Gardeners Way

Vegetable Gardening Guide Section




Social bookmarking
You like it? Share it!
socialize it

Main Vegetable Gardening Guide sponsors

Vegetable Gardening Guide
  

Welcome to Gardeners Way

     
 
 

Vegetable Gardening Guide Article

Thumbnail example

This is a selection made from among articles on Vegetable Gardening Guide. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.

GARDENING VEGETABLE WINTER

from:

Can the cold improve your favourite gardening vegetable? Winter is approaching and maybe you think you’d better get all of your vegetables in before the first frost. Actually, you don’t have to do that with every gardening vegetable. Winter cold will not spoil all of your root crops, and will even enhance the flavour of some of them.

Of course, you have to protect even the hardiest gardening vegetable. Winter freezes the ground solid in some places, and harvesting those root crops would be difficult if the ground was like iron. First, cover the tops (shoulders) of the root crops with soil. Then cover the garden with a thick layer of mulch. This is good protection for the root gardening vegetable. Winter will be kept at bay. The mulch should be shredded dry leaves, salt hay or straw, and should be one or two feet deep. Pull the mulch close around the stems of the plants. Use pine boughs or boards to hold the mulch in place. Mark the crops with tall stakes so you can find them under the snow. This form of outdoor storage is a great way to keep this kind of gardening vegetable. Winter actually keeps the root crops better than they would keep indoors in refrigeration. You can leave carrots, leeks, parsnips and turnips in the ground all winter in most places, harvesting them as you need them. In regions where the winters are not too severe, this method also works for beets, celeriac and another gardening vegetable, winter radishes. It saves on your indoor storage space. Even better, your vegetables will stay firm and in good condition. Some, like carrots, even taste better after a frost.

Gardeners in cold climates can also grow vegetables through the winter in a cold frame. This is a special box in which you can grow leafy vegetables. Gardening centres can provide instructions on how to build and insulate your cold frame. Build your cold frame against the south side of your house in a place where it will get maximum exposure to the sun. This will also protect it from the cold north winds. The soil in your cold frame should be well drained. It should also be rich in organic matter. Mix in plenty of compost or leaf mold and composted manure before planting. You can plant your leafy vegetables directly in the cold frame, or start them in the ground in early autumn and then transfer them before the weather turns cool. When you harvest, just pick a few outside leaves from each plant. The vegetables should continue to grow all winter.

 

Vegetable Gardening Guide News

Gardening Book Teaches Easier Vegetable Seed Starting

Seeds of the Month Club retailer and "Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person" author, Michael C. Podlesny, recently released the 2nd edition of his book, adding in areas to emphasize how easy and more cost effective it is to start a vegetable garden from seed.Burlington, NJ (PRWEB) May 14, 2012 Seeds of the Month Club retailer and Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person author, Michael C ...

Read more...


Book takes readers from garden to kitchen to table

By Pam Peirce, San Francisco Chronicle These days the news is full of food trends. Most of them, including eating locally, eating more healthfully, eating organic food and vegetarianism, encourage us to use fresh ingredients – advice that leads us into the garden. “Grow, Cook, Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening” is a book that [...]

Read more...


'Grow, Cook, Eat' for aspiring gardeners, cooks

These days the news is full of food trends. Most of them, including eating locally, eating more healthfully, eating organic food and vegetarianism, encourage us to use fresh ingredients - advice that leads us into the...

Read more...


Children offered a chance for a gardening adventure

Do you know any young people aged 4-12?  Would they love being outdoors, making new friends and learning new things about flowers and plants this summer?

Read more...


Dishing The Dirt: Under a Blanket of Blue

By Jeff and Eileen Bidwell Isn’t it amazing? Not so long ago we were all lamenting the seemingly endless rainy season. Then, as quickly as it arrived last fall, the dark spell was broken as Mother Nature waved her magic wand and the skies were transformed to clear and blue, decorating our Ballard landscape in luminous colors that come in all shapes and sizes. It was under this blanket of blue ...

Read more...