I live in the Sacramento Valley and am wondering if there are any winter
vegetable crops I could plant? Or does it get too cold (rarely below 35
degrees). I'd like to put my garden to use during the 'off' season.

Diane M

are you kidding? there are literally dozens of greens to choose from,
plus carrots, broccoli, beets, and peas.Tell us what you like, what
your soil is like, rainfall or irrigation, and we will take it from
there. I live in Michigan and right now one of my two gardens is
completely green with greens. I will start eating that in a couple
weeks.

simy1 wrote:
are you kidding? there are literally dozens of greens to choose from,
plus carrots, broccoli, beets, and peas.Tell us what you like, what
your soil is like, rainfall or irrigation, and we will take it from
there. I live in Michigan and right now one of my two gardens is
completely green with greens. I will start eating that in a couple
weeks.

Well, I'm talking about planting now for winter. We get a lot of rain
here. Our soil isn't the best, but we plan to rectify that before
spring. It's obviously much warmer here than in Michigan.

Diane

Diane McGill wrote:
simy1 wrote:
are you kidding? there are literally dozens of greens to choose from,
plus carrots, broccoli, beets, and peas.Tell us what you like, what
your soil is like, rainfall or irrigation, and we will take it from
there. I live in Michigan and right now one of my two gardens is
completely green with greens. I will start eating that in a couple
weeks.

Well, I'm talking about planting now for winter. We get a lot of rain
here. Our soil isn't the best, but we plan to rectify that before
spring. It's obviously much warmer here than in Michigan.

Diane

true, it is much warmer there. But that just means that you have more
choice
than I have. Basically, I have to limit myself to radicchio, collard
and kale,
arugula and garlic shoots, and I have to plant them well ahead of time.

Cold or not, I still planted broccoli raab and pea shoots last week.
They will
be ready in a month or so.

If your soil is so-so, and assuming that it is on the alkaline side (it
being the Central Valley)
may I suggest radicchio and other chicories, chard, peas and beets.
Garlic shoots are always a cold weather treat here, and they will come
up in a hurry for you to put in pasta and omelettes.

If you do know for a fact that it will rain a lot, kale will also do
well. If it will rain a lot and you are willing to fertilize, collard,
lettuce, bok choi, broccoli raab, and arugula (as well as the rest of
the mustards, like mizuna) come into the picture. If the soil is not
hard carrots and radishes are an option (no fertilizer), carrots being
far more drought resistant than radishes.

If your soil is very hard just forget about the root crops except
potatoes. If the soil is hard, potatoes, radicchio, and fava beans will
help break it.

Once you have a well manured soil you will also open the option to have
cardoon (best planted
in July), potatoes and various cabbages, and your lettuce will improve
in flavor and appearance.
There are a number of small greens (notably mache and miner's lettuce)
that you can grow as a ground cover amongst the bigger vegetables (they
will reseed and be there forever).

Right now you are better off buying a packet of everything, plant, and
see what sticks, and
of those that stick, what you like. The greens growing under the peas
and the favas will get enough nitrogen that they won't need fertilizer.

simy1 wrote:
Diane McGill wrote:

simy1 wrote:

are you kidding? there are literally dozens of greens to choose from,
plus carrots, broccoli, beets, and peas.Tell us what you like, what
your soil is like, rainfall or irrigation, and we will take it from
there. I live in Michigan and right now one of my two gardens is
completely green with greens. I will start eating that in a couple
weeks.


Well, I'm talking about planting now for winter. We get a lot of rain
here. Our soil isn't the best, but we plan to rectify that before
spring. It's obviously much warmer here than in Michigan.

Diane


true, it is much warmer there. But that just means that you have more
choice
than I have. Basically, I have to limit myself to radicchio, collard
and kale,
arugula and garlic shoots, and I have to plant them well ahead of time.

Cold or not, I still planted broccoli raab and pea shoots last week.
They will
be ready in a month or so.

If your soil is so-so, and assuming that it is on the alkaline side (it
being the Central Valley)
may I suggest radicchio and other chicories, chard, peas and beets.
Garlic shoots are always a cold weather treat here, and they will come
up in a hurry for you to put in pasta and omelettes.

