winter crops

[SteveB]

I live in XXtreme SW Utah at about 3700' elevation. I'm right in those tight bands of zone numbers. The temperatures vary from year to year.

Tomorrow, I'm going out to till up the mess that is currently the garden, and make ready for winter. I'm going to put about 20 bags of "stuff" into the garden. I do have a 4' tall north wall to break the wind. I am going to run a shunt off my house water so I can water in the winter, as the ag water is turned off when it freezes. What can be grown in the winter?

Steve

[Suzanne D.]

I'm in your area, and planting cabbage, carrots, lettuce, onions, peas, garlic, and various cover crops. I think you can plant potatoes, too--they'll get a nice jump start in the spring.

--S.

[Zootal]

At your elevation, isn't a bit late for planting winter crops? When is your first frost, and how much snow do you get up there?

[Bud]

Try hear

[SteveB]

Our weather varies here. Mid September is first frost. Snow varies from none to last winter when we had 14". Usually, just a couple of dustings. Gets down to the high teens or low twenties. Not bad winters.

Steve

[Gloria P]

SW Utah around St. James, is often called the Banana Belt for its mild climate. Of course a tiny shift in the jet stream means all bets are off....

gloria p

[Zootal]

Extreme SW Utah would be the St. George area. Hotter then blazes in summer, two hours from Vegas and similar climate. Head NE a bit and you are going uphill and quickly get into cooler weather.

I would say that if the first frost is only a few weeks away, it is too late for most winter crops. At least when I plant them that late they start to grow, it gets cold, and they go dormant. They rot, the frost/ice kills them, but what does survive will give me nice greens and onions in the spring. YMMV - where I live that is what happens when I plant at the end of August or September, and we don't get a good frost until early to mid October.