What can you grow in Winter?
I am very selective about which plants I grow during the winter months. I am currently growing cabbage, elephant garlic, broccoli, spinach, carrots and collard greens These are referred to as cold hardy vegetables because they can survive a frost. Now that's kind of a blanket statement because there are a few cavoites. For example although carrots can take a freeze you don't want the ground around them to freeze.
Gardeners sometimes get confused between a forest and a freeze. Covering your precious crops will help protect them against frost. Below is a definition that will help you to decide when you need to cover your plants.
At the dew point, water vapor in the air condenses on the ground and other surfaces as dew. If the dew point is below freezing, the water vapor condenses as ice, freezing as frost. So the air can be above freezing and the surface of your car (or the roof of your house) can be colder than the air and colder than freezing causing a frost even though the air temperature is above freezing. That is how we get a frost without a freeze. If the dew point is much below freezing then we can get freezing temperatures cold enough to freeze plants without any frost. This is also called a black frost, a freeze without a frost. When frozen plants thaw they have a water-soaked, black appearance as they die.
Gardeners should also take into consideration the age of the plants in their winter garden. Most seasoned gardeners start their fall and winter garden in August or early September. My plants are still producing during that period so I plant starters during that time. The reason is simple. The more mature your plants are when the cold hits the better their chance of survival will be.
In my next blog I will cover the difference in which plants can tolerate cold weather better than others. All plants are not created equal.
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