Over Winterers

What Crops can successfully over winter in zone 5-6 with a light mulch coat?

(so they pop up faster than if planted in spring)

These I know can: Spinach, wheat,

What about:

Corn, barely, pruned hot-peppers, lettuce, carrots, celery, oats, millet?

Does any one have any experience with this?

Thanks!

GARLIC: Typically planted late summer/early autumn. Give it enough time to establish a good root system.
It will go dormant in winter, but rebound on its root system in the spring.

SNOW PEAS: Same thing. You want 3-4 weeks growth before the plant goes dormant.
Likewise will begin regrowth once spring soils warm enough - which is when to put in your 1st spring sowing also.

Corn, hot peppers, no way. A hard freeze kills them dead.

The others, it depends. This would be a good place to post my reference list. I'll put it in quotes, but I don't have the attribution for it:

35°F (2°C): Basil.

32°F (0°C): Bush beans, cauliflower curds, corn, cowpeas, cucumbers, eggplant, limas, melons, okra, some Pak Choy, peanuts, peppers, potato vines, squash vines, sweet potato vines, tomatoes.

27°F (-3°C): Most cabbage, Sugarloaf chicory (takes only light frosts), radicchio.

25°F (-4°C): Broccoli heads, chervil, chicory roots for chicons, and hearts, probably Chinese Napa cabbage (Blues), dill, endive (hardier than lettuce, Escarole more frost-hardy than Frisée), annual fennel, large leaves of lettuce (protected hearts and small plants will survive even colder temperatures), some mustards and oriental greens (Maruba Santoh, mizuna, most pak choy, Tokyo Bekana), onion scallions, radicchio. Also white mustard cover crop.

22°F (-6°C): Arugula, Tatsoi. (both may survive colder than this.) Possibly Chinese Napa cabbage (Blues), Maruba Santoh, Mizuna, Pak Choy, Tokyo Bekana with rowcover.

20°F (-7°C): Some beets, cabbage heads (the insides may still be good even if the outer leaves are damaged), celeriac, celtuce (stem lettuce), some corn salad, perhaps fennel, some unprotected lettuce – some OK to 16°F (-16 °C), some mustards/oriental greens (Tendergreen, Tyfon Holland greens), radishes, turnips with mulch to protect them, (Noir d’Hiver is the most cold-tolerant variety).

17°F (-8°C): Barley (cover crop)

15°F (-9.5°C): Some beets (Albina Verduna, Lutz Winterkeeper), beet leaves, broccoli leaves, young cabbage, celery (Ventura) with rowcover (some inner leaves may survive at lower than this), cilantro, endive, fava beans (Aquadulce Claudia), garlic tops may be damaged but not killed, Russian kales, kohlrabi, perhaps Komatsuna, some covered lettuce, especially small and medium-sized plants (Marvel of Four Seasons, Rouge d’Hiver, Winter Density), curly leaf parsley, flat leaf parsley, oriental winter radish with mulch for protection (including daikon), large leaves of broad leaf sorrel, turnip leaves, winter cress.

12°F (-11°C): Some cabbage (January King, Savoy types), carrots (Danvers, Oxheart), multi-colored chard, most collards, some fava beans (not the best flavored ones), garlic tops if fairly large, most fall or summer varieties of leeks (Lincoln, King Richard), most covered lettuce (Freckles, Hyper Red Rumpled Wave, Parris Island, Tango) , large tops of potato onions, Senposai, some turnips (Purple Top).

10°F (-12°C): Beets with rowcover, Purple Sprouting broccoli for spring harvest, Brussels sprouts, chard (green chard is hardier than multi-colored types), mature cabbage, some collards (Morris Heading), Belle Isle upland cress, some endive (Perfect, President), young stalks of Bronze fennel, perhaps Komatsuna, some leeks (American Flag), Oriental winter radish, (including daikon), rutabagas, (if mulched), tops of shallots, large leaves of savoyed spinach (more hardy than flat leafed varieties), tatsoi, Yukina Savoy. Also oats cover crop.

5°F (-15°C): Garlic tops if still small, some kale (Winterbor, Westland Winter), some leeks (Bulgarian Giant, Laura, Tadorna), some bulb onions (Walla Walla), potato onions and other multiplier onions, smaller leaves of savoyed spinach and broad leaf sorrel.

0°F (-18°C): Chives, some collards (Blue Max, Winner), corn salad, garlic, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, Vates kale (although some leaves may be too damaged to use), Even’ Star Ice-Bred Smooth Leaf kale, a few leeks (Alaska, Durabel); some onion scallions (Evergreen Winter Hardy White, White Lisbon), parsnips, salad burnet, salsify, some spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy, Olympia, Tyee). Also small-seeded cover crop fava beans.

Even Colder: Overwintering varieties of cauliflower are hardy down to -5°F (-19°C).

Many of the Even Star Ice Bred varieties are hardy down to -6°F (-20°C).

Walla Walla onions sown in late summer are hardy down to -10°F (-23°C).

Winter Field Peas and Crimson clover (used as cover crop) are hardy down to -10°F (-23°C).

Hairy vetch and white Dutch clover cover crops are hardy to -30°F (-34°C)

Sorrel and some cabbage (January King) are said to be hardy in zone 3, -30 to-40°F (-34 to -40°C)

Winter wheat and winter rye (cover crops) are hardy to -40°F (-40°C).

We had a low of 12F this last winter, and there are many things that, according to this list shouldn't have made it, but did. My radicchio and onions came through fine. The fava beans didn't. So as the standard disclaimer says, "your mileage may vary".

I"m in zone 6, and row cover is my friend. I pulled the cover, and weeded my spinach a week ago. I started this back in October and covered. I do this with lettuce and the cole crops I grow like cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, broccoli, turnips...




Some lettuce under wraps.

Almost forgot, I took a shot of my garlic the other day, too. I started it around the end of October.

Aw shoot, IDK what Zone we're in.... Near St. Louis...... Spinach is easy to over-winter here, been doing it for years. The 2 keys seem to be a nice, high hill, and plenty of organic matter. We grow Bloomsdale Long-Standing. Also, the past 2 or 3 winters, been growing a Winter Lettuce, seed sent by a lady in Arkansas. That we grow in the walk-in coldframe.....

There's also Spring Onions. Which are green onions we're harvesting right now, along with the spinach and asparagus.

I have extra seed for the Winter Lettuce, and will have seed for the Spring Onions, when the seed is ready in July. As far as I know, these type crops are called "Winter Annuals."

Best, T

Thanks all! Great info & great pics! John Elliot- I will definately be adding that chart to my collections.