over winter crops?

Hi All,

Other than Garlic, which I already do, are their any other crops to plant over winter in a snow and freezing environment?

Many thanks,

-T

Reply to
T
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winter wheat and winter rye (both grain crops) are excellent for breaking up hard ground. get them planted as soon as you start getting into the colder wetter season. turn them under in the spring several weeks before planting.

you can usually get the seeds from a grain elevator type place for a few $ for

10lbs.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Grains are toxic to me. Anything I can eat?

Reply to
T

T wrote: ...

you don't grow them to finish. you grow them to turn under.

to finish takes until mid-summer.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

T wrote: ...

arid climate cover crop. hmm... tepary beans. supposedly there are recent cross-breeds available with other common beans so they are more edible. i've never actually grown tepary beans here as we are pretty wet here most of the season.

so i don't know when these would be planted.

pretty much any crop i would grow as a winter cover crop would not be for eating, but to hold soil, moisture and nutrients and to keep the soil covered through the winter season. to be turned under in the spring.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

They are not for you - they are a high-output intentional "weed" for turning under to make soil to make food you do eat.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

Broad/fava beans? Not sure how cold it gets where you are but I currently have broad beans growing in -6°C. I do plant in mid to late autumn though. I also grow a 'green manure' crop at the same time, which mostly consists of things like lupins, mustard, oats etc.

Reply to
Jeßus

I was hoping for something to eat.

Reply to
T

Broadbeans (fava beans), mature seeds, raw

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1 cup: Glycemic load: 28 calories: 512 KCal Carbs: 84 grams

My limits are 10 max per day load, 1600 KCal per day, and 15 grams max per meal (60 max per day).

Rats!

Beans also have weird things in them too that mess with a Primal's digestion.

Thank you anyway. Yes, I find myself annoying at times too.

Is there anything like garlic that over winters?

Reply to
T

Rats indeed. Such issues really narrow down options.

Ha ha :)

How about shallots and potato onions? The latter seem to be quite uncommon as I never hear much mention of them - a great kind of onion, they grow in clumps and are quite hardy. Winter lettuce does well... (English) spinach is another one. Chives might do okay too. Japanese turnip apparently does well although I haven't tried them myself. Asparagus crowns... maybe?

Reply to
Jeßus

Hmmmm. These seem like a really good idea!

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I know just where to put them too. I eat A LOT of onions!

Shallots. I thought you planted them in the spring and harvest them in the fall. Are there different kinds of shallots?

I am not finding the glycemic load on those Japanese turnips. They do sound really interesting for those of us that hate turnips (they taste too metallic for me).

Thank you!

Reply to
T

For me fall is the time to gather the last crops and finish preserving all of the harvest. Also get the plots I plan to plant next Spring ready. (Ideally)

Winter is time to let the back rest and recover. It is the time to read seed catalogues and gardening books, take inventory of my seeds and preserved foods and plan for the Spring. Since I have a greenhouse I start several things there as early as January. By February I am starting many of my summer crops there.

Before I got the greenhouse I started many plants in the house with grow lights.

Gardening or farming is not just a spring and summer project. Winter is the time to plan.

Do you preserve any of your produce? I can, freeze and dehydrate. That takes us though the winter or longer.

Reply to
The Cook

I used to do the same things Susan, had a shelving unit in my home office. Four shelves with grow lights over each one, started lots of good vegetables for many years. Nowadays we have one 16 by 4 bed and two four by 8 beds that we grow our vegetables in. On this small property that works best. Our old home in Louisiana was a 14,000 square foot property with lots of concrete and a big house on it but we managed a

17X21 in ground garden. Plus several fruit trees, a green house, berries along the fence line, etc. As we age we don't miss it to much.

In addition to the vegetable beds we have a fig, a kumquat, and a pear tree, all producing well after four years of growth. Do need to replace the growing medium in the raised beds though. That means a tarp to hold the new medium and toss it several times to get it all mixed properly. I think we might be getting a bit to old for that too. Might have to call in the 200 + lbs grandsons to do the tossing.

