Top Vegetables to Cultivate During Winter Season
Growing vegetables in winter doesn't have to be a challenge. With the right preparation and protection, you can continue to enjoy a variety of tender crops even in cold weather. Here are some practical steps to help you grow and overwinter additional crops using fleece, cloches, and unheated greenhouses or cold frames.
Firstly, horticultural fleece can be used to cover outdoor crops, providing about 2-4°C of frost protection while allowing light and air circulation. This helps tender plants survive mild frosts without overheating or suffocation.
Secondly, cloches or mini-greenhouses, or even cut water bottles softened on the edges, can be employed as individual plant covers. These create warmer microclimates, protecting plants from frost and cold winds.
Thirdly, an unheated greenhouse or cold frame can be used to overwinter tender crops. These structures trap daytime warmth and reduce temperature fluctuations, allowing tender perennials and vegetables to tolerate temperatures down to just above freezing if well protected and kept dry.
For very tender plants, it's important to ensure temperatures do not fall below 0-7°C. If possible, pot them up and place them inside a cold frame or on staging in the greenhouse to reduce cold stress. For perennials like fuchsias or pelargoniums, taking cuttings for indoor overwintering is recommended to safeguard against losses due to frost.
Additional tips include trimming back top growth on perennials before overwintering to reduce strain and prevent disease, and keeping plants free from pests before placement in protected spaces.
For soil crops like spinach or bulbs, monitor soil temperatures as they impact germination and growth during late winter into spring. Prepare beds properly with cover crops cleared to support overwintering crops successfully.
Some popular winter vegetables include hardy crops like kale, Brussels sprouts, beetroot, and turnips, which thrive in cold conditions. Leafy crops such as chard, parsley, and rocket can also be sown in late summer to autumn and can overwinter with some protection.
'Brodie F1' is the supermarket's choice for Brussels sprouts, bearing super sweet buttons that are easy to harvest. 'Purple Rain', a British bred variety of purple sprouting broccoli, doesn't need a spell of cold weather to produce tasty sprouts. 'Bright Lights' is a particularly ornamental variety of chard, bearing stems in red, yellow, and white. Turnip 'Golden Ball' is an ideal winter root vegetable for roasting and grilling.
Celeriac 'Mars' bears large roots that can be overwintered in the ground and stores well. Parsnips and Brussels sprouts are sown in spring and take a long time to crop but are usually considered worth it.
In summary, combining fleece for slight frost protection, cloches for individual plant warmth, and the moderated environment of an unheated greenhouse or cold frame allows you to extend the growing season through winter for many tender crops. Taking cuttings indoors also helps preserve tender perennials that might not survive outdoor winter conditions.
To maintain a diverse home-and-garden lifestyle during winter, consider employing horticultural fleece to protect outdoor crops from mild frosts. Cloches or miniature greenhouses can create warmer microclimates for individual plants, shielding them from frost and cold winds.
When aiming to overwinter tender crops, unheated greenhouses or cold frames offer ideal spaces by trapping daytime warmth and reducing temperature fluctuations. Keep in mind that for very tender plants, temperatures shouldn't fall below 0-7°C.
