The Modern Victory Garden

It’s mid June and the summer garden season is not even really started for me, and yet I am thinking ahead to the coming fall and winter season.   Gardeners who want to do fall and winter gardening have to come to terms with the fact that we always have to be thinking about 2 to 3 months ahead of our current situation - putting in motion the necessary actions to make that future expectation happen.     

In the early spring, thinking ahead is easier because there are no distractions of a summer garden requiring attention and providing significant harvests, and in mid winter to early spring most of us are suffering from cabin fever and are itching to start planting something!   But thinking ahead in early summer to prepare for a fall and winter harvest is harder because life is busy in the summer, the garden prolific (even overwhelming at times), and the timing of growth to harvest is very different for late season crops because the day length and sun strength is declining rather than increasing.   That last consideration is something a lot of folks get tripped up on when planting fall and winter garden items.   They use the seed packet days to maturity as gospel and then are disappointed when the items they planted for fall/winter harvest do not make it to maturity before essentially stopping growth altogether due to the cold and short days of winter.                                        

The days to maturity on seed packets are for spring/summer season planting when day length and sun intensity is increasing.   The goal is to have your fall/winter crops completely mature before they go into the winter dormancy period or holding pattern of growth.   In addition, because the plants will not bounce back and provide cut and come again harvests (like many do in spring and summer) it is important to grow enough of each item to provide the harvests you want without the benefit of replenishment from new (or at least not very fast!) growth.   When I am planning my fall/winter crops I want them to be mature by no later than September 30th or I risk not getting a harvestable crop from them.   That applies to both fall and winter harvest items.   With that goal in mind, I work backwards from that date with “days to maturity” under optimal (spring/summer) conditions and then add almost three weeks to that number.   Yes, you read that correctly, three weeks.   The reason is that when the plant is getting into the critical final maturity stage of growth the sun strength will have become greatly diminished, the night time temperatures colder, and the fall cold and heavy rains will have started up which translates into overcast and gloomy skies which means even less sun strength and cold wet soil.   For those in more sunny and drier locations two weeks would probably be sufficient to add.                      

So, it is now mid June and 3 months from now (90 days) it will be September 15th. Typical fall and winter crops for me include carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, leeks, cabbages, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, lettuces, various hardy greens, and spinach.   Very long growing items (120 days or more) such as some varieties of carrots, parsnips, leeks, and brussel sprouts are actually started in late spring in order to be ready for a fall/winter harvest.   I am not growing either leeks or brussel sprouts this year but do have my patch of parsnips and several patches of carrots already planted up.   Here is a list of typical fall/winter crops that I grow with days from planting to maturity under optimal (spring/summer) and less optimal (late summer/fall) growing conditions.

• Beet (optimal - 55 to 70)  (less optimal - 70 to 90) 
• Broccoli (optimal - 90 to 110) (less optimal - 105 to 130)
• Brussel Sprouts (optimal - 90 to 150) (less optimal - 105 to 170)
• Cabbage (optimal - 65 to 120) (less optimal - 80 to 140)
• Carrot (optimal - 70 to 150) (less optimal - 95 to 170)
• Kale (optimal - 50 to 60) (less optimal - 65 to 80)
• Kohlrabi (optimal - 50 to 60) (less optimal - 65 to 80)
• Lettuce, leaf (optimal - 40 to 50) (less optimal - 55 to 70)
• Onion, green (optimal - 50 to 60) (less optimal - 65 to 80)
• Parsnips (optimal - 105 to 130) (less optimal - 120 to 150)
• Radish (optimal - 21 to 30) (less optimal - 35 to 50)
• Spinach (optimal - 40 to 50) (less optimal - 55 to 70)
• Swiss Chard (optimal - 60 to 75) (less optimal - 75 to 95)
• Turnip (optimal - 45 to 75) (less optimal - 60 to 95)

I generally choose faster maturing varieties for my fall/winter crop plantings so that I am on the lower end of the days to maturity spectrum.   As you can see from this list, to meet my target of no later than September 30th maturity items like parsnips and brussel sprouts need to be started in May for a fall/winter crop.   Other items must be started in June or early July (broccoli, carrots, cabbages, green onions, swiss chard), but some items can be planted as late as August and still provide a fall crop (lettuces, radishes, and spinach).           

Sunday I started seeds of broccoli, chinese cabbage, pac choi, swiss chard, and kale.   The pac choi, and kale are for late summer/early fall use but the chinese cabbage, broccoli and swiss chard are fall crops.                     

Soon, I will be direct sowing some green onions, carrots, more kale and other hardy greens (once space opens up in the garden), and in August I will sow the big fall crop of spinach and fall lettuces.                    

Are you thinking ahead for a fall and winter harvest?