# Cold Temp Growing



## chUck (Dec 5, 2008)

Now that the temperatures are getting down there, I was wondering what fruits and veggies strive the most in the winter season's coldest temps?


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## dilligaf (Oct 17, 2008)

in the garden beds here right now we have turnips, kohlrabi, spinach, mustard, lettuces,, kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauli, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, and a few herbs like cilantro , dill and sage. 

We also have a couple bean plants, tomatoes and peppers growing in the greenhouse and in the house. 

Come mid january, peas, onions, carrots, beets kohlrabi, more greens n lettuces n taters will all be going in.


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## Laddyboy (Dec 5, 2008)

Mustard? What do you mean mustard?


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## dilligaf (Oct 17, 2008)

Laddyboy said:


> Mustard? What do you mean mustard?


 mustard greens.

a leafy green vegetable eaten much like collards and other greens. Good cold weather crop...


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## dunappy (Nov 11, 2008)

Totally depends on where you live. I live in a zone 4 growing zone and NOTHING grows this time of year unless it's in the house or a green house under lights.

My mom however lives further south and at a lower elevation and she had flowers last year in Dec and January. 

Before you start any growing you need to find a USDA Growing Zone chart and determine your correct growing zone. 

If you live in places like Florida, GA etc you might be able to grow alot of things outside this time of year, but if you live in Michigan, Iowa etc, you had better plan on indoor or green house growing this time of year.


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## dilligaf (Oct 17, 2008)

dunappy said:


> Totally depends on where you live. I live in a zone 4 growing zone and NOTHING grows this time of year unless it's in the house or a green house under lights.
> 
> My mom however lives further south and at a lower elevation and she had flowers last year in Dec and January.
> 
> ...


I have to disagree.... in all but the most extreme places things can be grown outside most of the winter. It simply takes being resourceful in order to do so and most people simply give up thinking that it can not be done. I am originally from upstate ny and we grew most of the winter up there ..


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## rainbowgardens (Oct 29, 2008)

I highly reccomend the book,"Four-Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. He lives up in Maine and gardens all year round. He uses coldframes, high tunnels and insulating cloth to protect his crops.I don't think he even uses a heated greenhouse. 
His book tells you how to grow crops to extend the growing season on both ends. He also shows you how to grow many uncommon plants that are well suited to the cold season. 
It's one of my favorites!


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## dunappy (Nov 11, 2008)

See you still can't grow in those areas without "help" and that is all I meant in that post. To grow plants in the winter in the cold, the still HAVE to be sheltered, Put in some sort of protective environment etc. Not out on the ground in the open. 

Plain and simple without "protective" equipement you won't be able to grow what can be grown out in the open in some places in the deep south. 

My mom's flowers that were blooming were not protected in any way at all. Where as here we were in a deep freeze and had snow still on the ground.


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## dilligaf (Oct 17, 2008)

however the "equipment" one needs need not be a greenhouse. Many many different things can work just as well or nearly and not cost a penny in order to make or very very minimal investment which would pay for themself in one or two extra seasons for growing. . We all have spare bed sheets laying around and a roll of plastic sheeting is not much to buy ( we should all have some in our preps anyway) and can be reused. Ols window panes are everywhere, heck one of our windows in the cabin was found up on the top of the mtn and there is no home there nor has ever been in modern times.

The posts i am making are not saying one can grow with nothing in all four seasons but with minimal equiment and means one most definitely can. For me the whole purpose of sites such as this are to encourage people to try things they might not think of themselves, to encourage growing as much of their food as they can and to encourage them at every step of the way. To simply outright say that one cannot do as such is counterproductive to the cause that i assumed we were all here for in some way shape or form. We all know where discouragement and not pushing our limits with our capabilities has gotten us . It is time we stop telling folks they cant do without the best of everything when most things can be accomplished by thinking out side of the box and simply putting a bit of effort into it.


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## dunappy (Nov 11, 2008)

dilligaf said:


> To simply outright say that one cannot do as such is counterproductive to the cause that i assumed we were all here for in some way shape or form. .


NO one implied that one could no do it. It was just mentioned that an individual would need something other than the bare ground unless you live in the deep south. Just because I used the term " green house" instead of Protection is no need to create a harassive environment for a simple miss use of a term. It's far more counter productive to FAIL to mention the types of protective equipement you use in order to grow such plants in the first place.

I also stated that In MY area nothing grows without a green house or inside the house and the reason for that is because I live in the mountains at an elevation of 7200 ft on a north facing slope with alot of winter snow that prevents the use of cold frames and other equipment on a regular basis.


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## risabee (Dec 16, 2008)

Helen and Scott Nearing used an unheated solar greenhouse (backed against a stone wall, which helps) to grow a wide variety of winter vegs in maritime Maine. A lot of their stuff made it through a particularly cold winter, about 1976, with no intervention from supplementary heat.

We grow chard, kale, beets, turnips, parsnips, onion greens, garlic greens, cabbages, celery, parsley, and bok choi right through the winter on the floor of Oregon's Willamette Valley, in beds mulched with leave and straw. Some of these get damaged, but usually not much. This year there is some spinach and lettuce out there and so far, so good. We have a row cover over some of this at the moment, as it was 16 degrees F last night and there is two inches of snow.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Around here it is virtually impossible to grow anything in the winter-time without using a heated green-house and large amounts of insulation. Right now, the temperature is listed as -22°C (-7°F) and snowing. In the last week we have had close to 15" of snow fall with current (non-drift) depth at around 8". The drifts are even deeper than that.


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