Winter crops of vegetables - when and how: agronomist's advice
SOWING VEGETABLES FOR THE WINTER IS EASIER AND THE HARVEST GIVES BETTER
What vegetable grower does not dream of getting a harvest in the spring as early as possible! Winter sowing provides such an opportunity. In addition to freeing up time in the spring, many vegetable crops, having undergone natural stratification, will give strong, friendly shoots. There are no difficulties in carrying out such sowing, it is only important to “catch” the weather.
The optimal time for winter sowing occurs towards the end of November, or even later, when the cold sets in. The earth should begin to seize with a light frost and not thaw for a long time. Gardeners call this sowing "on a shard." This moment is very important, since during autumn sowing, moisture can cause significant damage: the seeds can begin to germinate, which cannot be allowed until spring.
Only now the grooves should be cut in advance, as well as stocking dry soil in a bag in order to sprinkle the seeds, and, if possible, to mulch the crops. It can be compost, humus or a mixture of them with peat at the rate of 4-5 buckets per 1 sq.m. The height of the mulching layer should be 3-5 cm. The mulch will protect the crops from weathering, washing out and freezing, the soil under it will remain loose.
See also: Winter beet planting - what are its huge advantages
FOR THE NOTICE
When sowing before winter, the seeds do not require special preparation (soaking, treatment with growth stimulants, trace elements ...), they must be dry. You don't need to water the soil either. Start sowing in dry weather.
So that it is not empty in the spring, it should be sown thickly in the fall. The seeding rate for winter crops is increased by 25-50% in relation to the usual recommendations. The depth of their embedding should also be greater - approximately one and a half to two times compared with spring sowing.
It is better to install arches in the garden immediately after sowing in the fall; in the spring it is not always possible to stick them into the ground. And so, if there are late return frosts, it will be possible to quickly throw a non-woven fabric over them to protect the shoots that have appeared.
The choice of crops for winter sowing is quite wide. These are spinach, lettuce, radish, parsley, dill, beets, carrots, lettuce mustard, batun, leek, sorrel, borage, arugula, parsnip, coriander, rhubarb, cauliflower, red cabbage and Chinese cabbage. As well as medicinal herbs and many annual and perennial flowers: lupine, delphinium, aster, calendula, mattiola, godetia ... Flowers that do not like transplants are immediately planted in a permanent place. And, for example, an aster can be sown first in a compact nursery.
With winter sowing of carrots, the crop can already be harvested in the first half of June. In the spring, it will rise 2-3 weeks earlier than usual and make the most of the moisture from melting snow. It is better to give preference to cold-resistant varieties that are resistant to flowering. Most often, for winter sowing, the varieties Nanteska 4 or Nantes improved, Losinoostrovskaya, Moscow winter A 515, Samson, Kuroda Shantane, Nectar F1 are used. Early ripe ones are better not to sow: they start to sprout too early, therefore they either die from frost or go into the arrow. Granular seeds are well suited for sowing before winter. When sowing them, the distance between the granules is reduced to 2-3 cm.
As for the beets, it is better for it to be sown before winter, specially bred for this purpose varieties Podzimnyaya 474, Cold-resistant 19, Northern ball, Polar flat K-249.
Despite the many advantages, the winter sowing of carrots and beets has one significant drawback: such root crops are not suitable for storage. For this reason, all crops sown before winter should be consumed during the summer or used in a processed form.
Reference by topic: What and how to sow before winter - features of winter sowing
UNDER WINTER SOWING OF VEGETABLES - WHAT, WHEN AND HOW - VIDEO
© Author: Natalia Solonovich, agronomist Photo by the author
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UNDERGROUND SOWING
Autumn is the time to ease the stress of spring. Before winter, many crops can be planted and sown.
Taking into account the predecessors, you can sow sage, carrots, sorrel, cauliflower and red cabbage, parsley, lettuce, spinach, dill, beets, onions, garlic, rhubarb, mint and other cold-resistant crops.
Predecessors can be cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and legumes.
Sowing must be done in such a way that the seeds do not have time to hatch and germinate in the fall. Therefore, it is better to be late with sowing than to hurry.
Seeds for underground sowing must be completely dry. Soaking or heating them is strictly prohibited. Sow them to a depth of 1,5-3 cm.
Seeds should be taken 30-40% more than the spring-summer norm, since the germination rate of winter ones will be somewhat lower.
The place where I prepare the bed for sowing should be with a slight slope to the south or southeast, well lit. Soil preparation begins in September - October. After collecting plant residues, it is necessary to add 3-4 kg of humus or compost, 50-60 g of nitrophoska and 80-100 g of wood ash per 1 sq. m. m.
When the bed is ready, I mark out the rows and in their place I lay wooden pegs 2-3 cm thick, which lie on the beds right up to the crops. After this, I cover the bed with a piece of roofing felt, and place stakes along its edges.
If the snow falls early, in November - December, I focus on the poles, dig out a bed from under the snow, and remove the roofing material.
You can sow. I fill the grooves with sand or peat prepared in advance. After this, I cover the bed with as much snow as possible.
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Every year I plant onion sets before winter. Last year I read that carrots of the Shantane variety sown before winter work well. And I grow this variety, along with Nantes and Losinoostrovskaya, only I sow them in the spring. I decided to experiment.
In early October, I planted onions and in the same bed, for testing, sowed a row of carrots of the Chantane variety. Just like in the spring, I made a row, poured ash, then sand, tamped it down, spread out the carrot seeds (I tried to sparingly) and covered it with sand on top too.
To separate the onions from the carrots, I sowed dill between them.
When the onions sprouted in the spring, the carrots also sprouted. It rose well. Since it was sparsely sown, there was no need to thin out. I started picking carrots early; of course, they were not as large as at the beginning of autumn.
At the end of July, I removed the onions, and the carrots grew well in August, growing large, sweet, and juicy.
And it was ready much earlier than the one sown in the spring.
Now I’ve decided to always sow carrots before winter: you can enjoy the tender root vegetables early, and you don’t have to bother with sowing in the spring.
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I noticed that the neighbors were sowing something on the site during the thaw. I asked what they were sowing there, and they told me: “That's it! And carrots, and cabbage, and beets. Will something grow with such sowing? How to do it right?
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- Winter crops are not news, but rather commonplace. If there is an opportunity and desire, a variety of crops can be sown during the thaw: carrots, beets, turnips, radishes and other root crops.
To do this, make small grooves in the thawed soil, scatter dry seeds over the surface, sprinkle with earth, peat or humus. As a rule, after such sowing, early and friendly shoots appear. Gardeners also note that plants grow more viable.
Some gardeners practice just sowing the seeds right in the snow, but it is important to protect the seeds from birds, otherwise it is likely that they will peck them, and then you will be left without a harvest.