Starting Your Winter Gardens

by Anza Muenchow

Here we are in mid-summer, the garden bounty is arriving—but wait—we have to plan for our winter crops also. Now is the time to plan and plant for the winter harvest.

This month you should continue to plant all the green leafy also. Now is the time to plan and plant for the winter harvest.

This month you should continue to plant all the green leafy vegetables you would want on your dinner plates this fall. Here are some cool-season crops that local gardeners enjoy, which you can plant now or in early August: romaine lettuce, arugula, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips and broccoli. They can provide a lovely harvest in September and October. I have had good luck with the lettuce variety called Winter Density, which was delicious in my Thanksgiving dinner salad.

Some plantings (like carrots, beets, chard and kale) will overwinter to give you a delicious early spring harvest. When these plants make it through the winter months, they are not growing very much. The short day length and cold temperatures allow them to just stay alive. Only the worst weather, like an early deep freeze in November, would kill them off. Covering the plants with several layers of row cover to create a frost blanket could help your garden survive a cold snap in late fall.

Usually, we sow leafy greens closely and then thin out the small ones for delicious early snacking. Baby bok choy or broccoli is a treat in salads. Thinning will leave room for the remaining plants to mature without crowding. All these greens like rich soil, with added compost or another organic nitrogen source, like seed meal fertilizer. For best results, keep the seedlings somewhat shaded and well-watered until the fall rains come. I realize this is a challenge to accomplish. I have seen great creativity in how to temporarily shade a garden bed that will later provide a fall or winter crop that craves a winter light source.

There is one more overwintering vegetable I recommend to gardeners in our climate. Purple sprouting broccoli is an amazing crop but has a long growing period. Usually, it is planted out in July, but I think August could give decent results, too. The plants need to get to a reasonable size (over a foot high) before the day length is too short. The plant will grow slowly over the winter but is very hardy in cold weather. Then, as the days begin to lengthen in March, this plant re-ally puts on dramatic growth. All the little branches erupt in gorgeous, delicious purple broccoli florets. They lose their purple color when cooked, and, no little caterpillar larva to remove before eating.

If you haven’t limed your garden in a few years, mix a cupful of lime into the soil where you plant the Brassicas: broccoli, choy, arugula, kohlrabi, mustard and cabbage. Our acidic rain and heavy, wet soils can encourage the dreaded club root fungus, which stunts and usually kills many of our favorite Brassicas. By adding lime, you keep a higher pH in your soil, so club root should not be a problem for these susceptible crops.

One of the best things about fall and winter gardens is the lack of flying insect pests, like rust fly, leaf miner or cabbage butterfly. These insect larvae can decimate your spinach, beets, carrots and chard in the spring or early summer. You still have to look out for the slugs and snails, but they are slower and fewer in a winter garden. In general, late fall and winter gardens are a pest-free delight. With our consistent rainy season and cool temperatures, these leafy crops provide well for a backyard gardener.

Making frost blankets, choosing cold-hearty plants, improving the soil and finding the best location for winter light during the short days; This is how we stretch our gardening to year-round harvesting, which we are fortunate to be able to do in the Pacific Northwest.