Many owners of summer cottages and household plots in the fall are engaged not only in harvesting, but also in sowing green and vegetable crops. As a result, in the spring they have less hassle with planting, and vegetables and herbs planted before winter produce a harvest earlier. Read about planting flowers in the fall in our article: “”, and here we will describe the crops and name their varieties that can be planted in the garden before winter.

Autumn sowing has its own characteristics. It is necessary not only to choose the appropriate variety of greens or vegetables, but also to know when they can be planted. Seeds sown early will sprout in the fall and die with the onset of frost.

Features of sowing vegetables before winter

Sowing and planting in the fall is carried out at consistently low temperatures. The soil should be dry and frozen. However, the beds should be prepared in advance, while the air temperature is still above zero.

Preparing beds for sowing before winter:

1. The beds should be placed in sunny areas.
2. It is better to make the beds high or build a frame of boards or other material around them. This is necessary so that in the spring, when the snow melts, the seeds do not wash away.
3. When digging, fertilizers that contain little nitrogen are added to the soil. You can use Nitrophoska, Diammofoska, Autumn.
4. The furrows for sowing seeds should be about 3-5 cm deep.
5. Since precipitation is possible in autumn, it is recommended to cover the beds with film. The soil for winter sowing should not be soggy.

When the beds are ready, all that remains is to wait for the onset of cold days. During this time, you can prepare mulch that will be sprinkled on the plantings. You can use a mixture of sand, peat and garden soil (1:2:1) as mulch.

Seeds planted in autumn are not watered. In spring, they will be moistened by snow melting under the sun.

If the winter is expected to have little snow, autumn crops are covered with spunbond or spruce branches.

Planting seeds before winter will not only allow you to get an earlier harvest, but will also make the gardener’s work much easier in the spring.

I am sure that everyone has heard: winter wheat, winter barley, winter garlic and winter onions, even winter carrots - all these are agricultural crops, the seed material of which is sown or planted just before winter with the goal of getting an early and full harvest as soon as possible, which must be beneficial in many ways. Including in a financial sense - early vegetables on the market are quite expensive, and the need for them in the first half of summer is very high.

In addition, the spring sowing and preparatory dacha harvest takes a lot of effort and time, taking into account the violent growth of awakened weeds. In the fall, despite a whole series of crops, there is still time for winter sowing.

And if you approach this with full knowledge business, with curiosity and experimental enthusiasm, then you may find success in the form of implementing plans for an early harvest of fresh greens (lettuces, mustard, celery, parsnips and borage), radishes, carrots, beets, cabbage (cauliflower, red cabbage and Beijing), not to mention onions, with which there are no problems with autumn sowing at all - they are planted, frankly speaking, in the old-fashioned way traditional ways, successfully mastered even by beginning gardeners.

Many beginning gardeners retreat at the first failure, most often due to amateurism, or even simply ignorance, and do not understand the nature of their mistakes. Instead of looking for solutions to problems and working on mistakes, they completely abandon autumn sowing and impoverish themselves in the literal sense of the word. In the soul of a true gardener, the hope of mastering in all its subtleties this form of improving amateur gardening activities should not be extinguished, because there are still quite simple and feasible rules that have been successfully tested for a long time. All they have to do is follow and work.

First of all, we take into account the climatic characteristics of your region in order to choose the moment for sowing or planting before winter, which is determined by the onset of persistent cold weather and irreversible heat, which, with excess humidity, can provoke disastrous seed germination.

Correct preparation of beds for autumn sowing, which must be done 1-2 months before the planting date. As a rule, this means deep digging of the soil, removal of weed roots, and application of the correct fertilizers according to the culture and quality of the soil.

For autumn sowing, it is extremely important to use seeds of any vegetable crops only from those varietal categories that are cold-resistant and are not prone to seed bolting (flowering), leading to woodiness of root crops.

Properly sown vegetable crops need protective shelter not so much from the cold as from erosion and weathering. These shelters on winter period There may be non-woven materials and a sufficient layer of mulch.

Dates for autumn sowing of vegetables

You can start pre-winter sowing already at zero temperature, having verified from the weather forecast that the cold snap is stable - the return of warm and humid weather will most likely provoke unwanted germination of seed material and its death when frost returns. You need to navigate by the soil frozen on top at sub-zero air temperatures, even if yesterday the weather was above zero.

The choice of planting site for winter crops is extremely important. The bed should be located on a natural or man-made hill, with the expectation that the spring melting of snow may linger, and the water stagnant underneath from melting will create conditions for soaking the seeds.

