Anyone grow any vegetables all Winter?

There is a farm market a half a mile away owned by Mennonites ... lots of Mennonites in my neighborhood there are two old congregations nearby.

They do curbside pickup in Winter and their hydroponics basically sustained me for the past two Winters.

Their hydroponic tomatoes and lettuces are BEAUTIFUL.

I keep thinking that if they can, I can ...

I feel like I need to understand dirt first, though ... before I jump into hydroponics. I've had enough dirt failures, and finally some success, to make me wary of trying it this year.

I saw a lady in a video plant spinach and just leave it under plastic from November to March. She said it never fails.

I'm always skeptical because on the one hand it seems like it's so easy but then again ... why doesn't everyone do it then?

I'm under a standing order to stop buying seeds ... but MAYBE if HE saw the catalog and it piqued HIS interest ...

Here in Northern cal, we have a winter garden every year.

You must get things in by end of sept.

Lettuce, collards, kale, cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots.

No to melons, squash, beans, etc. Just too cold.

I do use their pods, which are pricey. But you can re-use the plastic pods and use other grow materials. Lots of videos on YouTube. I am growing a lot of lettuce, and it grows very fast. I am going to try it with the Kratky method next week, because that will be much cheaper. I have already grown Kratky cilantro and mint with great success in a not-so-bright window. You can also get inexpensive grow lights on Amazon for $20 or $30 for your Kratky jars. Check out Tikki O on YouTube to get started.

I've never grown any food in soil....except for banana trees in Hawaii that pretty much grow themselves.

I started my indoor garden in March of this year with sprouts. I think if you get the basic idea of how a seed germinates, sprouts, and grows, then it really doesn't matter if you are using soil or hydroponics. It does matter, but hopefully you know what I mean. :)

There are pros and cons to every method of growing, but I encourage you to try hydroponics. It's working for me so far.

we're cutting it close, but we have a lot of brassicas going in raised beds. Broccoli, cauliflower, red and green cabbage and brussels sprouts.

About 2 weeks ago I put garlic cloves among all the brassicas in the raised beds thinking it might help with any pests, and I've been spraying them with BT spray (worth a google) because my last two attempts at brassicas were all eaten by worms and it broke my heart.

So yesterday I put radishes and swiss chard that I started about two weeks ago all among the established brassicas.

And we got some big plastic pipe for free ... I guess it's sewer pipe but our friends who work with it have a bunch of this heavy duty pipe they use for water and sewer and I had him cut it into pieces 1-2 feet high ... situated it at the end of the raised beds ... and we filled it with mushroom substrate (have a good cheap source), regular soil and our compost in equal parts. It's about 3 feet in diameter.

I put the rest of the chard and kale in 2 of them, and also some mustard and arugula that I started two weeks ago in another one. I put the radishes in another.

The rationale for me was that I can cover the individual, little beds easily, and chard and kale can go to like 10 degrees, so I can not worry about those but cover the arugula and radish beds and maybe extend the growing season.

LOL, I have friends who grow peas and cabbages, so I bought some onions, peas, and cabbages and thought I would give it a go. I have a frame to go on my raised bed. Don't know if it will get too cold for them or not, but figured it was worth a try and only cost a couple of bucks.

I'm just starting some cold frames, both beds and hydroponics to see if I can grow lettuce and vegies through the winter. Apparently it can be done in colder climates than the UK.

There is always the growtent option for indoors.

What id do is. If i had a heated garage

Setup basic aquaponics tank and grow sweet potato above a pool of tilapia. Use LED light ballasts. Throw a fan for circulation and let nature and gravity do the rest.

i want to give a shout out to peas and yellow squash we're definitely going to get some late season veggies there

and also horesradish ... it's a wonderful plant

we'll never eat all the horseradish but it's so happy and pretty when it growns ... th eleaves are lovely and I'd recommend everyone go buy some and stick it in the ground

Back in CA i grew lentils all year. Up in Humboldt county climate zone 9.

Now im in climate zone 7 on east coast :(

Fuck win-tar, i love global warming

I have my man making me easy on/off covers for my raised beds out of cheap plastic piping so fingers will be crossed

im hoping he gets into it and puts them on hinges for me

if you are in georgia you should be able to eek out some veggies easier than me in NJ, temperate as it gets here

You can use the warmth from decomposing plant matter and make a basic pvc tube- loop- greenhouse.

Look into hugelkultur.

Raised beds are an ancient farming technique

Works for cannabis too.

I can dig that, but I have developed an aversion to the inside gardening equipment over the years.

I bring in the mandevilla, all the bonsai and a lot of the herbs in winter, and I do some herbs indoors all year and sprouts and that's enough in the house ... until i get a greenhouse or a shed for growing I just can't lol.

Yeah, this.

