If you grow your food in an organic vegetable food garden during harvest season, you’ll preserve a good amount of food from your summer and fall crops.  Remembering it is best to include fresh foods year round in your diet, you forage for fresh organic grown veggies either in your hearty winter vegetable garden, kitchen garden or at the local farmers market.  Many of the farmers markets are open in the winter. In some cases farmers markets are seasonal or year round.  We'll blog about rescue plans for your greenhouse plants in case of a freeze and weathering your greenhouse for the winter.

Check out the plant characteristics of winter plants. We suggest you try and plant in a 
greenhouse  on a raised bed if possible for many of the plants. Don't attempt to grow fruit
bearing plants in the winter, unless you live where it is warm and very sunny.
Even then, in winter the sun is lower in the sky and there is less daylight. 

Greenhouse leafy green veggies

Greenhouse ready to add plants          

If you already have a greenhouse, be sure to inspect it and weather it up for the winter. Look for and repair tears in the plastic, holes or cracks in the glass and broken seals around the foundation, which should be refilled with caulk.  Be sure to use good tape and caulk to repair any damage, and seal where cold air can seep through.

You should have a back up plan for your greenhouse in the event the big freeze is on its way! If you heat your greenhouse, be sure to have a back up heater such as a gas heater.If you have created a "cool" greenhouse in which you have insulated it to maintain an average temperature between approximately 45ºF to 50ºF, you must have a plan to keep your plants from occasional freezing. Placing warm water in buckets or other large containers will make the water freeze first keeping your plants from freezing in the process. Bring very sensitive plants in the house after making sure all drain lines are dry in the greenhouse. You can cover your other plants with cold frames built to cover the plant and put a blanket or other cloth over the frame. You could also use a chair or large crate by turning it upside down and
putting a blanket or other cloth over it. Putting newspaper around the soil helps keep the soil a bit warmer. 

                                                                        Cold Frame-A Frame

You can purchase a temperature alarm to alert you when your plants are freezing. But for the most part, nurturing your winter plants in the greenhouse and reacting quickly to the freeze will assist in saving some if not all of your greenhouse plants.

Winter kitchen gardens for growing your food
Be sure to place your plants on a kitchen windowsill or by a window in the kitchen. There are many herbs and spices that you can grow and bring inside in the winter. Good hearty winter windowsill herbs are winter savory, chives, parsley and cilantro. You should investigate the time and effort you want to put in your kitchen garden and be sure to think about what herbs you want to come in from the outside garden into the kitchen for the winter.

Herbs are a great gift for the holidays! You can purchase little baskets or containers to hold the growing herbs! Add a decorative bow to the outside of the herb garden and give the gift of a living plant to eat and enjoy throughout the winter months and the seasons that follow.