The soil in such beds should be light, taking into account the fact that heavy soils can become even more compacted during the winter. As you know, these beds are prepared long in advance so that the soil, while remaining soft, settles as much as possible and so that it does not settle with the seeds, unnecessarily deepening them. Fertilizers, organic (compost or humus) or mineral - potassium-phosphorus series, are applied immediately during the first digging.

In dry, above-zero weather, they stock up on soil mulch to cover seeds sown in frosty weather. This soil mulch should be free of lumps and pebbles and even needs to be pre-sifted. It should be stored as much and even with a slight excess as is required for mulching the furrows with sowing. To ensure that this mulch remains dry and loose until required, it is advisable to store it in a plastic bag tied on top and under a canopy.

On a prepared, fully leveled bed, make all the necessary furrows, 3-5 centimeters deep. But while waiting for the actual sowing to take place, rain may occur in these furrows. To avoid erosion of the furrows made, the bed should be covered with protective material.

Winter seeds should never be soaked before sowing, as is recommended for spring sowing in the spring; they should be dry and free-flowing. During winter sowing, seed material is consumed 1.5-2 times more than during spring sowing. After sowing, sprinkle the furrows on top with 1.5-2 centimeters of soil, and then with a layer of 2-3 centimeters of stored dry soil mulch.

It is believed that such mulch can prevent the formation of a soil crust with cracks, which will protect the delicate root system plant sprouts. In addition to such mulching, it would be useful to cover the beds with crops with spruce spruce branches, fallen leaves and apply dry branches to prevent them from being blown away by the wind. For places with harsh winters, the thickness of the covering layer is desirable to be at least 15-20 centimeters, and with the onset of spring, the bed is completely freed from shelter.

It is important to know that winter vegetable crops do not require watering or pre-soaking.

Varieties of winter vegetable seeds

Such seeds must be flawless in terms of external and internal data. They must appear normal in size and weight and be stored in impeccable conditions, even if they are homegrown. It is best to buy pelleted seeds for such important pre-winter sowing, which will reduce the loss of seedlings.

If you purchase certified seeds with an acceptable shelf life and use, then on the packaging you will read all their characteristics, including their ability not to form flower stalks at low temperatures or this process is possible at the level of minimal bolting, will become the most important condition for their selection for winter sowing. This is especially important for root crops - during spring bolting, they should be removed immediately, and this is a loss!

Winter beet varieties

“Podzimnyaya A-474” The variety is mid-early, ripening occurs 55-100 days after emergence. Resistant to flowering (formation of flower stalks) and cercospora; cold-resistant, with high taste characteristics, with good shelf life during storage.

“Cold-resistant 19” Mid-season variety - 65-75 days from germination to ripening. Differs in cold resistance, long shelf life proper storage, high taste, not prone to color.

“Egyptian flat” mid-season variety - 95-120 days until full technical ripeness. High taste characteristics, consistently high yield, resistance to cold and flowering make this variety popular. In addition, it is zoned everywhere.

“Polar Flat” The variety is zoned specifically for the northern regions. Root crops of good taste have time to ripen after 50-90 days from germination. It is characterized by increased cold resistance, resistance to flowering and pests (root beetles).

The main criteria for choosing such seeds, in addition to resistance to cold and flowering, should also include partial shade tolerance.

“Heat” Early ripening - 15-18 days after germination, ready for selective harvesting. The taste is mildly spicy. Resistant to cold, early bloom and partial light.

“Zarya” is an early-ripening variety (18-25 days ripening period from germination), high-yielding, adapted to low light levels.

“Pink-red with a white tip” Excellent taste, high yield, ripening in 25-30 days from germination of round, bright pink root crops with a snow-white tip make this variety very popular.

Carrot varieties for sowing before winter

When choosing winter seeds for, you should be guided primarily by your own taste preferences and resistance to unwanted flowering.

“Nantes” A widely zoned and popular productive variety, which gardeners choose for its high taste, varietal resistance to diseases and pests, as well as early ripening of root crops within 60-65 days from germination.

“Vitaminnaya 6” A mid-season variety resistant to flowering (85-110 days). Juicy, bright orange, high in carotene, with sweet pulp, especially young root vegetables, become a favorite treat for children.

“NIIOKH 336” The variety is zoned for the northern regions - mid-season (98-110 days from germination), its root crops have a high carotene content, but in order to increase productivity it requires early thinning of the seedlings.

Here is a far from complete list of winter seeds of the most popular early vegetables, without which it is impossible to imagine garden beds. The main thing in growing vegetables by sowing before winter is the appropriate simple agricultural technology and quality seeds with knowledge of them the right choice, which is discussed here.

