I don't know about where you live, but the winter in Utah was unhinged this year. We broke all the wrong records. It was hotter than usual and the driest winter season ever recorded. Because of the unprecedented weather, I had change how I was growing cold hardy vegetables.
This post was sponsored by Digz Gardening but all ideas, opinions and experiences are 100% my own.
Which Cold Hardy Vegetable I Am Growing
The cold hardy vegetables that I chose to grow this year are peas, carrots, lettuce and onions. The first things to go in the ground were peas and carrots. Usually carrots would go in a bit later than the peas, but I have a red variety that needs to be grown in colder conditions. That row got planted first. I planted another row more recently and will sow a third row in a week or two.
What I did Differently
I planted the peas and kyoto carrots earlier that I normally would because of the lack of snow and the warmer weather. I knew if the temps did eventually dip down, they would be okay. We ended up getting a couple of small snow storms and a couple of hard freezes after I planted and they are both doing great.
The weird weather also made me rethink how to approach the other cold hardy veggies I was going to plant. I started lettuce indoors for the first time ever. I normally plant it directly outside but since we were having 80+ degree weather in February and March, I was hesitant. I know, FEBRUARY?! I even saw some butterflies...
It grew really well indoors! It went from tiny little sprouts to large seedlings ready to be planted in what seemed like no time. I am not sure how they will do after being transplanted but it will be fun to see.
I also grew onions from seed for the first time. I normally get onion sets (small dried bulbs) or onion starts from a nursery. I have heard you can get even bigger onions if you start them from seed so I decided to go for it.
When I got the seed packet however, there were less than 30 seeds. I need at least 40 for one row in my garden so I did end up having to buy starts anyway. It will be interesting to see which grow better or if there is any difference at all. One of my favorite things about gardening is that it is kind of just one big experiment. I love trying new things!
Prepping the Garden
In the fall I had added shredded leaf litter and alfalfa pellets to the garden after using the broadfork (you can read all about that in the fall post). Normally we get lots of snow and rain and the constant moisture helps break it all down. With very little moisture, the leaves only partially decomposed. But that is okay because I add a compost & bark mixture to my garden in the spring. I simply added the compost over the top of the partially decaying leaves.
I gently added them around the peas that have started to pop up but I will wait to add it around the tiny carrot sprouts until they are bigger.
Planting Cold Hardy Vegetables
To plant them I used my handy dandy garden trowel from Digz. I moved some of the compost away and pushed the trowel into the dirt. I wiggle it a bit and push it back so it creates a gap. I placed the lettuce seedling into the gap and then gently removed the trowel from the ground. This is my favorite way to plant small plant plugs as it doesn't disrupt to soil very much and is quick & clean.
It worked great for my onions too! I decided to plant "mine" that I started from seeds and the nursery starts in an every other one pattern so I could tell which were which. I didn't have enough of mine to do a full row so this made the most sense ant the time.
Now that all my cold hardy vegetable are nicely tucked into their garden beds, now I just have to wait until it is warmer (or more stable!) to plant my other plants. We have another hard freeze coming next week. Mother nature really does like to keep us gardeners on our toes!
I would love to hear about the winter weather in your area and how it has affected how you are gardening this year. Please comment below and tell me which zone you are in and what challenges you faced this season.
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