Today is the first day that it actually feels like winter in Florida. The sky is wholly gray and there's a wonderful chill in the air - I love it! One of the best parts, in my opinion, of living in the south is year round gardening. No matter what time of year it is there is something you can grow!
Recently I planted the first of my winter vegetables (broccoli pictured right) and after only five days, they sprouted and I am both surprised and ecstatic! I planted broccoli, cauliflower and I also prepared a bed for my buttercrunch lettuce by adding new fertilizer to the soil but haven't been able to make it home in time before dark to get those seedlings into the ground.
In this post today I am going to cover the basics of winter gardening, how to pick the best vegetables to grow for your area and perhaps add a few snippets of information on some of my favorite winter crops.
It is always best to start at the beginning...
Winter gardening is not practical everywhere and it certainly isn't easy. There are many things the southern gardener must consider; frost dates, cold winds, and even hard freezes. These weather events can completely devastate an entire crop if you don't take the proper precautions or plan ahead.
So when do you start planting for the winter and what plants do you choose? These are the first questions you will need to answer and I am here to help!
The first step to determining when and what to plant is to find out which USDA hardiness zone you reside in. The USDA planting/hardiness zone map is a tool used by gardeners to aid them in choosing what type or variety of plant will grow best in their microclimate.
The hardiness map first came about in 1938 and was created by the U.S. National Arboretum and consisted of 8 zones, this map was used until 1960 when a man in the organization named Henry Skinner updated the map changing the correlating temperature variations to a set 10 degrees. This USDA version of the map was much more popular and by 1965 Florida was added to the hardiness map. This map was the industry standard until 1990.
Over the years the map, as most maps do, became less and less accurate due to things like climate change and colonization, in response the USDA added new zones such as Canada and Mexico and added additional levels of zone variation. Each zone stayed separated by a 10 degree variance but gained A and B sections of additional 5 degree variations within the zones making it more accurate than ever before.
Several more years passed and the map underwent different updates of varying significance, some of the most notable in 2006 when a study was released showing the zones were moving northward as climate change caused the earth to warm. In 2012 two more new zones were added to the map and in 2015 the Arbor Day Foundation released an even newer version of the map.
The hardiness map first came about in 1938 and was created by the U.S. National Arboretum and consisted of 8 zones, this map was used until 1960 when a man in the organization named Henry Skinner updated the map changing the correlating temperature variations to a set 10 degrees. This USDA version of the map was much more popular and by 1965 Florida was added to the hardiness map. This map was the industry standard until 1990.
Over the years the map, as most maps do, became less and less accurate due to things like climate change and colonization, in response the USDA added new zones such as Canada and Mexico and added additional levels of zone variation. Each zone stayed separated by a 10 degree variance but gained A and B sections of additional 5 degree variations within the zones making it more accurate than ever before.
Several more years passed and the map underwent different updates of varying significance, some of the most notable in 2006 when a study was released showing the zones were moving northward as climate change caused the earth to warm. In 2012 two more new zones were added to the map and in 2015 the Arbor Day Foundation released an even newer version of the map.
Today the zone map consists of a number system 11 through 0 and those numbers represent the minimum temperatures a plant can withstand within that zone so, for example, if a plant is labeled as hardy in zone 10 then the minimum temperatures it can withstand are -1 °C (30° F) and so on.
My zone is 8b, north Florida so when I shop for seeds I look on the packaging or within the product information online for varieties that correspond with that zone or are at least in zone 8 or 9. (Note* most gardening websites will let you sort products by zone!)
To figure out which zone and sub-section of that zone you reside in click here.
So we've found your hardiness zone, now what? Picking out your plant and seed babies, of course! This is the fun part. Since primarily we are discussing winter gardening in this article I am going to stick to edibles that grow well in cooler weather only.
So what are some edibles that enjoy a nice chill or even REQUIRE one? There are actually quite a lot to choose from! Some of these are more cold hardy than others but all of these vegetables do best when grown in cool temperatures.
For the beginner gardener I would suggest starting out with hybrid varieties or GMO seeds verses no-gmo or heirloom type seeds.
The benefits to using GMO varieties, especially for cold weather gardening, are that they are generally bred to be more resistant to pests, diseases and yes even sudden shifts in temperature.
Hybrid seeds share a lot of these same protective traits with GMO type seeds and hybrids can produce some of the most interesting and beautiful plants of all!
