Winter Root Crop Gardening

Food Gardening Guide → Other Root Crops / Harvesting

• Uploaded by farmerdill

Whether you live in the cold North or the warm South, you can store some of your root crops in the garden. Your winter garden can yield fresh vegetables all winter long and into the spring.

If your soil freezes hard, you need to insulate the ground around your roots, so they don't freeze. Put a heavy layer of mulch (10 to 12 inches) over the rows, extending 18 inches on both sides of the rows. This will keep the soil around the roots at an even 35° to 40° F -- the ideal storage temperature. Once the mulch is down, you can go out anytime, move it aside and dig up some fresh roots. You can even dig carrots, beets and parsnips out from under two feet of snow! Vegetables stored in the ground don't have good keeping power once you dig them, so be sure to eat them in a day or two.

If you live in the South, where winters are mild or warm, in-ground storage of turnips, beets, carrots and radishes is a good option. In warm-winter areas, however, you need to insulate your root crops to maintain a cool soil temperature to prevent them from sprouting. Cover the rows with a 6- to 8-inch layer of mulch, extending it 18 inches on either side of the rows.

Parsnips and salsify require about a week of cool nights to sweeten their taste. You can even leave these vegetables out in the garden until the spring thaw, but be sure to dig them up before they start to put on new top growth. Those spring-harvested vegetables taste unbelievably sweet.

Together with Victory Seed Company:

Victory Seed Company has all the seeds you want for your best garden in 2024.

For 25 years, the family-owned Victory Seed Company has provided the highest quality vegetable, herb and flower seeds to families across the country. We are passionate about providing you the best seeds available that give excellent germination, robust plants, and the harvest you want. With a catalog of over a thousand varieties, we have everything, and our prices are the kinds that we'd want to pay. We have hundreds of yesterday's heirloom vegetables, as well as today's award winning hybrid selections. Get to know us by visiting our website and browsing through our online vegetable seed catalog.