It's a somewhat balmy day here in SE Texas, Northern Harris Cty, temps in the mid to high seventies rather than the usual 90-112F we usually get at this time of year. Might be because of the rain clouds moving in from the Gulf. Almost time to plant the fall garden. I am waiting to see if the Gypsy pepper plant we put in two springs ago is still going to be with us. It is generally covered with lots of small peppers on a regular basis. Most of which goes to the poor kitchen at church since our freezers are full. I've never thought of a perennial chile plant.

Reply to
George Shirley

So far, I blanch and freeze. I also freeze my ratatouille.

It is annoying that I have to buy produce in the winter. I am working on it.

Reply to
T

hi, glad to see you back writing. :)

...

we keep it too cool in the house to start a lot of plants, plus very limited on space, so i am glad the local greenhouse will do those for us (mainly tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers).

i call that daydreaming. :) what i plan may not happen as i can get overruled. like this year i did not really want to plant a ton of tomatoes, but we put in over 20 plants... and squash, i thought only one squash patch, we have three. beans, as usual i was hoping to plant several gardens worth, only have one. etc. :)

we can and freeze as much as we possibly can do.

this past weekend we took inventory and Ma has already decided which things she will give away to friends and family for Christmas gifts. this way we don't have to rearrange the pantry yet again. 15 cases will be given away.

we're about halfway through the tomatoes and have beets, dry beans, squash, onions and red peppers to eat or preserve.

right now for the red peppers i'm voting on eating fresh, i love them fried up until they get a little burn on them in spots.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

George Shirley wrote: ...

replace? that sounds like a project for sure. :) why not amend on top and let the worms, gravity and rains do the work for you instead? might be worth a trial...

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Tried that, the compost part of the "soil" just eventually disappears. This is the Square Foot Garden mix, peat moss, vermiculite, compost.

It's easier for the two of us old geezers to shovel the mix out on the tarp and then shake it back and forth to mix it totally. The beds are only six inches deep by four feet wide by eight feet long, the big one is a double. We also put in kitchen vegetable scraps occasionally, hoping to pull some worms into the mix. We finally, after three years are seeing some earthworms in the beds. Took their own sweet time. I think it's because we have been potholing a good bit of stuff from the compost bucket rather than put it into the composter. We will continue with that one.

Reply to
George Shirley

Wow! That's a lot of jars, I hope they bring them back. Our kids and grands have strict instructions to bring those jars back CLEAN! So far it has worked. We have canning jars that are probably 50 years old but they keep getting filled until the day they break.

Reply to
George Shirley

George Shirley wrote: ...

we have various people looking and giving us jars, but they are often not as nice as the new ones. we've bought two cases so far when we ran out, but that expense will be reimbursed by the person who gets those jars. we try to keep our eyes open for sales too.

we're trying to give away the wide-mouth jars and odd sizes to people we don't usually get them back from.

so far this season we have had one break on us. this is the first time in all the years we've had one break. figured it might have gotten cracked and we didn't notice it. once in a while we get one given to us that is chipped or cracked and if it is really old we'll keep it for the bottle collection, but not use it for canning, otherwise off to the recycling it goes.

i would actually like to keep a lot more for a bottle collection that are unique or the very old and heavy ones. just don't have the space here for them all... so just reuse 'em. figure some people we give them to might keep them for themselves or whatever. ah well... :)

we've also put some in recycling that were not standard small lid sized jars. dunno where they came from. looked like old mayo jars.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

you must also be fertilizing?

and yeah, hard to keep organic matter in the soils in warmer areas. some clay can slow the rate of loss down.

however, what i meant was that if the compost is disappearing then add that on top and it will get mixed in eventually as you plant. especially with that shallow of a bed. i guess i'm lazy that ways. :) think plants and worms can figure it out well enough without me messing it up.

are the beds isolated from the subsoil clay you have in place? like by a weed barrier fabric or sheet plastic?

i hope they will continue to live there. it's a good sign when the soil can support a diverse community of critters.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

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