The downside? Because hybrid plants are created using cross-pollination you cannot harvest seeds from hybrid plants and get the same plant from those seeds so if you want to grow the same variety again the next year, you will have to purchase the seeds again. This is great for big seed companies, not so much for home gardeners or small farms who want to save seeds for repeated use or sharing. Now you may be thinking, but Jess what if I DO save the seeds and grow them then what happens? The answer is simple, your seeds will likely sprout and produce but the offspring will not be like the hybrid plant you harvest the seeds from, more likely it will be like one of the parent plants the hybrid was created from.
Example* you have a hybrid flower that is yellow with white stripes and has large dark green leafs. It produces seeds and you plant them, when the plant flowers, the flower it produces is plain white and its leafs are more narrow and lighter in color. The plant may be weaker and less vigorous as well - now it is possible to stabilize hybrid seeds but the process is long arduous one and just in general isn't worth the supreme time and effort involved!
As you progress on your gardening journey you may want to experiment with heirloom seeds and that is always great fun! Some of my summer favorites are heirlooms and organic varieties like Black Krim tomatoes and Red Burgundy okra. A few of my favorite winter heirloom/organic varieties are Buttercrunch lettuce, Broccoli de Ciccio, and Sicilian Violet Cauliflower.
Some vegetables are sensitive and you will want to purchase seedlings rather than plants or start them indoors in trays then transplant them into your garden when they're strong enough or displaying true leafs.
My zone is 8b, north Florida so when I shop for seeds I look on the packaging or within the product information online for varieties that correspond with that zone or are at least in zone 8 or 9. (Note* most gardening websites will let you sort products by zone!)
To figure out which zone and sub-section of that zone you reside in click here.
So we've found your hardiness zone, now what? Picking out your plant and seed babies, of course! This is the fun part. Since primarily we are discussing winter gardening in this article I am going to stick to edibles that grow well in cooler weather only.
So what are some edibles that enjoy a nice chill or even REQUIRE one? There are actually quite a lot to choose from! Some of these are more cold hardy than others but all of these vegetables do best when grown in cool temperatures.
- Arugula
- Beets
- Bok choy
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Collard Greens
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Chard
- Fennel
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Onions (bulbing and bunching)
- Peas
- Spinach
For the beginner gardener I would suggest starting out with hybrid varieties or GMO seeds verses no-gmo or heirloom type seeds.
The benefits to using GMO varieties, especially for cold weather gardening, are that they are generally bred to be more resistant to pests, diseases and yes even sudden shifts in temperature.
Hybrid seeds share a lot of these same protective traits with GMO type seeds and hybrids can produce some of the most interesting and beautiful plants of all!
The downside? Because hybrid plants are created using cross-pollination you cannot harvest seeds from hybrid plants and get the same plant from those seeds so if you want to grow the same variety again the next year, you will have to purchase the seeds again. This is great for big seed companies, not so much for home gardeners or small farms who want to save seeds for repeated use or sharing. Now you may be thinking, but Jess what if I DO save the seeds and grow them then what happens? The answer is simple, your seeds will likely sprout and produce but the offspring will not be like the hybrid plant you harvest the seeds from, more likely it will be like one of the parent plants the hybrid was created from.
Example* you have a hybrid flower that is yellow with white stripes and has large dark green leafs. It produces seeds and you plant them, when the plant flowers, the flower it produces is plain white and its leafs are more narrow and lighter in color. The plant may be weaker and less vigorous as well - now it is possible to stabilize hybrid seeds but the process is long arduous one and just in general isn't worth the supreme time and effort involved!
As you progress on your gardening journey you may want to experiment with heirloom seeds and that is always great fun! Some of my summer favorites are heirlooms and organic varieties like Black Krim tomatoes and Red Burgundy okra. A few of my favorite winter heirloom/organic varieties are Buttercrunch lettuce, Broccoli de Ciccio, and Sicilian Violet Cauliflower.
Some vegetables are sensitive and you will want to purchase seedlings rather than plants or start them indoors in trays then transplant them into your garden when they're strong enough or displaying true leafs.
- Broccoli (In zones 8 - 10 you can sow directly into soil)
- Cabbage (In zones 9 - 10 you can sow directly into soil)
- Cauliflower (In zones 8 - 10 you can sow directly into soil)
- Celery
- Kale
- Leeks
- Most Onions
- Scallions
Part Three : Pests and Diseases - Coming soon
Part Four : Harvest and Seed Saving - Coming soon
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