When gardening is your hobby why not try out something adventurous in gardening. Here by adventurous gardening we mean to say winter gardening. It is really interesting to see fresh green leaves or tiny leaves coming out of stalks that too when the surrounding is loaded with snow.Tips on plant care in winter
Time of plantation
The ideal time for planting the winter plants is late summer. As they get enough time to become strong to bear the merciless pangs of winter.
Plants grown in cold weather
If you have a warm greenhouse you can grow summer vegetables like tomato or squash in chill climate. For winter you can grow Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Collards, Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower. You can both plant them in July and get the crops by late fall or if you want to grow them in winter sow them in September and see the results in winter or early spring. Similarly Garlic, Leeks also called as carefree crops that can be grown in the cold weather. In you are looking for the ingredients for your salad dish then you can grow Lettuce, Spinach, Mustard, Chard, Kale, Collards Beets and Carrots.
If you want to improve the soil or keep the weeds out of your garden you can plant cover crops. Some cover crops are planted in spring and others are in fall. Fava bean is the most common natural cover suitable for this cold weather.
Vegetables like Kale will survive without protection from the cold weather. Plants that need protection form the cold can be given by making a cold frame. You can buy a cold frame or make it yourself
Some vegetables such as Kale will survive in winter without any protection; others are more likely to survive if they are covered. You can make or buy a cold frame to protect crops. To make a cold frame, which is, a bell-shaped cover you have to
- Bend some pipes of ½ or ¾ inch and put it on the top of a raised bed.
- Cover the top of the pipes with clean plastic.
It can provide some protection to the plants from cold weather but it may not work in extreme cold.
The best winter garden fertilizer is compost and mulch. Compost provides minerals to the plant and mulch prevents the soil to freeze easily. You can also mix compost with the soil and sow your cold weather plants and seeds. Don't put too much artificial nitrogen fertilizer, as it will increase the plant growth. This new growth is very much affected when the temperature goes down. You can find the preparation of mulch in our other section. There is also a disadvantage on the application of mulch. It creates a warm moist environment that helps the slugs to grow.
The best winter garden fertilizer is compost and mulch. Compost provides minerals to the plant and mulch prevents the soil to freeze easily. You can also mix compost with the soil and sow your cold weather plants and seeds. Don't put too much artificial nitrogen fertilizer, as it will increase the plant growth. This new growth is very much affected when the temperature goes down. You can find the preparation of mulch in our other section. There is also a disadvantage on the application of mulch. It creates a warm moist environment that helps the slugs to grow.
