Living in a temperate climate, many tend to think that vegetables only grow in the summer months, and really this couldn’t be further from the truth. There are plenty of vegetables that grow during the winter months – have a look at Jack’s Vegetable Diary, if you don’t believe me! Winter gardening that can produce fresh vegetables and decorative flowers year round. Here are a few winter gardening tips.
Decide What You Want to Grow
The first step in wintertime gardening is to decide what type of vegetables or flowers you want to grow. Do a little research to determine what type of plants, and what growing conditions, will have the best chance of flourishing.
Plants Need Protection
Because of our temperate climate, you’ll need to provide an artificial environment – a greenhouse typically – in order to grow some flowers or veggies. The weather can be harsh during the winter months, a greenhouse is essential in order to protect your plants from snow, frost, and cold weather. Vegetables and flowers are simply too delicate to endure the elements. They need protection.
Greenhouses – What do I need?
A greenhouse needn’t be overly complicated – it can be something as simple as a few hoops covered by plastic and anchored in the soil. This is commonly called a cloche. The plastic cover should be heavily weighted so it won’t be blown away by the blustery winter winds. Your cloche should be placed in a protected area so it won’t get the brunt of the wind. There are other types of greenhouses that are much more stable, and you can even build a permanent structure – but it must allow ample sunlight to come in. Growing plants in a greenhouse during the winter is as easy as it is during the summer – the major difference is the type of vegetables or flowers that you’ll be raising. If you have a sophisticated setup – such as a greenhouse that is climate controlled – there are no limitations on what you can grow.
Decorative Plants
Although the majority of people who plant gardens during the winter months do so in order to enjoy eating fresh vegetables, others enjoy growing decorative plants so they can brighten up their homes during the dreary winter months. There are a wide variety of flowers that can be grown during the winter – providing you do it right. Asters, Boxwood, or Azaleas are colorful, and will spruce up your table in January. Other fresh flowers that can be successfully cultivated during the winter are daffodils, irises, day lilies, or tulips as well as evergreens, such as Junipers, Holly trees or Golden Ragwort.
Vegetables
Cultivating colorful or ornamental plants during the winter months bring relief from the harsh whiteness of winter, but growing fresh vegetables provide a much-needed break from store-bought veggies that were shipped from far away. Some of the vegetables you can grow during the winter in your own greenhouse are carrots, winter squashes, rhubarb, spinach, and pumpkins.
Research
Whether your wintertime gardening endeavour is successful depends to a large extent on how well you plan, and whether or not you supply the necessary growing conditions – by constructing your greenhouse correctly and properly cultivating the plants. If you take the time to find out exactly how to do these things, you should be able to grow fresh flowers and vegetables throughout the winter, no matter what the weather is like outside. Before starting your garden you should get as much education as possible. It is the key to wintertime gardening.
