Written by Grumpy Pumpkin

Cold Weather Plantings

So if you’ve followed along so far, you’ve got your little pots stuffed full of seeds and have taken the first steps to having a very successful and prolific garden this summer. Good for you!! During these times, it sure does make me feel a level of comfort knowing that I will have access to fresh vegetables in the coming months. It makes me feel like I am being proactive in providing food for the upcoming months.

Some plants don’t need quite as much love as others. Some plants don’t even need as much warmth as others. This is a good thing, since it allows you to use the same garden plot to grow different crops on top of one another. Remember when I said not to plant all your cabbage at the same time? Well, now I will lay that plan out in detail and let you decide what will work for your growing situation. Crops like cabbage, broccoli, spinach and most common herbs are hearty and will flourish in not-so-ideal conditions.

This came free with my order of seeds this year. I’ve never tasted them, never grown them, but this seems like a great time to try new things so in they go!!
This will be my first year growing these from seed.
They love to grow a big ole plant, but sometimes no fruits. Gotta watch them.
Herbs like warmer weather, they can be started in the baby pots but can also be sown directly in the ground with equal success.
All of these are pretty hearty when it comes to colder weather. You can rotate a crop either next to or in between an existing one, so you don’t end up with 40 head of cabbage on the same day 🤣 Start thinking about good spots you can use for rotation, such as a flat part of the yard or a lot of big pots. Plants like cabbage and broccoli are a 1 and done plant, meaning they are destroyed at harvest.
My goji berries from yesterday had to be soaked before being planted in the baby pots. So they are here and waiting for the seedlings to be ready. On the back on all the seed packs are specific instructions concerning planting conditions. There is much more than that, but we will worry about that on another post. For now, we work on the seeds.

I hope this starts to explain the difference between cold weather garden (commonly referred to as the spring/fall garden) and the summer garden. Some plants can thrive in pretty tough conditions while others are delicate and need things to be just right for optimum growing. Some plants grow into the vegetable and are eaten as a whole (like cabbage) and some keep producing all summer (like tomatoes). Rotation in planting helps to ensure you’ll be enjoying those broccolis all summer along with your tomatoes. Now is a perfect time to snuggle up with a blanket on the couch and read the back of all your seed packets, become accustomed to their quirks and differences before they sprout into baby plants and go into the ground. Learn what you can expect from each plant. Learn which ones you will be rotating and whatever you do….DON’T plant all your cabbage seeds in the same day!!

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