Pre-winter sowing of vegetable crops is an agricultural technique that allows you to get the earliest harvest. Moreover, this is not a whim of southern summer residents, but following natural processes, which can be applied even in central Russia. Therefore, it is important to know what crops are planted before winter and what rules are followed.

Top 5 crops for winter sowing

Plant greens, vegetables and even flowers in late autumn. Their seeds undergo natural hardening over the winter, and in the spring, with the melting of the snow, they produce strong, healthy seedlings. The harvest of overwintered crops ripens 2–3 weeks earlier, and its fruits will be of higher quality than those from spring planting.

Among vegetables, those varieties are chosen that are characterized by cold resistance, early ripening and resistance to bolting.

When cultivating winter beds, adhere to the following rules:

• the beds are prepared in the fall before the cold weather in well-lit places that are not flooded when the snow melts;
• sow dry seeds with the onset of frost to avoid their untimely germination;
• the number of seeds is doubled, taking into account that some of them will die;
• sowing is carried out in frozen ground, the beds are sprinkled with dry soil and then mulched.

Under no circumstances should winter crops be watered - nature will do this in the spring!

Winter garlic

Planting dates for winter garlic vary from mid-September to the end of October

Garlic, of course, can be planted in the spring as spring garlic, but it is winter garlic that produces powerful heads with full-bodied, large cloves. This vegetable tastes spicy and very aromatic. Its harvest has an excellent presentation and in the summer is sold at attractive price. The only drawback of winter garlic is its short shelf life.

To determine the time of landing, you need to rely on the climatic features of the region.

Behind the scenes, there is an opinion among summer residents that garlic should be planted no earlier than a month before the onset of the first frost. Then the cloves will establish themselves in a new place, but will not yet have time to germinate.

Winter onions

Winter onions are unpretentious, do not require special care, and can be harvested in 70–80 days

You can plant almost any variety of onion, but they are usually planted on feathers and turnips. In addition to the adapted zoned varieties, they take “Black Prince”, “Buran”, “Danilovsky”, “Lugansky” and others. Before planting, the onions are calibrated into small ones, from which large, juicy bulbs grow, and large ones, for forcing early greenery. Small sets practically do not shoot in the spring.

Winter onions are sown at about the same time as garlic, then the first shoots appear when favorable conditions will appear at the end of March, which is a month earlier than the spring variety. It will grow in a period free from diseases and pests.

Radish

Planted winter radish seeds will be lost if planted too early

Radishes are also cold-resistant crops. His crops will produce their first harvest by April, and the fruits will be juicy and sweet. Early radishes do not bolt, are not susceptible to diseases and the cruciferous flea beetle, which is still dormant at this time. After harvesting, you can have time to sow ultra-early varieties. Radishes are planted no earlier than the end of November, or even in January-February. The varieties chosen for sowing are “Okhotsky”, “Liman”, “Zarya”, “Sakharok”.

Carrots and beets

Winter beet seeds should not be sown after carrots and cabbage.

Usually these two crops are planted at about the same time. However, spring sowing is fraught with the risk that if there is a lack of moisture, there may not be any seedlings - this is typical for arid regions. Therefore, planting carrots and beets before winter can become a kind of reinsurance in obtaining a harvest. Popular carrot varieties include Nantes 4, Krasa Devitsa, and Moskovskaya Zimnyaya. From beets, choose “Cold-resistant 19” and “Podzimnaya A474”. Crops are planted during the onset of persistent cold weather at a temperature of 0. -3°C.

Green

Vegetable gardens that previously grew cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes and other early-ripening crops are suitable for planting greenery in the fall.

In a temperate climate, you can plant almost any greenery - dill, parsley, lettuce, cilantro, sorrel, arugula, etc. Then by the end of March (and maybe earlier) the first vitamins will appear on the table. fresh. Sow greens with the onset of stable frosts so that the seeds do not hatch prematurely.

Winter plantings are minimum investment effort and labor, but there is one point: you need to be prepared to install greenhouses in case of unstable weather. This mainly applies to radishes, beets and carrots. But in general, sowing before winter does not cause much trouble.

One of the most valuable qualities of a successful gardener is the competent distribution of labor and time. There is always a lot of work on the ground, and therefore by performing certain operations in the fall, you can relieve yourself a little in the spring. But what can make spring work easier? The answer is winter sowing!

Planting winter garlic. © Gwenfar's Garden

What are winter crops?

The definition of what pre-winter crops are is included in the very name of the agricultural practice - pre-winter crops. It is the sowing of seeds in beds at a stable air temperature around 0 ° C and soil temperature +2 ... + 4 ° C that is called winter sowing. In different climatic zones this moment occurs at different times, if somewhere around the end of October, then in other places in November.

