SFG Adventure of a first time gardener in ND

Hello everyone. Brand new gardener and I'm going to try to build my boxes this weekend.  If I get them ready, is there any chance I could grow a few squares of radishes and spinach yet this fall? I'm in nd and on the border between zone 3 and 4. I would be willing to build a pvc hoop house structure with clear plastic to offer some frost protection if necessary.  Thanks!

Robbomb116 wrote:Hello everyone. Brand new gardener and I'm going to try to build my boxes this weekend.  If I get them ready, is there any chance I could grow a few squares of radishes and spinach yet this fall? I'm in nd and on the border between zone 3 and 4. I would be willing to build a pvc hoop house structure with clear plastic to offer some frost protection if necessary.  Thanks!

 & good luck. I don't know the answer, but I have my fingers crossed for you. I'm in Redding, CA, so my problem is that it's still too hot for radishes, so I have to wait until we get out of the triple digits. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will come along, soon, and let you know if you can still plant in your area.

No, not too late.

Just check the days to maturity on the radishes!  Some of them take longer than 28-30 days!  You are good to go!  

Welcome!  Introduce yourself when you get you stuff planted!

Hi Robbomb. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! Glad you've joined us...

Shouldn't be too late - spinach is a winter-type plant.

Radish - I'm not sure & will bow to Camp's wisdom & knowledge.

I'm glad everyone thinks I've got time yet! Was itching to go 2 months ago,  but had more important things going on (line getting married).  I might evend give some baby bok choy and Swiss chard a try this fall.  Overall my expectations are still pretty low for this fall, mother nature can be so finicky here in North Dakota.  Fargo ND was even voted by the weather channel as having the worst weather in America haha.

Probably just going to have to keep a close watch on any potential  early hard freezes and have some protection ready.

Thanks again for the optimism and welcome! 

Atlanta Marie - I honestly don't think there is much of a thing of a winter vegetable in my area without a serious greenhouse haha. Not much can stand down to -30 degrees and 60 mph winds! But don't worry, we'll still manage to hit 111 in the summer a couple times!

I agree with camprn, but I'll be loquacious about it:

I'm finding a first frost date for Bismark of 9/24, so 42 days. That's right around the maturity date on my spinach seed packets, so go for it! A plastic cover will help if you have wind (and can secure it well enough against said same.) Wind exacerbates the effects of cold. If you use a cover make sure
- the plants aren't touching the plastic
and
- you don't forget to water (last year I 'learned' that rain/snow won't go though plastic )
Also, I've read that snow can collapse plastic covers. I'd guess you'd have it down before heavy snow, but I don't have a good idea of when that usually happens in ND.

My Miyashike daikon radish lists 50 days - longer than your typical spring radish, like Scorpio indicates. But like spinach, they are cold tolerant. I left some of my daikons in the garden last year to see what would happen to them in the cold. They survived the first freeze (we didn't have a preceding first frost last year) on October 18th and recovered to do more growing. They were still ok on the 4th of November, but by the first of January the tops of the tops of the radish roots were damaged from the repeating freezing and thawing. So you should be fine getting them to maturity, but you can't leave them all winter. I also learned that once there isn't much else in the garden, cabbage butterfly caterpillars will start eating radish leaves, and the first freeze won't necessarily kill them!

Robbomb116 wrote:Atlanta Marie - I honestly don't think there is much of a thing of a winter vegetable in my area without a serious greenhouse haha. Not much can stand down to -30 degrees and 60 mph winds! But don't worry, we'll still manage to hit 111 in the summer a couple times!

YIKES! I'm sorry I read that. I think I'll go out in the back yard and kiss our 105 degree hardpack-rock-filled "dirt." 

My Mel-style hoop house survived 2' of snow in early 2013. 

When using plastic, it's best to cut a few slits to allow ventilation.  Also, I learned the hard way to cover with frost cloth first, so the plastic doesn't touch your plants.

Hi, Rob.  Congrats on the wedding!

This first winter will be a great learning experience.  The neat thing about this Forum is that someone in a Region/Zone will have some experience to share. Try kale also. I cover my winter crops with bridal tulle to keep the white butterfly out of the beds as we have relatively mild winters. Joann's Fabrics with a printable 50% coupon!

