Wherever you live, you can plan a year round garden if you study your climate zone.
Do you love to garden? Would you like to garden all year round? If you do some research and planning, you can do just that. For many gardeners, the gardening season can be extended longer than they may have realized, and there may be options that can keep the gardening bug going all year. However, certain basic questions must be answered. First, where are you located?
When it comes to planning your year round garden, location is everything. The first thing you want to do is figure out your climactic zone. In the United States this information is available online from the USDA in the format of the USDA Zone Map. Canada has a similar system that will help you decide what you can and can't grow. The USDA zones range from Zone in Alaska where the lowest temperature is minus 50 Degrees Farenheit all the way to Zone 11 in Honolulu where the lowest temp is around 40 degrees Farenheit, which means it never freezes. Different rules apply to different zones, and you'll do well to do some research on recommendations for your zone.
You can definitely plant bulbs, and landscape plants in the fall in many climate zones, as long as you are careful to select appropriate varieties and plant them early enough that they can get their roots established before the weather becomes too cold. Many landscape plants can grow roots even when soil temperatures drop as low as 45 degrees. They will be dormant when it gets colder, but as soil temperature rises in early spring they can begin to grow again.
Plan to do your fall planting approximately six weeks before the first frost. If you live in a cold zone, August may not to be too early to start. Your local nursery staff knows what will work in your area. They'll be able to help you make educated choices, and tell you how to shelter plants with mulch or other types of protection that will protect them through the winter. Plants started in the fall can take full advantage of spring rains and sun.
Don't limit yourself to what can be done outdoors without protection. You can garden year round with a bit of planning and appropriate technology. A simple tip- if you look out your window and all you see is snow, chances are you live in one of the lower-digit zones, and your year round garden is going to need some help. Are you willing to do some form of greenhouse or other protection if you live in a climate with cold winters? If so, you can extend your growing season considerably.
There are lots of ways of creating a mini-environment for your growing plants. Some hoops and attached plastic sheeting can do wonders in keeping your plants alive during the spring and fall when temperatures dip unpredictably. This kind of setup is installed right over the plants where they are growing in the ground. You may even want to go so far as to build a greenhouse of some sort. This glass or plastic wrap clad structure helps capture and hold the sun's heat, and in a protected location you may be able to start plants much earlier than you could otherwise in the spring.
Another option is to bring your garden indoors. Do you have a space where you can start or winter over plants? This could be a greenhouse window on the south side of your house, a sun porch or even a basement under lights. If your climate is bitter cold for all but a few months, such an indoor garden will help you keep your sanity when it seems like winter will never end.
If you have space indoors, you may want to consider hydroponic gardening. This system of gardening has its own rules, and requires some initial investment in equipment, but it is a very adaptable method, and you can use either indoor or natural light. Fans of hydroponic gardening swear they can grow the best tomatoes in the world.
If you live in a little milder climate, where the cold weather is only four or five months long, you can still improve your garden by starting it inside. If you're willing to install some grow lights you can start your garden and get the seedlings going. Then plant your starts out into beds under plastic sheeting and hoops or other warming technology when the ground thaws.
By the time it's warm enough to take off your plastic tent or covers and leave your young plants unprotected in the ground, you'll have gotten in a couple of extra months of growing time. Your plants will have established root systems and they'll be ready to take full advantage of the warm weather.
On the other hand, perhaps you live in a warmer part of the world, where the weather dips below freezing only briefly, if at all. If this is the case, then you should certainly be gardening year round. Do you have a Mediterranean climate, with wet, mild winters and dry summers? If this is the case, you can definitely garden year round. In fact, if you want the full spectrum of vegetables and flowers this climate can produce, you'll want to take advantage of the special benefits of fall planting to harvest crops in the early spring.
In late summer and early fall you can start winter crops such as lettuce, greens like chard, and kole crops. Kole crops are the family that includes collards, broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and kohlrabi. All these leafy plants will thrive in lower winter light and some, like Russian Kale, only achieve their best flavor once they are exposed to frost. If you get them started in early autumn, you can have lots of greens by December if the weather is not too severe.
Swiss Chard will produce relentlessly throughout the dead of a California winter. If it does frost, lettuce may freeze through, but kole crops just die back and return as things warm up in February and March. If you cover your crops with hoops and plastic, you can probably harvest all winter long in a Mediterranean climate. In the milder, sheltered areas like coastal California, you can grow plants like snow peas and fava beans during the winter for harvest in early spring. Sweet peas will also flourish through the winter in such a climate.
When spring comes, start summer crops as early as possible to get them growing before the soil dries out. You can also start your plants indoors or under cover. For some Mediterranean climates the most stressful time of the year for plants is actually mid-summer, since it can be intensely hot and dry for weeks at a time. When hot dry winds blow as well, consistent watering is crucial to plant survival. If you want to keep your vegetables and flowers alive through the hottest part of such a summer you may need to invest in an irrigation system and possibly even a shelter of shade cloth. Or you can limit yourself to growing crops like tomatoes that thrive in the heat, but will still require regular watering to survive.
Wherever you live, you'll be able to plan your year round garden and extend your growing season by studying the particular demands of your climate and accommodating them, both indoors and out. Make friends with other gardeners and your local plant sources, and take their advice to heart. Consider the wonders available to you through the use of indoor and outdoor shelters, hydroponics and full spectrum lights, and get ready to have fun gardening year round.