What are the benefits of winter sowing?

The benefits of sowing vegetables before winter are quite extensive and are worth not neglecting.

• First is the harvest by 2 - 3, and with film cover, 4 weeks earlier than with spring sowing.
• Secondly, getting seedlings more resistant to return frosts, diseases and pests.
• Thirdly, significant time saving during spring work.
• And finally, higher output from the same area, through the possibility of using repeated crops.

What can you sow before winter?

The choice of crops sown in the fall is quite wide. This: spinach, lettuce, radish, parsley, dill, beet, carrot, salad mustard, onion, leek, sorrel, borage, arugula, parsnip, coriander, rhubarb, color, red cabbage And Chinese cabbage.

In addition, before winter it is advantageous to plant garlic And onion sets, and for those who are interested in growing medicinal herbs - sowing sage, chamomile And valerian officinalis.

How to sow seeds in late autumn?

To ensure that winter sowing does not cause difficulties, it is necessary to prepare for it from the end of September - beginning of October. Preparation consists of digging, fertilizing and forming beds, selecting seeds, and purchasing planting material.

Place for autumn sowings, it is necessary to choose a sunny, not windy, elevated site - not suffering from stagnant spring moisture.

Seeds select carefully: buy varieties that are resistant to low temperatures and flowering, require short daylight hours, and are characterized by early ripening.

You can apply both organic and complex mineral fertilizers for winter crops, but always with a focus on the crop being sown.

It is necessary to start sowing when temperatures stabilize around the zero mark of the thermometer, usually this is the period of the first morning frosts. However, there is no need to rush with sowing - if the soil freezes and then thaws, this can cause the seeds to germinate and then die.

If time is lost, you can sow the seeds even in light frosts, just sprinkle them not with soil from the garden bed, but with pre-prepared dry loose soil. It is usually made up of equal proportions of river sand, rotted compost and simple garden soil.

The seed sowing rate for winter crops is increased by 25 - 50% relative to the usual recommendations.

The depth of seeding depends on the type of soil: in light soil, sowing is done 0.5 cm deeper than usual.

And under no circumstances winter crops are not watered! But be sure to mulch.

Crops for winter sowing

Planting winter garlic

Today, there are two ways to plant winter garlic. Their difference lies in the depth of the teeth, and therefore in the timing of the work.

Traditional method involves deepening the planting material to a depth of 3 to 5 cm and is carried out 2 - 3 weeks before the onset of persistent cold weather. For middle zone this is the end of September, for the south and west - the beginning of November.

Second way - deep planting method. It is performed with the teeth deepened by 10 - 15 cm, which allows you to start working from mid-August until mid-October. However, it is more rational in cold climates, because that is where it shows the best results.

But choosing a planting method is not 100% successful. It is necessary to properly prepare the beds for garlic. And here the important rule is inadmissibility of applying manure to crops, since it reacts to this fertilizer with exuberant growth of foliage, the formation of loose heads and instability to diseases.

It is necessary to fertilize the soil in garlic beds by adding ash, well-rotted garden compost (3 - 4 kg per square meter), as well as mineral fertilizers, for example, nitrophoska (20 - 30 g per square meter). If the soil is acidic, lime is added under the precursor; if the soil is clayey, sand is added for digging. Dry or damp clay soils are not suitable for growing garlic.

For planting, it is better to select the largest and most healthy cloves of zoned varieties. Before planting, planting material should be etched with a 0.1% manganese solution.

For successful cultivation of this crop it is important and compliance with crop rotation. You should not plant garlic after onions and potatoes, since they, like this crop, love potassium and are damaged by the same diseases, and after cucumbers, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants. If, nevertheless, garlic is planted over garlic, then after harvesting the previous harvest, it is necessary to sow vetch in the beds, followed by incorporating the green mass into the soil.

A common layout for placing garlic in a garden bed is 10x15 cm.

Pre-winter planting of onion sets

Good results are achieved by planting onion sets in winter, especially in cold regions, where the result is not only more early collection harvest, but also more high yield. Bulbs planted in the fall are less affected by the onion fly, false powdery mildew, they are easier to weed. And in order to preserve planting material until spring, you need to try very hard, so purchased seedlings are immediately sorted and prepared for planting.

The timing of planting the sets coincides with the winter planting of garlic, but if you need to choose which crop to devote time to first, then the onion can wait a little. The choice of site for planting onions is no different. However, the soil in the onion beds must settle well by the time work begins, and therefore it is prepared 2 to 3 weeks in advance. The recommendations from predecessors are no different.

