Check out this article一篇关于种植这种快速作物的文章。
Kale
Many gardeners and books confirm that frost sweetens kale’s flavor — as if you needed even more motivation to get this nutrient-dense green back into the ground. As the weather turns cold, the cabbage worms that may have defoliated your spring planting (the jerks) should have moved on which gives you the chance to enjoy some unspoiled leaves.
If you’re a seed saver (something I recommend), your fall plantings of an heirloom variety can overwinter and provide you with seeds in the spring. For more information on growing kale,check out my earlier article dedicated to the green.
Garlic
在新年的这一边,你可能收不到任何大蒜,但现在——距离第一场霜冻至少还有4到6周——是时候把大蒜种在地里了。如果你不打算种大蒜,那就改变你的计划!
Related Post:Growing Garlic
This pungentAlliumis both delicious and medicinal, and we quite literally use it every day on our homestead. Planting garlic is initially quite an endeavor, but gardeners in zones 3 through 8 could be rewarded for their efforts with two harvests.
TheBaker Creekformula for garlic success:
- Apply a 3-inch layer of manure over the soil of your garlic bed.
- 添加任何土壤改良剂,如骨粉,磷,或木灰-这取决于你有什么样的土壤。
- Mound the hill you’re creating a little bit to facilitate drainage.
- Push garlic cloves into the ground with the pointy end up and the blunt end facing down, about 6 to 8 inches apart.
- Now, add 5 inches (yes, five!) of straw mulch to cover them for the winter. Snow and rain will compress this protective blanket down to about an inch, and though garlic will have no problem poking its bright green spears through the cover, growth-inhibiting weeds probably won’t show.
Though you won’t be able to harvest the (hopefully) plump bulbs until late spring or summer, if you have planted ahardneck variety of garlic, you will be able to harvest thedelectable garlic scapes in the spring.Not only are they an absolutely amazing delicacy, but removing them will actually improve your future garlic harvest.
I would recommend planting avariety of garlicfrom the excellent-storing silverskins to the scape-forming hardnecks and lovely-to-braidartichoke types.
Sugar Snap Peas And Snow Peas
在我们的家园,豌豆永远不够用。大约80%的人在家里的时间都不会超过10分钟!I’m so glad that the arrival of cooler weather gives me a chance to try to plant these sweet green treats again and maybe have enough that survive our snacking to actually freeze some for the winter (spoiler alert: not likely).
As legumes, peas don’t need rich soil. They’ll enrich it for you and create fertilizer for next year through their roots. Just be sure to remove spent plants from the aerial stem up and leave those roots in the soil to your benefit. They also don’t mind crowding, so be liberal with your seed distribution. Really, the more the merrier.
Peas are pretty hardy when it comes to cold weather … if they’re established. A wave of hot weather or extremely cold weather when they are still sprouting will hurt their progress, so planting them is always a bit of a gamble. To boost your chances, avoid sweet peas and shelling peas as they require more time to mature.
You can also help sprouts by watering them well during the end of summer, and planting them in an area of the garden that gets a bit of shade at some point during the day. Gardeners in zones 2 through 9 should try their hand and see what they get!
Arugula
These zingy, peppery leaves are fabulous in a salad, of course, but are versatile inmany more ways. Hot weather actually makes these greens unpalatably bitter and hot for some people, making arugula a prime candidate for cool fall and winter growing.
在几乎所有优质土壤中种植火箭(也被称为火箭)。它们甚至会在第3区到第6区寒冷的土壤中发芽。芝麻菜需要大量的水,但如果你整个夏天都在照顾你的土壤,几乎不需要施肥。
I have a fondness for fast-to-harvest winter vegetables because they make the waiting for everything else to ripen a little easier. These bluish, lobed leaves are usually ready to pick only 40 days after seeding which gives you a bountiful crop well before the snow flies.
Successive plantings will keep these perishable leaves coming. And don’t just stop at the leaves! If your plants do end up bolting in the variable fall-to-winter transition, just toss in the edible white flowers, green flower buds, and unripe seedpods in the salad bowl as well!
Beets Or Swiss Chard
我把这些冬季蔬菜放在一起是因为它们是近亲,但如果你想保存种子,不要在同一地区同时种植这两种蔬菜。一定要在某个地方种植它们,因为我不确定有没有比刚切好的甜菜更漂亮的蔬菜。在一张图片中,一堆彩虹纹理的叶子从收割的篮子里伸出来,这是纯粹的园艺美德。
Related Post:甜菜配套种植
Beets thrive in cool weather, and grow anywhere from zones 2 through 10. They laugh at frost — though hard freezes will damage them. Plan on getting seeds in the ground six weeks before the first projected frost. Though they are a root crop, they’re actually pretty shallow-rooted, so be careful when hand weeding around them. It may be best to build a mound for comfort and ease of growth.
If you overplant (which is actually recommended) you can use the thinnings at any stage. Baby beets are adorably delicious! Additionally, do NOT waste those beet greens when you harvest. They are packed with flavor and nutrition and make a wonderful sauté.
Swiss chard is an absolute garden champ for both cold and hot weather. It does best in zones 3 through 10 and should be planted about 40 days before the first frost date in your area. Give them a well-draining area of the garden that is either full sun or partial shade. Check out the“Bright Lights” cultivarfor multicolored delight to spring from your garden beds.
Some Tips For Succesful Winter Vegetables
Try it! I know you may be a little tired and burned-out after all the summer’s hard work, but getting a fall crop will make excellent use of your garden space.
This is particularly true for you urban growers with limited areas to garden. It extends the joy of watching things grow well into the winter. If nothing else, at least try to plant agreen manurecover crop over your garden to protect and feed it through the winter.
Apply Lots Of Mulch
护根物在任何园艺季节都是你最好的朋友,但在秋季园艺中尤其重要。当温度下降时,一层厚的护根物可以帮助你的冬季蔬菜保持温暖,并且可以稍微延长你的生长季节。
Consider Your Location
Take advantage of the compass. For you, northern hemisphere gardeners, orient your fall garden toward the south or take advantage of any southern-facing brick walls. The sun will warm the wall, and the radiant heat will keep plants growing much longer.
Skip The Containers
Realize that above-ground pots and boxes, and even raised beds will freeze much earlier than the ground itself. In many instances, root crops can be safely and handily stored in the ground until it’s time to use them. Potatoes are an exception–they should be harvested and cured before the first frost.
Utilize Cold Frames And Row Covers
Both cold frames and row covers help to keep frost off some tender winter vegetables and extend your growing season. Just be sure that the plant itself is not touching the plastic surface. They can freeze from the contact.
I know I haven’t covered nearly all the crops that might make a fall debut — what ones have I missed? What winter vegetables are you putting in your garden this fall? And, for you seasoned green-thumbs, what tips would you add to my list? Let me know in the comments below, and happy fall planting!
Kathe Dees (a fellow Ozarkian)says
Not only have I never grown Swiss chard, I’ve never eaten it. Not exactly on every restaurant menu! Could you please give more information on ways to prepare it?
Wren Everettsays
Absolutely! You can think of swiss chard in the same way you think of spinach, in terms of use–it’s delicious sautéed with garlic, mixed in with soup, made into a pizza topping, added to pasta, or stuffed in one of my personal favorites, a fatayer pie (https://www.simplyleb.com/recipe/spinach-fatayer/). If you end up with the rainbow variety of swiss chard, the colorful stems are wonderful in stir-fries as well–they really jazz it up!
Hope that helps, and thanks for your comment! The tupelo trees are already turning red in our part of the mountains–I hope your fall is equally as beautiful.