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Post by meandtk on Jul 16, 2014 12:36:43 GMT -5
Ms Gulf Coast area. Throw out suggestions for my fall/winter garden. Is there anything that is normally viewed as spring/summer veggie that I might find able to handle our relatively mild winter? Thx
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jul 16, 2014 14:25:09 GMT -5
That depends on whose definition of "normal" you are using. Seriously, zone 8B extends all the way down to the coast in MS. I'd guess that you get a little colder than me. You probably get a number of frosts and several hard freezes (4+ hours below 28F) every year, and probably in most years you have a couple of nights that dip into upper teens, right? Realistically, veggies that like warm or even hot conditions (peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, tomatillos, okra, most beans, cowpeas, corn, squash, and heat-loving annual herbs like basil) are just not going grow well or produce in cool winter days even if you keep them from freezing. To get these veggies to produce, you'd need a greenhouse or hoop house with supplemental heating to not only keep them well above freezing (preferably above 50F), but also raise the average daytime temperature and give them the heat they need. It will be a whole lot easier if you only grow frost-hardy vegetables, what northerners would consider spring or fall veggies. For examples: Peas Garlic Onions Shallots and other onion relatives Lettuce Spinach Greens Asian greens Kohlrabi Broccoli Cauliflower Cabbage Other brassicas Carrots Radishes Turnips Parsnips Fava beans Some perennial or biennial herbs. Most of these won't plants need any protection at all in your climate. However, some of the less-hardy ones (peas, lettuce, some of the Asian greens) may need protection when the temperatures go below 25F. If you want, you can build hoop houses to increase the average daytime temperatures and speed growth.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jul 16, 2014 14:40:51 GMT -5
Oh, hey - one of the MS universities probably has a similar publication, but here: edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 is a home vegetable gardening guide put out by UF/IFAS. Scroll down the document and there is a chart with planting dates for each crop. The planting dates in the "North Florida" column should work for coastal MS, too*. *I looked at the first and last frost date maps for MS and FL. The frost dates for coastal and near-coastal MS in similar to the N Florida frost dates.
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whistech
Pro Member
Posts: 300
Joined: April 2013
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Post by whistech on Jul 16, 2014 19:43:29 GMT -5
I plan on growing broccoli, cauliflower, onions and carrots this fall and winter. I am looking forward to the cool weather, but may be gripping before the end of winter.
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