winter gardening

[Dan_Shade]

Do any of you guys grow a winter garden?

[sawguy21]

Nope.The snow snakes get all of it. :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Got one started before we came up here.  8) 8)

[Dan_Shade]

you guys aren't helping me at all....  :

  i figure i'm too late this year, but i'm trying to figure out planting dates for winter crops

[CHARLIE]

I always put in a crop of snow peas and iceberg lettuce. ;D

[thecfarm]

I thought about something like that too.But along came a horse and that really slowed things up.I was going to have a 8x16 area and cover it with greenhouse plastic,that we have,and try to grow beets,lettuce,cabbage and greens.Wanted to keep our veggie stand open longer and earlier.Was going to start peas in it in the spring.I wanted to lay down some regular plastic to kill all of the weeds in the soil.Never did that.I wanted to make the sides and top removeable so when it got warm I can take it down.I still might make the frame for it.I have a few rocks that just about stick out of the ground I can cover up.

[Burlkraft]

There's always a DanG horse somewhere in the plans to screw things up... :D  :D  :D

[crtreedude]

YES! After owning land in Costa Rica for 4 years I am finally growing things besides trees. I am from 3 generations of vegetable farmers and I can't stand not having a garden. Over the last month we managed (note: we means I bought the rototiller - they use it) to plant more than 2 acres of garden - more like 5 acres if you include what is between the rows of trees!

Let's see - a incomplete list.

Lima Beans
Blackeyed peas
Squash (like 5 varieties of summer squash)
Beets
Radishes
Snap peas
Watermellons
Cantelope
Lettuce
Spinch
Brocolli
Coliflower
Papaya
Green beans (we are going to be swimming in them)
dried beans (black and red, the normal stuff)
Costa Rican equivalent of sweet potatoes
Kohlrabi
Tomatoes
Peppers (hot and sweet)
Cilantro (of course, no garden is permitted in Costa Rica without Cilantro)
More fruit trees (even a peach if you can believe it)
Bread Fruit
Jack Fruit
Leeks
Onions

And I am sure I forgot something - we have more to plant around April before the rainy season starts...

[crtreedude]

Harold - FIND OKRA SEEDS AND BRING! Also, if you could find paste tomatoes, I would be grateful for at least a week.

[crtreedude]

Oh, and I don't think my planting dates are going to help you much...  :

[estiers]

Costa Rica requires a phytosanitary certificates for okra seeds from the US.  So, FDH, you can bring crtreedude some okra seeds, but they might not leave customs...  Just FYI.

[crtreedude]

Estiers,

It does, and it doesn't. I contacted MAG and they said - we don't want to know...

Okra seeds are available here and listed as acceptable to MAG. (if you want the link I can send it to you but it is all Spanish)

You are correct about customs - it depends on who is on duty and if they bother. Normally, they don't care. It doesn't matter if the seeds are acceptable by the way, customs has no clue, so will take anything like seeds because they couldn't tell an okra seed from a tomato seed if their life depended on it.

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Where am I supposed to find seed , in November ???

 I will look, if I get time. We leave at 3 PM TODAY.  8)

[crtreedude]

I was thinking leftover seed - still works well usually.

[crtreedude]

Don't sweat it too much - it isn't like I HAVE to have okra...

[Tom]

No, but collards would sure round out a big bowl of soup and a corner of the garden with some "just right" turnips would get visited frequently too.  Those things are huge.

[crtreedude]

You will notice I am missing the following from the garden

Collards - have to make due with mustard greens (we have those too!)
Parsnips - I love them, but they need a frost
Turnips - I am going to try them, but I don't hold out much hope

And anything else that taste better after a bit of a frost. I guess I have to suffer some here...

[CHARLIE]

Tom here's something you will not experience in Florida. Donna plants collards, mustard and kale in her garden and we enjoy the fresh greens. However, we found that after the first coldsnap, they are a lot better. I'm not sure what happens but the greens in the fall are a lot more tasty. Of course they don't survive the hard freeze.

[Tom]

A frost might make them sweeter, but, ours are pretty good without it.  I'll pass on the frost and put them in the refrigerator over night.  :D

[crtreedude]

Now there is an idea - putting them in the refrig. What happens is the cold causes some starches to change to sugar I am told making them sweeter.

[Tom]

I have noticed that they get sweeter after some cold weather, but, we don't have that much cold weather to test them with.  Most of us old die-hards are scarfing up on the greens anywere, anytime we find them.

I've had greens that some cooks put a pinch of sugar in to sweeten them or "take the bite away".  I don't like greens cooked with sugar.  I like'em cooked with a smoked ham hock and served with pepper sauce (the vinegar from  pickled peppers) and corn bread.  ;D  Mmmm   .......and a cup of the pot liqour as an after dinner drink whilst you sit on the porch.  8)

[Fla._Deadheader]

Sorry Fred. No seed, period. Shoulda gave me notice a couple weeks ago. I tried 3 places.  :

[crtreedude]

Thanks for trying Harold. I appreciate it.

[Left Coast Chris]

Dan, we do a winter garden (my favorite) but we have to plant it in August so the plants are big enough to bear.  We do this with brocoli, coliflower, cabage, swiss chard and the like.  The best part is that you do not battle the weeds much at all.  My experience is that if you try to plant now the plants simply grow too slow.   You may need to get them going inside.

[Paschale]

OWW has the ultimate winter garden.   8)