Guest post by Ali Clarke
Winter is coming – to the Pacific Northwest, that is. The weather may feel mild, but urban farmers still need to perform basic garden maintenance in order to ensure that produce can continue growing through the year’s nippier months. With fifteen percent of the world’s food production coming from agricultural plots in some of the busiest cities, planning winter grows in advance promotes a social and environmental awareness that benefits communities through education as much as through the food, itself. With that in mind, prepare to do some maintenance when securing an urban garden for the winter.
Choose A Garden’s Crops Wisely
First thing’s first: if a garden isn’t planted with crops that are hearty enough to survive the colder months of the year, then there won’t be any need for garden maintenance. A wintering urban garden needs to be planted with crops that will last beyond the first cold snap. Lettuce, lamb’s quarter, and a number of winter squashes are some of the vegetables best suited to endure the damp and cold of the Pacific Northwest’s winter. Cover crops will also absorb some of the additional precipitation that might otherwise overwhelm edible vegetables. Radish seeds, vetch, and clover all keep the soil of an urban garden active, and the plants can stand up against the colder nights.
Crop Protection
If the crops in a winter garden are planted too late in the season, then garden maintenance may include a few extra steps in order to keep the produce safe from the cooler weather. Moving more fragile plants inside will allow for continued produce production. Transplant these crops into reasonably sized pots, though, or else their root systems won’t have enough room to grow. If the weather forecast predicts unusually large amounts of snow and rain, guards keep debris out of a building’s gutters so that snow and rain don’t flood a close-to-home garden. Cold frames, too, help brace crops from strong, brisk winds.
Deciding When to Harvest
Any plants that have been brought inside from the garden should be harvested as they would be during their normal growing cycle. Cold weather root vegetables, though, like carrots, can be left in the ground until the weather starts to warm again. The cool soil will preserve these root vegetables and ensure that they remain pest-free. They may even taste better after spending time in the frosty outdoors. Do take care, though – one or two unseasonably warm days may spell disaster for these left-alone plants, so keep an eye on the thermometer and move quickly, should a heat wave roll in.
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