To ensure a successful onion harvest, it is better to choose special zoned winter varieties for autumn planting and be sure to select healthy planting material. In addition, if there is a choice, it is necessary to plant sharp varieties - they winter well, do not bolt, and by the time of harvesting they are the same size as when planted in spring.

When sorting through the sets, 4 fractions are distinguished: with a diameter from 1 to 1.5 cm, from 1.5 to 3 cm, over 3 cm and up to 1 cm (oat). Each of them has its own characteristics and therefore is planted separately.

First faction(diameter up to 1.5 cm) and wild oatmeal- are best choice for winter sowing, since they do not give arrows, which means they give the gardener less trouble. They must be planted according to a 3×15 cm pattern and grown until heads corresponding to the variety are formed.

Sevok size from 1.5 to 3 cm often grown for early plumage. In this case, it is grown either compactly or in nests - 3 bulbs per nest.

Bulbs over 3 cm in diameter they are planted according to the scheme 8 - 10 x 15 - 20 cm.

Planting depth determined on the basis of 3 bulb sizes plus approximately 1.5 cm, or the height of the bulb multiplied by 3, plus 2 - 3 cm of mulch.

Winter sowing of carrots

Tolerates winter crops and carrots well.

When preparing a bed for it, you must remember that this crop loves loose soil and absolutely cannot tolerate unrotted organic matter (a manured bed can only be used for carrots for 2-3 years).

Therefore, they dig up the ground under it well, bring in ash, mineral fertilizers(for example, superphosphate - 20-25 g per sq. m. and potassium chloride - 10-15 g) or mature manure (3-5 kg ​​per sq. m.) and, if the soil is heavy, add sand, if acidic - lime or dolomite flour. They allow the soil to settle, and with the onset of stable low temperatures (+2... +4°C) they begin sowing.

Predecessors celery cannot be used for carrots, but cucumbers, potatoes, onions, and cabbage are suitable. To ensure a successful harvest, early and mid-ripening varieties are selected for sowing, or varieties intended for winter sowing. It’s even better if the seed material is granular, and very important - dry!

When planting carrots in winter, the seed sowing rate is increased by about 20 - 25% (this is about 1 g per square meter), and a greater depth of holes is provided - 4-5 cm and the distance between the grooves is 20-25 cm.

If seeding is carried out after light frosts, the furrows are covered with a pre-prepared dry earthen substrate or simple, pre-sifted garden soil; after sowing, the bed is mulched.

When sowing carrots in the fall, you must remember that winter plantings crops have low storage properties, so it is not worth occupying large areas with them.

Pre-winter sowing of beets

Beets are recommended for autumn planting due to the fairly long growing season, reaching up to 130 days for some varieties. Its sowing is carried out when stable cold weather sets in outside with a temperature of - 2 ... - 4 ° C, which in some climatic zones is observed already at the end of October - beginning of November. The main rule here is the need to guess the time of sowing in such a way that the seeds do not germinate, but only swell, otherwise they will die.

For winter sowing, choose special varieties resistant to cold, or varieties early dates ripening resistant to bolting. Sow the seeds dry, to a depth of about 3 - 5 cm, at a distance of 5 - 10 cm from each other, with row spacing of 30 - 40 cm.

Before sowing, the beds are fertilized with organic matter (5 kg per sq. m.) and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (15 g per sq. m.), if the soils are acidic, dolomite flour is added (5 liters per sq. m.).

Crop rotation is also mandatory for beets. It cannot be planted after carrots and cabbage, but is recommended after tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, potatoes and peppers.

In order to get a harvest from the beds sown before winter a week earlier, the beets can be covered with film and removed when the first shoots appear.

It is not worth planting a lot of beets in the fall, since they do not have high shelf life.

Pre-winter sowing of parsley, dill and other greens

When sowing parsley and dill in the fall, you must adhere to the same rules as when sowing other crops in winter: dig up and fertilize the beds in advance, sow after frosts have arrived, slightly increase the depth and rate of sowing, and upon completion of work, mulch the area with a dry substrate.

Sowing parsley, form row spacings of 20 - 25 cm, while the depth of planting its seeds can vary from 1 to 1.5 cm. Dill in the fall they are planted to a depth of 2.5 cm, leaving a distance between rows of 20 cm. The predecessors for Umbelliferae cannot be plants of their own family - cilantro, carrots, cumin, fennel, but can be cucumbers, cabbage, potatoes, zucchini.

In addition to parsley and dill, before winter you can sow: celery, spinach, rhubarb, borage, parsnips, salad mustard. Like all other winter crops, they will sprout much earlier than spring plantings and will delight you, reminding you that everything was done correctly.