What to plant before winter: tips for beginners

Spring is usually considered the sowing season for gardeners. However, experienced ones know that many plants can be sown before winter to make spring sowing easier, as well as to accelerate the ripening of the crop in the next season.

Larysa lists vegetables suitable for planting in the fall and explains how to do it correctly.

Advantages of winter sowing

First of all, this approach makes it possible to use time more rationally. By mid-autumn, the entire harvest is usually already picked - the beds are freed up and there is free time to do something in the garden.

Vegetables sown before winter ripen even earlier than the earliest varieties planted in spring. Thus, the first harvest of carrots and beets can be picked at the beginning of summer. They will also grow larger and juicier because the plants will receive more moisture in the spring.

In addition, an early harvest will make room for sowing something early. This way, you can harvest two crops of radish, lettuce, black radish, herbs, etc.

However, when sowing before winter, you need to remember that the crop obtained in this way is not suitable for long-term storage. The fruits sown in such way must be consumed immediately. Thus, sow what as much as you can consume.

How to sow root vegetables in the fall

The main crops that can be sown in the fall months are root vegetables. The most important thing to consider when planting them in the fall is the weather. If it is still too warm, the plant will begin to germinate and therefore die from the first cold weather. And what is sown too late will not take root - it will simply lie in the ground until spring. Moreover, it will germinate at the same time as vegetables planted in the usual way, so all the benefits will be lost.

You should focus on the soil condition. It should be slightly frozen but still loose. Usually, it acquires the right condition when a light frost sets in and lasts. That is, from mid-November, depending on the climate zone.

When choosing a site for winter sowing, it is best to choose a hill. The snow will melt faster here, the plants will start to get warm earlier, and the water will not stagnate as it does in the lowlands. It is better to avoid them when planning something before winter. In the lowlands, the seed will get wet and will not germinate.

It is also important to take into account the rules of crop rotation. Do not sow plants in the same area where the same crop grew in the summer. That is, planting carrots after carrots is a bad idea. The best predecessors for this root crop are potatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, or melons and legumes.

How to prepare a bed for winter sowing

Start by removing all plant debris from the area designated for sowing. Then dig up the soil, adding a mixture of fertilizers - compost with an admixture of ash. You will need 4-5 kg of compost and a glass of ash per square meter of garden. Loosen the fertilized soil with a rake.

Holes are made for the crops in the prepared bed. For carrots, the optimal depth is 2-3 cm, and the distance between the furrows is 20 cm. You need to put about twice as many seeds as for spring sowing in the resulting holes. Some of the material will still not survive the winter, so it is worth playing it safe. Do not soak the seeds to avoid rapid germination or freezing. Fill the holes with soil, tamp down with a shovel and cover with mulch, for example, branches.

Such a bed will not require any more care until spring. However, when the snow begins to melt, you should remove the mulch and cover the ground with a film - this will create a greenhouse effect, the soil will warm up faster, and the plants will begin to germinate. If necessary, the area will need to be additionally watered, but this is only if the winter was snowless and the spring was dry.

Subscribe to OBOZ.UA channels on Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events.