Winter vegetable garden

  • 8 Replies
  • 10070 Views
*

Janet Ibbotson

  • Jr. Member
Winter vegetable garden
« on: October 01, 2011, 06:56:24 AM »
Following last week's rain I planted some rocket which is coming up and thought I'd try sowing some lettuces and parsley today, all things I grow overwinter in my polytunnel in the UK.  Our local garden supplier is selling cabbage plants and says broad beans go in next month but I might get some seeds started in pots now to avoid mouse depredation.

Last Winter I planted in early December and got an excellent crop from onion sets (the wood ash added to the soil seems to have helped) and English spring cabbages  Cauliflower sown then made good plants but bolted in the Spring and came to nothing so I will be trying these earlier - maybe get some going in pots now.  Lettuces sown then were also good.

The soil near the house is poor but I cannot plant down my land because I don't have the water supply there yet.  So carrots, beetroot, spinach are probably not going to work for me yet, though I will experiment again this year.

Do others have experience of the Winter vegetable garden?
Janet Ibbotson
MGS Member currently based in Skopelos, Greece but also gardens in Norfolk

Hilary

  • Hero Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2011, 08:07:09 AM »
I don't have a garden but one of my friends does.
Apart from the things you mention she also plants
Σέσκουλα, Swiss Chard, I think
Μυρώνι. have no idea what this is but it is delicious
Recently they have been selling it in the  street market
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

*

John J

  • Hero Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2011, 11:43:39 AM »
Hilary, I think you'll find that Μυρωνι is Chervil.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2011, 06:59:14 PM »
As we are absentee gardeners in Greece we don't really try veg, but we have had a decent spring crop of broad beans sowing them in November, more or less in the shade of orange trees. (They have the advantage of sprouting so obviously that they avoid the enthusiastic ground-clearance favoured by Eleftheria, who looks after the garden in our absence.)  We have also had useful garlic. Nasturtiums (if you count them as veg) seed themselves around and thrive into the early summer without any water.
And see the other Hilary's note on winter veg in the Okra thread by clicking here.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

*

Janet Ibbotson

  • Jr. Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2011, 06:22:04 AM »
I hadn't thought about chard/spinach, sprouting broccoli or chervil so will try these.  The garden shop is now selling scallions/bunching onions so I can add those to the list.  I will also try garlic again (my crop last year was insignificant).  My neighbour is getting some artichoke slips for me to edge the vegetable terrace with this autumn.  I thought their architectural shape would be good in the ornamental garden too but have discovered that here in Greece artichokes shrivel to a mess of dried leaves and stalks in the summer so are best in the veggie patch.

It would be good to hear from Greek growers.  Also does anyone know about growing vegetables using the moon or know of a good English language source of information on this.  The Maria Thun biodynamic growing calendar is too complicated for me and the only other one I have found is in Spanish.
Janet Ibbotson
MGS Member currently based in Skopelos, Greece but also gardens in Norfolk

*

Yvonne

  • Newbie
    • Giardino in Umbria
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2011, 05:44:23 PM »
Local wisdom is to plant garlic on the shortest day (or Santa Lucia) and harvest it on the longest day. I tried it last year and got brilliant garlic. Wood ash also helped. Cabbage and cauliflower seem best planted in late summer -surprising given how hot it is then.
Yvonne
I am an amateur gardener in central Italy, trying to create a waterwise garden at 430m - which is why I joined the MGS.

*

Alisdair

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2011, 10:09:06 AM »
David Bracey (perhaps having connection difficulties) has asked me to post this message for him:

While on the subject of vegetables what do members sow in the fall?  I have grown transplanted lettuce, spinach, garlic, onions and leeks, many herbs, Good King-Henry, Chenopodium bonus-henricus which Captain Cook allegedly used to ward of scurvy. Any other ideas? Please not Brussels sprouts.

(We had our first dish of brussels sprouts of the year last night - we've never had to pick them this early before....)
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

David Bracey

  • Hero Member
    • Email
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #7 on: October 31, 2011, 03:03:33 PM »
Janet there is a pile of stuff on the internet regarding the influence of the moon`s phases on plant growth.  I attach one reference for example http://www.howplantswork.com/2009/07/25/does-the-moon-affect-plants-part-2-moonlight-and-biorhythms/.

The Scientific group did discuss this subject however one of the problems is to design a trial to measure any growth effect against the control or untreated ie the moon`s effect against no moon`s effect.  We have however written protocol which we may follow.

Its easy to say there is a moon effect when you cannot disprove the claim.
MGS member.

 I have gardened in sub-tropical Florida, maritime UK, continental Europe and the Mediterranean basin, France. Of the 4 I have found that the most difficult climate for gardening is the latter.

*

andrewsloan

  • Jr. Member
Re: Winter vegetable garden
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2011, 07:15:57 PM »
There is quite a good "Gardening by the moon calendar" by Michael Littewood available from www.OrganicCatalogue.com. Here in Spain I use one from Michel Gross, Edita Artus Porta, which is very good but in Spanish