I knew a guy up in maine who grew 15 foot tall jack herrer plants on raised beds. No covering. He harvested in October....

Still to this day im baffled as he was only using.....


Wood, leaves, human urine, and human feces.... for outdoor fert.


For indoor, which was my job, i used regular nutes. I dont feed plants poop and pee because its disgusting.

thank you i will look into that ive never heard of it

the one thing we have down is compost

i got him a vcomposter a couple years ago and then there's a heap too ... we have a lot of grass clippings and leaves

and you can REALLY FEEL the heat that comes off the compost! it's amazing. magical.

I'm an hour and a half north of Toronto...only thing I have still growing is kale, chard, and chillies (and a few herbs). The chillies are now mostly ripened on the vine so they'll be harvested very soon (already took a bunch and made hot sauces). Not long now before I plant my garlic...usually get it in during the first week in november.

The Kratky Method, thanks! I've unknowingly used this to root out organic onion ends in the window for planting. Gives better growing room for roots and is better for plant than stabbing it with a toothpick across a glass, or drowning it in a plate of water. Found, round plastic piece, hole in the middle fit in glass of same diameter with water kept at the rootline for a few days does it.

"For those of you unfamiliar, the Kratky method (named after B.A. Kratky) is a passive growing method. This means that no pumps or electricity are needed during the growth cycle. A young seedling is placed onto a raft, similar to a standard hydroponic raft (DWC) system. The difference between this and a raft system is that in the Kratky method, the raft sits fixed atop a tank filled with water and nutrient solution which sits stagnant."

[link to university.upstartfarmers.com (secure)]

No ... don't think like that!

I'm a total east coast gal.

Winter is very important. It kills the nasties.

It's why we don't have alligators and brain eating amoebas up here.

I pray every year for a good hard freeze to kill the bugs, the algae, etc.

Yea true... ok fine good point lol.
5*s and pine request too. Awesome thread for a lunch break

Evidently, tatsoi (sp?) grows through winter.

Those asian veggies can be really cool.

I'm trying to find a good source.

Yes, but I live in Shangri-la.

I live in New Jersey, but my 2 acres are my Shangri-la.

I think that's so cool.

No horesradish? People only eat so much but OMG what a fun plant this is. It all comes from Canada, so I figured it was safe to plant outside and it just grows and grows.

Garlic is a biggie for me I don't even harvest it all, but it's one of those things ... it literally sprouts I can't help but stick it in the ground.

This year ... I inherited a nice lemon balm shrub and a mint patch and they spread their seed everywhere ... and this year lemon balm and mint are becoming a problem for me right now they are everywhere in my beds - little babies i hate to pull them but they are in the way.

The other day I pulled some lemon balm from the siding on my house.

You can make good pesto with that.

This food shortage shit is shit.

Oh and chilies!

I want to grow them indoors and out.

Any knowledge about chilies would be great to hear. I'm soooo jealous of these people with beautiful chili peppers.

Peas are so lovely.

Everything about the plant is wonderful.

That is awesome. The keyword for me is passive.

I just can't for most things, but it's so much fun to grow plants.

That is what I was going to say, grow micro sprouts, super power food to add to sandwiches, soups, etc.

Trust us they even taste 10 times more powerful.

Mint is invasive as hell. At the start of this season I spotted a sprig of mint growing in a raised bed where I eventually planted my chillies. I yanked it out and planted it in its own raised box. Of course it multiplied and filled the box entirely...big and tall, taking the light from other plants that ended up in its shade.

I chopped it down over the weekend and decided that the box it was in was going to house something different next year so the roots had to come out. I almost filled a tall leaf bag with just the root system...they're a formidable opponent when you have to get rid of them.

Edited to include the chillies you mentioned. They're really easy. They love the sun and they'll grow either in their own pot or in bigger beds. I usually dedicate one bed for all my chillies. I think I had 15 plants in total this year...such an abundance of fruit...well worth your time to grow a couple especially if you like to cook with them like we do...its always nice to just nip out into the graden and grab a few to chuck in a curry or chillie dish. they're easy to grow from seed as well. I bought a packet of the small red Thai chillies from the supermarket and took a couple of seeds from one of them and propagated them and then put them in a small pot. When they were big enough I put them in the raised bed...they grew great and now I have loads of seed going forward.

Last Edited by Swearbox on 10/13/2021 12:56 PM

It's probably not going to get pinned and that's ok, too.

This is a long term project. This thread will be around a long time.

I tried to show chat my garden, but no one really cared enough to ask any questions or anything.

For me, the food is prime. It's the key, and it's the number one thing.

I've lived here for 10 years and the people before me were great gardeners, they left me a lot to work with, and I've been at it solidly for 3 years.

I'll be damned if 2 acres in NJ can't be self-sustainable. This place is a jungle.