December 2, 2016 – Rain, Rain, Rain – and Winter Gardening
There
is nothing more glorious to a gardener than soft soaking rain. We got a touch of it on Tuesday, but
yesterday afternoon into evening it was a tumultuous storm. It made my heart sing because we are in
extreme drought.
Of
course the storm probably brought down limbs that I will have to pick up and haul
off. But, we DID receive the rain’s life
force nourishing the soil. In fact, I
would be the happiest of souls if it rained for two weeks straight - but then
everyone would be moody and grouchy for Christmas.
I
did notice the storm darkened the day much earlier than usual and I can’t
convey it better than the famous quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of
Paradise:
.
. . November rain had perversely stolen the day’s last hour and
pawned
it with that ancient fence, the night.
Usually
I plant a winter garden. I have experimented
with this for several years and the real secret is ample rains at time of
planting. Well, August and September
were bone dry and so was October with one little rain. So, since my raised vegetable beds were as
dry as dust, I didn’t bother because I was in extreme drought and we are on
well water. The decision to water or
take long hot showers was an easy one for me to make.
BUT,
now that we have had a real soaking rain – I am going to be experimentally optimistic. Do you like
that phrase? I am going to dive into my
seed box today, which is a big plastic tool chest, and find Asian greens,
beets, spinach, and lettuces seeds that are the type grown near Paris in their
winter gardens and go out and sow them.
I
will be using the 5 small cold frames I have. I will be covering the open top
ones only when the temperature is dropping towards freezing. From my experience, down here in the South it
is just as difficult, if not more difficult to keep plants from “cooking” in too
much heat from an unvented cold frame than to keep them safe from a frost. Frost protection is easy. Pop something over
them late afternoon and pull it off in the morning. We rarely have many freezing days, and when
we do just leave the protection on.
Drying
winds are more damaging to winter crops here in the South than cold
temperatures.
Below
is a link to the most recent Eliot Coleman YouTube video where he was speaking
to farmers in Asheville, North Carolina, November 9, 2016. It is awesome – watch it – and it will
inspire you to grow on the back side of the calendar.
Also,
below is Eliot Coleman’s website which has a listing of his many helpful books.
I have the following
three books and I think they are fabulous.
You can probably borrow these from the library to give them a quick read.
But, once you’ve digested this concept of winter gardening, I am sure you will
add all his books to your gardening library as well.
The
Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman
Four
Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from
Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman
The
New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of
Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener by Eliot Coleman
I
started winter gardening about 6 years ago.
Many years have been more successful than others due mostly to ample
rain or no rain. But, all of it has been enlightening, exciting, with more
successes than failures. I have also had some really good eating and often enough
to share with close friends.
Eliot
discusses Claytonia and Maché in his You Tube which I have tried and they truly
grow here in this clime with no winter protection. One year, their protection was an old scatter
rug tossed on them at the last minute. The
next year I didn’t even bother covering them from frost and they came through
beautifully. Both spinach and Swiss chard
winters over without a problem. In fact,
one year my spinach rosettes got 2 inches of snow on them and it was the most gorgeous
spinach I ever had. They call snow poor man’s fertilizer; I believe it has
something to do with nitrogen. I will
need to research that more and get back to you.
Johnny’s Selected
Seeds have most of the seeds Eliot Coleman mentions. I have been very pleased with their
seeds. Their link is below:
Also, they have a
winter’s growing guide:
It
is an awesome website with more than enough information to get you started or
get you dreaming. Johnny’s Research Farm
is in Maine – I am in North Carolina.
So,
when I started this a few years ago I had to do my own research for
High/Low/Average temperatures – I am sharing it with you below:
My
research for the Charlotte, NC – High/Low/Average Temps
Note: You simply cover when things are too cold –
frost temp.
Plan
on an easy on and easy off cover.
High - Low -
Average temperature chart from historical history found “somewhere on line”.
|
Month
|
High
|
Low
|
Average
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sept
|
82
|
63
|
73
|
|
|
Oct
|
73
|
51
|
62
|
|
|
Nov
|
63
|
42
|
52
|
|
|
Dec
|
54
|
35
|
44
|
|
|
Jan
|
54
|
32
|
42
|
|
|
Feb
|
56
|
34
|
45
|
|
|
Mar
|
64
|
42
|
53
|
|
|
April
|
73
|
49
|
61
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following is a Day Length chart
for
35 degrees Latitude - here in Forest
City, NC
I
did this chart a couple years ago to find out how much actual “LIGHT/SUN” we
have a day. Note: We don’t dip under
10 hours a day for too long. That is
the Persephone Period that Coleman and Johnny’s discuss.
These are all
a.m. to p.m. times [h=hours; m=minutes]
|
|
|||
|
9/15
|
7:07
|
7:30
|
12h22m
|
|
|
9/22 Fall
Equinox – 12h day and 12h night
|
|
|||
|
9/30
|
7:18
|
7:08
|
11h50m
|
|
|
10/15
|
7:30
|
6:48
|
11h17m
|
|
|
10/30
|
7:44
|
6:29
|
10h45m
|
|
|
11/15
|
6:58
|
5:17
|
10h18m
|
|
|
11/30
|
7:13
|
5:12
|
9h58m
|
|
|
12/15
|
7:24
|
5:13
|
9h48m
|
|
|
12/21 –
Shortest Day – Winter Solstice
|
|
|||
|
12/31
|
7:31
|
5:22
|
9h50m
|
|
|
1/15
|
7:31
|
5:35
|
10h04m
|
|
|
1/31
|
7:23
|
5:51
|
10h28m
|
|
|
2/15
|
7:09
|
6:06
|
10h57m
|
|
|
2/28
|
6:54
|
6:18
|
11h24m
|
|
|
3/15
|
7:34
|
7:31
|
11h57m
|
|
|
3/20 Spring
Equinox – 12h day – 12h night
|
|
|||
|
3/31
|
7:11
|
7:44
|
12h32m
|
|
|
4/15
|
6:51
|
7:56
|
13h05m
|
|
|
4/30
|
6:33
|
8:08
|
13h35m
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summer Solstice 6/21 – Longest Day
I
hope this sparks an interest in you to explore a new and exciting gardening experience.
I am
off to play in the dirt today in my ratty old cashmere sweater underneath my garden
clothes. In a future blog I will share pictures
of my winter gardening.
