Keeping your prepper garden alive for the winter may seem like more trouble than it is worth, but it does not have to be a hard task! Staying up-to-date with your gardening and continuing to produce your own food comes with a lot of benefits. Continuing your gardening efforts can ensure you get needed vitamins and minerals plus it means having a reliable food source even when it is cold out.
There are several techniques and tips you can utilize to keep your garden alive:
1. Consider hardy vegetables
While your typical summer vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and others cannot survive during winter, there are “hardy vegetables,” that will handle cold weather better. Vegetables like kale, brussel sprouts and spinach can handle temperatures outside that are below freezing and can even survive through a light frost. These can even be grown outside in your normal gardening beds if the area you live in only experiences mild winters.
2. Move herbs indoors
While some herbs are more hardy and can survive colder weather, your best bet is to move them indoors. Since some herbs like thyme are perennials and will regrow themselves when warmer weather comes, you do not want to move the entire plant indoors. It is best to cut springs off of the bigger herb plants and repot them in smaller pots inside. This way you will still have your larger plants outdoors to enjoy during warmer weather, in addition to your indoor herb plants that will help you get through winter.
3. Utilize a greenhouse
The biggest challenge with utilizing a greenhouse during the winter is finding the perfect balance between heat and humidity. You want to make sure that your greenhouse is warm enough that your plants will survive throughout the winter, but also humid enough to kill off any diseases that will also thrive in the warmth. Your prepper garden greenhouse will need to be well lit as the nights grow longer, and your produce will need to be well timed-out so that your hardy vegetables are not all being harvested at once.
4. Use growing season-extenders
There are several growing season-extender techniques that you can employ on your prepper garden to help it thrive during winter. You can try your hand at container gardening, which is when you plant your food in a container that can be moved indoors and outdoors based on what the weather permits. You can also try indoor grow lights which help to stimulate plants grown indoors with artificial sunlight. Raised beds are another technique you can try which raises your soil level above the ground which can make it warmer for the plants.
5. Plant for an early harvest
Some vegetables are perfect for planting during winter because they can be your early harvest picks. That means that while many people will have to wait to harvest their garden until late spring, you will get to harvest these plants months earlier. Some of the best wintertime plants include garlic, potatoes, peas, and onions.
Civil Dispatch
Having a prepper garden is crucial for being prepared for whatever life throws at you. Growing your own produce is safe, reliable, and can help you out in sticky situations. Civil Dispatch is also great for helping you when life gets tough. Sign up for our services today.