Winter Growth Tips

You might think winter is a pretty dead time of year for growing vegetables. Well, you’d be right. Nah, just kidding! While it’s certainly harder to grow veggies in winter, it’s not impossible. It mostly depends on how cold your area gets and how much sunlight (or artificial light) you can obtain.

Harvest the Brassicas

Remember our blog ‘What to Grow In Autumn?’ In that blog we suggested growing big brassicas such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflowers, and so on. Well, if you actually did plant seeds around the beginning of autumn, now it’s your time to reap what you’ve sown (literally). Many of the big brassicas take maximum up to 85 days to mature, meaning the family should be poking their heads up for winter time. Broccoli is ready to harvest when the head is filled out and firm and tight green buds have formed. For cabbage and cauliflower, their head should also be firm and anywhere between 4 to 10 inches in diameter. Simply slice them off their main stem, immediately below the head. You can grow brassicas across most Australian climates, temperate, cool and warm, during winter. So once your late-summer, early Autumn crops are ready to harvest, harvest them, rip out the old roots and plant some new cabbages for a winter-to-early-spring harvest. Plant some sage near these guys while you’re at it, it acts as a great caterpillar and moth repeller.

Spring-time Setup

Winter is also a great time to plant seeds for spring. Peas, beans, turnips and spinach can all be planted in time for spring when they’ll burst out of the Pod. There’s no need to pollinate the peas (which people ask us about frequently) because they are self-pollinating! (They have male and female parts). However, if you have any questions about pollination in the pod, please see our new FAQ section for more info!

 

Herb Happy

Who doesn’t want homemade herbal tea on winter nights? Plant some chamomile and lemongrass or mint and lemon balm in a cordoned off area (they grow wildly otherwise) and you can have herbal tea every day of the week.

 

Canopy Cover

Lastly, make sure you use your Vegepod canopy (https://vegepod.com.au/features/) all throughout winter, especially if you are planting seedlings. We also have a winter propagation cover to trap the heat from the soil inside the Pod and prevent extreme cold and precipitation. Uncover your veggies in the morning, when the temperature rises above freezing. Perfect for tender sprouts during winter time. Those are our winter growth tips for the cooler months ahead. What are yours? Get in touch and let us know. If you have any questions or tips, we’d love to hear from you.