Growing winter vegetables - my new project
 

I have prepared three flower beds for growing winter vegetables.
Flower bed 1
The plants on the left half of the bed will be covered with a standard 19 g / m2 non-woven fabric in winter. On the right half I will use a fabric of 50 g / m2, which is intended, among other things, to protect plants from frost. Winter onions (Augusta, Hiberna and Senshyu) will be planted in the rows on the side. Brasicas will be planted on the two middle rows, always in pairs, so that the skin can be compared to which textile protects the plants.
Flower bed 2
Today I planted cauliflowers in this bed from the sowing on August 7, 2020- Walcheren Winter 5 (5 ks), Aalsmeer (5), Galeon (5), Celebrity (5) a Winter Roscoff (5). Next week I'll put Nine Star Perennial Broccoli (4) here. Due to the pests (Cabbage White and Cabbage Moth), I temporarily covered the planted cauliflowers with a curtain, which will be there for about a month. Then I cover the flowerbed with one of the tunnels (I have them now in the autumn brasicas) and the one above them will remain until spring. As soon as it starts to freeze, I will insulate the tunnel with a non-woven fabric 50 g / m2. I probably won't open the tunnel during the winter. I have watered with a pipe placed in the middle of the flower bed.
Flower bed 3
Here I will gradually plant the remaining Brassicas - Arkta cabbage, Pylon F1 cabbage, Limba and Steel broccoli and also some winter salads - Humil, Apollo, Ledano and King of May. I move the second tunnel to the flower bed. I won't sow salads until tomorrow - there's plenty of time yet.
Flower bed 4
I have not prepared this bed yet, there will only be salads covered with non-woven fabric 19 g / m2.
I would just like to add that the temperature and humidity in the tunnel (even outside) will be measured throughout the winter at a height of about 20 cm above the ground. Surely these will be important data for deciding how to grow Brassicas in the coming years.
Vladimír

That is my new project too. Nicely done.

Bill

[QUOTE=b54red;759785]That is my new project too. Nicely done.

Bill[/QUOTE]


Bill, what is going in your winter garden?

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;759801]Bill, what is going in your winter garden?[/QUOTE]

Not much yet. I just got two beds worked up after around 10 inches of rain from Sally. I was surprised the beds could be worked just two days after the storm. I will be planting mustard and turnips this week. I already have a few Sweet Success cucumbers and a small fence for them as well as about 20 feet of Maxibel beans set out a couple of days before the storm. They look a bit ragged after getting pounded by the rain and wind but if the whiteflies will slack off I think they will be fine. I also have all the usual suspects started in my tiny greenhouse but they are not even large enough to pot up so I don't know when they will go out; but it will be earlier than I have been able to start fall crops in years. Lately I have just had a winter garden. I am loving this cooler weather and hope it hangs in there for a while. It has been a very long time since I had a good fall because summer has just lasted too long the last couple of years.

Are you going for a fall/winter garden?

Bill

Just a small point. Give your 9 star perennial spot in a corner as it should be good for several years and it takes up a lot of space. Great set up. I do a winter garden in my greenhouse and I love it.

Vladimír, you have a good spot going!

Bill,

[QUOTE=b54red;759814] I just got two beds worked up after around 10 inches of rain from Sally. I was surprised the beds could be worked just two days after the storm.
Bill[/QUOTE]

Boy, you're right about that! We got 7.5" here and and the second day after the storm all standing water in the garden had been sopped up and the ground was walkable! :shock:

[QUOTE=Jeannine Anne;759917]Just a small point. Give your 9 star perennial spot in a corner as it should be good for several years and it takes up a lot of space. Great set up. I do a winter garden in my greenhouse and I love it.[/QUOTE]

Hi Anne,
With that 9 star it should stay in place even a few years in advance. That's why I salted it four seedlings until the end of the flower bed. The problem will be how to protect these plants against cabbage whitefish and cabbage moth. They'll probably still have to be in some thick cage. For now, they will be in a tunnel covered with curtains along with cauliflowers.
Vladimír
PS.:We have an extremely wet autumn, it rains every day. Cauliflowers are doing well, photo from yesterday.

Yesterday I planted winter onion seedlings. They are not big at all, but I hope that they will still grow and overwinter well.
Vladimír
PS.:I am currently harvesting cauliflower and broccoli from summer sowing

[QUOTE=MrBig46;759937]
PS.:We have an extremely wet autumn, it rains every day. Cauliflowers are doing well, photo from yesterday.[/QUOTE]

They're looking really good! Nice growth since the last photo.

It is a mistake. These are not cauliflowers or broccoli from the flowerbed in the photo in this thread. These are brasicas from sowing on June 18, 2020 intended for harvest even in the autumn. The ones in the picture will overwinter and if they last our winter they should be harvested in early spring,
Vladimír

Looks great, extending the season into winter should be very rewarding !
I’ll be interested in your progress

KarenO

This is what my beds of brassicas look like now. I already covered them.
Vladimír

Hey Vladimir, things look very nice. Good job building out all of that infrastructure, and thank you for posting the pictures of your efforts. Which Brassicas are you growing? Is there cabbage in that mix?

