What to plant in the winter? I didn’t get anything at the beginning of gardening ... No seedlings appeared in spring. Experience does not come immediately. It turns out that I chose the wrong time for winter sowing. Planting vegetables during the winter was too early. Sowing early, in a hurry. It turns out that this is the most common mistake of beginning gardeners - early planting dates. Therefore, my first experience was unsuccessful - nothing came up in the spring. She could not understand why the dill on the potato field sprouted itself in the spring, and, planted by me in the fall, the bush, did not even bite.
The riddle with dill, which sprouted itself in the spring, was solved simply. We plow a potato field with a tractor when it is already cold (November). This is the sowing season for dill (self-sowing) in the winter in late autumn, the friendly seedlings of which appeared in the spring.
If you ask any gardener what can be done on the site in late autumn (November), then you will probably get an answer about processing, whitewashing or pruning fruit trees, about the end of the shelter of heat-loving plants, etc. And some will answer that there is nothing to do already, but they will be mistaken, since November, even December, is not the time for idleness. There are some things that can still be done, even need to be done. This, for example, the winter planting of carrots, some vegetables, flowers.
The advantage of planting carrots before the onset of cold weather, and not only it, as well as other crops is that we get early production (vegetables, flowers) 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. In addition, we get healthy plants. Since planted in late autumn, they grow stronger, hardened. They are less sick.
There is another plus to winter crops - we save spring time, which is usually not enough for gardeners.
What crops can be planted, sown in the winter?
These are such cold-resistant vegetables as
- carrot,
- radish,
- beet,
- parsley,
- celery,
- coriander,
- dill.
These are some medicinal crops:
- valerian,
- yarrow
- St. John's wort
Flowers - annual, perennial:
- escholzius
- alissum
- calendula
- delphiniums
- marigold,
- knapweed,
- echinacea
- others.
With proper sowing before winter, they all sprout very well.
Planting dates for winter vegetables
Sow carrots, other vegetables or flowers should be as soon as possible. When it’s not just cold, but the first frosts have already passed, the earth will be seized by frost. It is best to sow at all when a light frost hits. There are no specific dates for winter crops. No one will tell you a date. In the Kuban it may not even be November, but December, closer to the New Year. After all, there is a long autumn everywhere, rainy, without frost.
Wait for minus night temperatures of -2-3 ° С. Only then should winter sowing be carried out. Therefore, it is so called - sowing in the winter - that is, when it has almost come.
Seeds of carrots, radishes, onion sets, other vegetables or flowers sown in late autumn should only swell, but not germinate. That is why failures comprehended me, that I sowed too early, the seeds sprouted, and then the tender sprouts that proceeded to hatch safely froze.
Preparation of beds in the fall for carrots
Place the planting bed where meltwater does not accumulate. Of course, it should be sunny, quickly drying out after melting snow or rains.
We must prepare the garden for the winter planting of carrots, radishes, dill, and other vegetables much earlier, when it is still relatively warm and the soil digs well so as not to pick the semi-frozen ground. The bed should not just be dug up. It must be well loosened. Earth lumps should not be. The soil structure should be small-sized, because the seeds of any crops (carrots, radishes, parsley, dill, etc.) are sown shallow at this time of year. In addition, the seeds under the ground should be in good contact with the soil, there should be no air voids around them.
You will sow almost on frozen ground, and it is difficult to fill the grooves with frozen lumps. For these purposes, I use pre-prepared loose earth, which was until this time inside a warm room. You can also use purchased land, as it usually has a small loose structure. I advise her to mulch the winter bed from above. Watering is not necessary.
How to plant seeds in late autumn
Seeds are sown on small grooves with a depth of 0.5-1 cm. Grooves can also be made in advance in heat to facilitate planting in the winter. I cover the finished grooves on top with plywood, thick cardboard or a piece of roofing material so that they are not washed away by rain.
The seeding rate before the frosts of carrots, beets, parsley, radishes, other crops rises by 50-70%, because, of course, during the winter months, some of the weak seeds can die, not germinate. I repeat once again - when sowing, grooves are not watered. The land is quite humid in late autumn. Such seeds do not need excess moisture.
Varieties of vegetables for winter sowing
Of the varieties of radishes for sowing in late autumn, I would advise - "Pink-red with a white tip", because it does not shoot like some others. There are varieties that, when staying in cold land for a long time, can produce a flower-bearing shoot when warm weather sets in - you will not try radishes.
Of the varieties of carrots, I advise you to choose the earliest, which in early summer will give marketable products. But I warn you, such carrots planted in the winter are not intended for long-term storage. It is for summer consumption only.
For sowing before winter, the Beetroot variety “Incomparable” is well suited.
Among flower crops, there are not only those that work well in winter crops, but even require planting them as late as possible. This is aquilegia, lupine, delphinium, yarrow. Astra, peretrum (chamomile) can also be sown when frost has almost come. But I would advise them to sow not in a permanent place, but first somewhere separately. They tolerate the transplant well, so then you already plant the seedlings in a permanent place.
There are flowers that are good to sow in the cold, but they do not tolerate the transplant, so it is better to sow them immediately to a permanent place. This is eschscholzia, yarrow.
In conclusion, I repeat, if you have chosen what to plant under the winter, the main rule for winter sowing is planting dates, sow as soon as possible when the ground is seized by a light frost. This, incidentally, applies not only to carrots.
You will succeed!
Additional Information
- Garlic cultivation - planting, care, harvesting, storage. Preparation, dates, norms, crop care, cleaning, ripening, storage. Winter and spring garlic, their features.
- How to plant onion sets in the winter, grow it from seeds (nigella). Growing onion sets from seeds, caring for crops, planting seeds for an early onion crop.