Maybe I'll get some more use out of the expensive wedding dress after all!

Repurposing is a good thing right?

 Absolutely!  

donnainzone5 wrote:My Mel-style hoop house survived 2' of snow in early 2013. 

When using plastic, it's best to cut a few slits to allow ventilation.  Also, I learned the hard way to cover with frost cloth first, so the plastic doesn't touch your plants.

This is good to know, Donna! I think what I was reading about was probably tunnel row covers with wire supports, rather than a Mel-style hoop house with PVC supports.

This may be a silly question, but where does one get big pieces of plastic for hoop houses - and are there particular types of plastic to get or avoid in terms of holding up better outdoors?

Congrats on the wedding, Rob! I had your first post up in a tab to try to remember to reply to it last week, but I've just switched to a new computer and left my pile of browser tabs behind. Regarding recycling the wedding dress... you might want to get some more use out of the marriage first. 

Here is a great site for winter gardening. If I'm not mistaken, this lady is in Canada and gardens all winter long.
http://www.motherofahubbard.com/category/winter-vegetable-gardening/

I have my hoop houses up and ready for fall and winter.

MrBooker wrote:Here is a great site for winter gardening. If I'm not mistaken, this lady is in Canada and gardens all winter long.
http://www.motherofahubbard.com/category/winter-vegetable-gardening/

I have my hoop houses up and ready for fall and winter.

No, she is in Eastern Kentucky.

yolos wrote:

MrBooker wrote:Here is a great site for winter gardening. If I'm not mistaken, this lady is in Canada and gardens all winter long.
http://www.motherofahubbard.com/category/winter-vegetable-gardening/

I have my hoop houses up and ready for fall and winter.

No, she is in Eastern Kentucky.

Thanks Yolos. I dont know why I thought she was in Canada. I have been studying her site for awhile and have bought all the varieties she recommends for fall and winter planting. Most of which is planted except for the Inchelium Red Garlic Bulbs which wont be shipped til the middle of next month..

I paid $4.00 per bulb at Gurneys and I found some really nice locally grown garlic at a farmers market yesterday for .75 cents per bulb. I bought five...lol





 
Inchelium Red Garlic

MrBooker wrote:

.. I found some really nice locally grown garlic at a farmers market yesterday for .75 cents per bulb. I bought five...lol

Well done!
CC

CapeCoddess wrote:

MrBooker wrote:

.. I found some really nice locally grown garlic at a farmers market yesterday for .75 cents per bulb. I bought five...lol

Well done!
CC

Yup.. Thats what I thought. I think its still a little warm to plant them although I'm getting itchy.

I know, I used to get the itch to plant things too soon, too. It's taken me 5 years to learn to back off. You could always plant one or two just to see what happens. I think I probably did that but I don't remember the results. Just write down what you did and what happens on your garden calendar or whatever you use so you don't have to repeat it too many times. I wish I had done that.

CC

Keeping a journal . . . priceless.

spinach will grow under the snow...and you could always use some type of season extension.  

If you search previous threads, CitizenKate explained a great way to start spinach seeds indoors (my luck turned around by doing what she did).  She even posted pics, but here's a quick rundown.

1.  snip a small piece of the outer seed coating off with a pair of nail clippers.
2.  soak overnight in a damp paper towel in the fridge.
3.  in a day or two (maybe a bit more) you will see which seeds germinate quickly...plant those.  don't waste time on those that are too slow to germinate or never do.

research a good spinach for your area...I like Bloomsdale for cooking (it takes a bunch cause it cooks down to nothing - but tasty)...and I like baby-leaf varieties to add to salads, wraps, sandwiches, etc...I think I've tried Lavewa and Catalina and had decent luck.

Well, got the 2 4x4 boxes built, but we didn't have enough time to mix the MM and fill them up.  Just gotta do that this coming weekend and should be good to give it a try this fall.  But that does knock another week off my already late to start season... looking more and more like I'll be buying  some tulle, mulching with straw, and possibly even using some clear plastic.

Also I guess I failed at rotating the image haha

Robbomb116 wrote:Also I guess I failed at rotating the image haha

It's ok. Vertical gardening is awesome

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

Robbomb116 wrote:Also I guess I failed at rotating the image haha

It's ok. Vertical gardening is awesome