Growing out of season

[Daisy]

As the winters are mild here (no snow, light frost) I am wondering about growing veg out of season. Which vegetables would this work for, in regards to light required and temperature? I tend to search a lot online and get myself confused with so much conflicting info, is there a chart anywhere that has minimum day length and temperature requirements on it?

 

[Hinotori]

Kale and some of the cabbages. They grow long into winter here.

 

[Daisy]

Great! We LOVE kale in this house

Would pumpkin or zucchini work if they got in the warm soil now and grew big enough before frost? Or would they maybe not flower in the fading light? I have a big garden bed ready to plant with strong afternoon sun. I thought I would try and plant something that creeps or spreads there.

 

[Hinotori]

Frost is nasty for the squash varieties. I can't get zucchini past the beginning of September because it gets to colder and the rain starts.

 

[BarredBuff]

You can grow these types of crops in cooler weather: cabbage, kale, lettuce, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and possibly carrots.

Folks typically think of pumpkins as a cool weather crop, but they are actually very sensitive to cold weather. They are one of the last crops I plant here. I live on the line between temperate and sub tropical climates.

 

[Britesea]

basically, most of the plants where you are eating the fruit will not do well in the lower light and temps of winter. Even peas and favas need to get their flowering done before the days get too short, although they are lots more resistant to frost. You can get around that by using a heated, artificially lit greenhouse, but that's expensive.

The plants where you are eating the leaves or roots are the best choices for winter. Mache, also known as cornsalad, is so cold hardy that the seeds won't even germinate unless it's cold.

 

[creativetwinszoo]

You could do grow tunnels, that kind of frosted plastic around hoops, itll make it warmer and help extend a bit longer. Not sure how well itll work once snow starts.

Debating on where at you could find out local shoulder crops.
We can do shoulder crops of squash and corn here, so long as their planted by august.

Daikon radishes a good cold crop. Broccoli, greens, bok/pac choi, some mustards

 

[tortoise]

There are some books on the topic. I've read this one but haven't used anything from it yet. I have a small unheated greenhouse.

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses: Coleman, Eliot, Damrosch, Barbara: 8601400514221: Amazon.com: Books

The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses [Coleman, Eliot, Damrosch, Barbara] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques...

www.amazon.com

 

[mischief]

Depending on whether you actually get frosts and how bad, you should be able to grow carrots, peas, brassicas of all types, leeks, loose leaf lettuce.
You can also look at shallots, onions, spring onions, broad beans.

I'm taking a punt with a late sowing of beetroot, its just come up, but I still have a couple of months before its officially winter here. Broad beans do well here and the peas do well so long as they are not flowering when the frosts hit.
I doubt pumpkins will do well, but if you have heaps of seeds you could always just do any experiment to see what happens.

 

[Daisy]

Thanks guys Lots for me to work with.

I have planted a row of kale, beetroot, pak choy and I put a line of corn in too. I have never grown corn before but had some seeds that are pretty old. I am unsure if they are still viable, but we'll see! I put them in a sheltered but sunny spot. I'm hoping some broad beans come up, as they usually scatter/reseed themselves and I didn't keep any from last year to plant.

I think I might try and get a chilli plant going in a pot as I have a late capsicum almost at flowering stage doing fine in the sun. I dont mind too much if it doesnt produce until spring, I just want one established. I only just ripped out the tomatoes last week, they may have gone a bit longer if I had taken more care. There is just me and the animals to feed so I don't need a huge crop, even if I did get pumpkin going it would probably be too much for me!

I retain info better from paper than the net, so I would love that book but it is out of my price range, and the libraries are closed No snow here, so the main issue would be length of light. The nights are cool, not far below 0C but the days can get up to 20C even in the middle of winter. I have been told for my inland location that we are about a month behind the seasons of the coast, so summer has really just finished. I should be able to get some some stuff growing before first frost (around june/july). It does sleet and hail here but frost does more damage than the hail.