If you do know for a fact that it will rain a lot, kale will also do
well. If it will rain a lot and you are willing to fertilize, collard,
lettuce, bok choi, broccoli raab, and arugula (as well as the rest of
the mustards, like mizuna) come into the picture. If the soil is not
hard carrots and radishes are an option (no fertilizer), carrots being
far more drought resistant than radishes.

If your soil is very hard just forget about the root crops except
potatoes. If the soil is hard, potatoes, radicchio, and fava beans will
help break it.

Once you have a well manured soil you will also open the option to have
cardoon (best planted
in July), potatoes and various cabbages, and your lettuce will improve
in flavor and appearance.
There are a number of small greens (notably mache and miner's lettuce)
that you can grow as a ground cover amongst the bigger vegetables (they
will reseed and be there forever).

Right now you are better off buying a packet of everything, plant, and
see what sticks, and
of those that stick, what you like. The greens growing under the peas
and the favas will get enough nitrogen that they won't need fertilizer.

Wow, what a choice. Thank you. I'll definitely try some of them.

Diane

Don't forget to check with your County Extension office! They can help
with local conditions/varieties, etc.

http://danr.ucop.edu/danrdir/uccequery.cfm

John! (who works with GA Extension)

Diane McGill wrote:

Wow, what a choice. Thank you. I'll definitely try some of them.

Diane

This website has a section on winter gardens:
http://www.westsidegardener.com/quic...r_veggies.html

This book is highly recommended:
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
by Eliot Coleman, Kathy Bray (Illustrator), Barbara Damrosch (Photographer)

Just happened to come across this forum when searching for the exact name of
the book above:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/fourseason/

Also, I've found that most seed suppliers now have sections on winter
gardening and suggest planting times and best varieties. Check your favorite
supplier's website.

Good luck, LJ in BC

"Diane M" wrote in message
nk.net...
I live in the Sacramento Valley and am wondering if there are any winter
vegetable crops I could plant? Or does it get too cold (rarely below 35
degrees). I'd like to put my garden to use during the 'off' season.

Diane M

excellent website. Territorial Seeds is one that focusses exclusively
on the northern gardener (and the one I buy from. They have lettuces
that overwinter in Michigan under minimal cover. Really).

Diane, though, can plant virtually anything, given her minimum temps of
around 32. She might not be able to get some of the longest season
veggies before it gets hot, such as Brussels sprouts, long season
cabbage, and parsnips. But she can get just about everything else. The
trick is to get something on the ground now that will be ready in 30
days, and something that will be ready in 45, and something that will
be ready in 60. Given the poor quality of the soil peas are a must,
though I myself am partial to favas, which are equal in taste to peas
but condition the soil much better, and also are a tremendous green
manure. But favas make such a jungle, you can not really grow anything
underneath.

I'm south of you in Bakersfield.
There are lots of things to plant.
Rarely has the weather ever killed my plants...... lettuce, carrots,
radishes, turnips, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
Check with your local cooperative extension
"Diane M" wrote in message
nk.net...
I live in the Sacramento Valley and am wondering if there are any winter
vegetable crops I could plant? Or does it get too cold (rarely below 35
degrees). I'd like to put my garden to use during the 'off' season.

Diane M

UC Davis published a book just for California. It's the best.
Choose a Crop
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/veginfor.htm
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/usesites/ressite.htm#garden
http://vric.ucdavis.edu/usesites/ressite.htm
"Diane M" wrote in message
nk.net...
I live in the Sacramento Valley and am wondering if there are any winter
vegetable crops I could plant? Or does it get too cold (rarely below 35
degrees). I'd like to put my garden to use during the 'off' season.

Diane M

the most valuable thing you can do with a square foot of winter ground
is store the coolth. Put out soda bottles full of water. Store them in
a heavily insulated toolshed. Like the old-timey ice houses. Fiberglass
batt isn't all that expensive. put aluminum foil on the shed to reflect
sunlight away, gains less heat.

Ice is incredibly good storage of coolth because it freezes at a very
low (relative to room temp) temperature, and because the heat-of-fusion
of water is so darn big. But if you don't have freezes, you don't have
freezes. Store the cold water anyway.

Air Conditioners chew up VERY large amount of electricity. Each BTU of
cooling power, that you can seasonally harvest instead of
machine-produce, is money in your pocket.