In those flowerbeds I have:
Cauliflowers Celebrity, Galeon, Walcheren Winter 5, Winter Roscoff and Aalsmeer.
Cabbage Pylon F1.
Kale Arkta.
Brroccoli Limba, Steel and Nine Star Perennial.
Vladimír

[QUOTE=MrBig46;760317]In those flowerbeds I have:
Cauliflowers Celebrity, Galeon, Walcheren Winter 5, Winter Roscoff and Aalsmeer.
Cabbage Pylon F1.
Kale Arkta.
Brroccoli Limba, Steel and Nine Star Perennial.
Vladimír[/QUOTE]

Thank you. Sorry I missed your very precise description of things from Sep 13. I just saw it tonight.

rg

I was in the garden yesterday. It's still raining, there's mud everywhere, so I just opened the cauliflower cover and took a picture. I also downloaded the temperatures measured over the last twenty days to my computer. Only four nights were cold, the minimum temperature was -5.4 ° C. The plants look a bit different than in the previous photos. They didn't grow much, only the drawing on their leaves is more pronounced. I don't know if it's right or missing something them. According to forecasts, the real winter will not start until after the Christmas holidays. All I have to do is wait, watch it and hope it works out.
Vladimír

Vladimir, good morning!
Yes they look like that now. I have small brassica in pots with same nonwoven to cover. Growth stopped Beginn December. Grows again in february, mid to end feb you see movements.
It is for me near the house often not the cold like in your garden ( it is outside city you said elsewhere), for me it is first wind protection. The wind can destroy frozen leaves even if plants will survive the wind, for leavy vegetables you then have no good harvest.
I planted spinach too and the little rosette making salads (do not know name in english it is valeriana)
Ate a good salad yesterday from mixed wintergreens.
Had little onions bought for overwinter, looks like yours too in hight.
Thank you for the pictures, this is anice comparision.

[QUOTE=Rosine;760614]Vladimir, good morning!
Yes they look like that now. I have small brassica in pots with same nonwoven to cover. Growth stopped Beginn December. Grows again in february, mid to end feb you see movements.
It is for me near the house often not the cold like in your garden ( it is outside city you said elsewhere), for me it is first wind protection. The wind can destroy frozen leaves even if plants will survive the wind, for leavy vegetables you then have no good harvest.
I planted spinach too and the little rosette making salads (do not know name in english it is valeriana)
Ate a good salad yesterday from mixed wintergreens.
Had little onions bought for overwinter, looks like yours too in hight.
Thank you for the pictures, this is anice comparision.[/QUOTE]

I grew the onion from seeds at home from sowing in August. These are varieties directly intended for this cultivation. From what I've read, they should be as thick as my pencil. I think that's exactly what they look like. But if that cultivation fails, the world will not collapse. It's just a test.;)
Vladimír

Yesterday I went to look at the garden after a long time. So far, winter is warm rather than cold in our country. Two or three centimeters of snow fell and most of it was melting. My cauliflower in the tunnel is still in great shape. Meteorologists report that it should soon be colder, temperatures at night up to -15 ° C, which would mean three degrees more in the tunnel. When I downloaded data to a computer yesterday, I accidentally downloaded a temperature graph for a completely different period from the data logger I measure in the tunnel, so the data in the picture is only from the outside.
Vladimír

Cauliflowers and broccoli are still alive.
Vladimír

They're looking pretty good, Vladímir. A little burn here and there on some older leaves but the central areas of the plants are in good shape. They just grow so much slower in these darkest days of winter.

O. my..
thats too cold for me to do anything in the garden.

I'm not even trying to go to the garden. My gate is frozen in ice from melted snow. I have to wait for it to warm up and everything to thaw. It will be frost for a whole week, so I'll go to the garden in about ten days. I'll just look at what cauliflowers look like and take a substrate for tomato germination in the shed. I'm glad it's so cold, at least I'll see if I can grow cauliflowers again next year. The temperatures around -12 ° C are common in my garden in winter, of course elsewhere in our country they are even lower, down to -20 ° C. I think the record is -42 ° C, but that was long ago.
Vladimír

Today I finally got to the garden. I opened the tunnel, took a photo and downloaded the measured temperature to the computer from 1.1.2021. I was quite surprised at how the tunnel protected the cauliflower. At the lowest temperatures, the difference was up to 10 ° C.
Vladimír

They look like they'll make it through the winter. Your tunnel works really well, especially when you need it most, on the coldest nights. Good work!

I was quite surprised by the difference in temperature in the tunnel and outside. I explain it so that the tunnel is large enough moisture when the temperature drops below 0 ° C and the water freezes on the fabric and creates such an igloo. A new experience for me.:D
Vladimír

Most cauliflowers are still alive. Yesterday was the first nice spring day, even the sun was shining. I removed the nonwoven fabric (only the curtains remained due to pests) and flooded the cauliflower with calcium nitrate. I hope they start growing. I have tried several varieties and it can be seen that some are more durable and some less. What pleased me most was the perennial broccoli Star Perennial Broccoli, which looks like there is no winter.
Vladimír

Great project!

Today I was in the garden and checked the vegetables planted before the winter. Of the cauliflowers, Aalsmeer and Walcherin Winter 5 are still the best in the tunnel (Figure 1). The three Aalsmeers, which were only covered with non-woven fabric, even look good (Figure 2). Nine Star Perennial Broccoli also looks very good (picture 3). The unequivocal success of the winter onion, all three varieties (Figure 4).
Vladimír

I finished this project a few days ago. All the flowering plants formed heads, but the size was not large. Practically the bigger the plant, the bigger the head. Overall I am disappointed with the size, the largest head was 14 cm in diameter. The lesson for me for next season is that I have to grow as biggest plants as possible before the winter. That's why I start pre-growing a fortnight earlier and I also have to deal with snails. I still left the smallest cauliflower heads in the flower bed. I want them to bloom, pollinate them and grow seeds. So are the side heads of that broccoli. I cook the harvested cauliflowers and broccoli and taste them drizzled with butter.
Vladimír