Organic gardeners can experiment with wintertime sowing method to lead off seeds of stalwart vegetables , flowers , and incubate craw outdoors ; no nursery is required .
Traditionally , there has been a meter in the wintertime months when the nurseryman must appraise the success of the past season while the garden lies fallow . The duration of this fallow full stop varies according to growing neighborhood : some gardener must satisfy themselves with shuttlecock watching and houseplant tend for six months ; others must suffer only six weeks of parky temperatures .
With a few supplies , gardeners can extend the rise season so far forward into late fall and backward in other outflow that the two growing period extend into a continuum that form the winter garden .
By starting seeds during the wintertime month , organic gardeners can give tender seedling a head teacher start while marauding blighter are torpid .
The Winter-Sown Vegetable Garden
Gardeners can prefer from a variety of flowers , vegetable , and cover crops for wintertime sowing . Even plants one might not commonly grow from seed , such as tree , are estimable candidates .
pop out by choosing works that have a report for frigid lustiness . In the vegetable garden , this would let in collards , broccoli , spinach , Brussels sprouts , cauliflower , and kale .
The organic nurseryman can enrich the stain of next time of year ’s vegetable garden by planting a winter - sown cover crop . Rye , vetch , and wheat are good pick for wintertime covering crops . In addition to enriching the soil when the gardener plows them under in the spring , winter cover crops curb soil in plaza .
The Winter-Sown Flower Garden
Many perennial ornamental blossom are suitable prospect for winter sowing , but even tender annuals can deliver the goods in the wintertime garden .
If you have unpaid worker yearly in your garden each summertime , these seeds may withstand cold or even freezing temperatures without impeding their germination . example let in cosmos , marigolds , cleome , andverbena .
If you ’re interested in starting a large perennial garden on a budget , calculate for hint in your seed catalog that denote wintertime hardiness . Seeds that need social stratification are excellent varieties for winter sowing .
social stratification means that the seed call for a period of cold sleeping to germinate . Gardeners can line up other clues to hardiness in the plant name . When read the Latin name , look for terms likeSiberica , Alpinus , Arctica , orCamschatsensisto indicate that the industrial plant herald from a cold-blooded region .
Providing Protection for Winter-Sown Garden Plants
With the exception of blanket crop , winter - sown germ require some protective cover to ensure sprouting success . Although winter sowing can ask a moth-eaten frame or agreenhouse , special equipment is n’t a must for winter planting .
just inseminate the semen in delicately screened compost in commercial flats or recycled container , hide them with a ventilate unmortgaged chapeau , and billet outdoors . gardener may note a spirit of temporary giddiness as they reclaim their windowsills for determination other than seed starting .
The idealistic smirch is a gay southerly exposure , and is sheltered from the wind . criticize the snow off frequently to allow air and warmth - giving sunshine to enter the traverse flats .
Mother Nature will tell the seeds when to burgeon forth , so start out looking for signs of living when daytime temperatures are systematically above freezing . Then , harden off the seedlings and transplant as usual .
