Winter Garden versus Summer Garden

There are some subtle differences between winter gardening and summer gardening that may not immediately come to mind.  Of course, I'm not referring to the obvious difference in the temperature.  What's also common knowledge to most people is that there are a lot of vegetables that you can only grow in the summer - the cold of winter and its short days spell disaster to tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and other heat loving plants.  Then a bit lesser known is the relief the organic winter gardener feels when faced with a much smaller opposing army of pests.  We don't have to spend nearly as much time running around trying to save the nirvana we've created from invading forces intent on plundering and pillaging.  Another difference is that plants grow much more slowly in the winter - the colder your climate the slower the growth.  In fact, at some point plants are just in a cold-storage dormant stage.  They won't start growing until the days lengthen a bit and the temps get warmer.

But one subtle difference between the two seasons is something that had to be pointed out to me, and that is that the winter garden is low.  It hugs the ground, almost as if it's trying to stay warm.  Look how these first two photos of the winter garden show the plants close to the ground.

Then notice how these next pictures of the summer garden reveal it reaching for the sky.  The green beans stretch toward the sun, and the only thing that stops them seems to be the height of the pole they're on.

The dahlias just get taller and taller over the course of the summer.    People are amazed when the dahlias tower over them.  I'm always stopping little children from crawling into the beds and trying to play hide-and-go-seek in the dahlia forest.  Not very easy trying to hide in the lettuce patch.

And just look at these tomato plants in the hoophouse.  I've got 7 foot tall tomato cages which were still too short.  The tomatoes shot up past the 7 foot mark a good 3 feet, then couldn't support their own weight anymore, so they just bent over the top of the cage and cascaded down.  At some point, I couldn't walk through them, I had to walk under them.

The summer plants are all about light and heat - trying their best to reach up up up to the sun, sending out tendrils and elongating their stems in their pursuit of just a little more light.

The winter garden is content to hug mother earth.  Their bounty goes down, literally, into the soil.  Winter is all about the root crops: the radishes, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, salsify, parsnips.  These are all things that cannot hear the siren song of summer.  None of these root crops do well in the summer.

So the next time you admire that your summer corn is growing as high as an elephant's eye, think about why that is.  Ponder the strength of the astral forces that produce that growth - the sun obviously -  and the moon and the stars.  Also think about summer's polar opposite, literally, the winter garden's inclination to grow inward, toward this earth, this terra firma, this terroir, this great big ball under all of our feet that is as life giving and supporting as that giant star of ours in the sky.

Comments

[IP address finder]

Nice green house.

[Kaley Davis]

Wow!! You are a wonderful gardener it is so beautiful. I also have a small garden nothing like yours.
You have so much more paasion for your garden then I do.

[Aerin]

You are such a spectacular farmer and it's been amazing to watch your property (via photos) transform and expand with the task of growing food for Manresa. I am a local resident who has always enjoyed your tomatoes, and I commend your commitment to organic farming. What an admirable career! You have a beautiful farm. And Dali is adorable!

[Sue Bateman]

What a wonderful post! I love spring and summer growing the most but I too have a small winter garden and a greenhouse that I use all winter in Northern California.

[HappyCampers]

I found your Blog through Farmgirl Fare's link. We are currently looking for acreage to buy & establish a farm, garden, laying hens, etc. Your blog is a constant inspiration!!

This entry was amazing & so eye opening. I have never thought about summer vs winter crops & how they even mimic our own habits each season.

If you don't mind, I'm going to link to your post in our blog entry tomorrow. It's a fascinating thought....

[christopher]

Thank you for waxing poetic, Cynthia. You are right-on.

[Baroque]

Beautiful post Cynthia! I admire your passion.

[Annette]

The thing I like best about winter gardening in San Jose is the rain is finally on our side. I wish there was a way to save it for summer when the withering rays of the sun are unrelenting and there isn't a drop of rain for at least 4 months...

[casey]

A lovely, lovely post. the resident gardener here prefers the winter garden, though I still love summer's crops best.

[Heather]

Love this post! I am a new reader and have really been enjoying going through your old entries. This was our first winter garden and aside from a small fava bean disaster it was a huge and incredibly rewarding success - we ate our own broccoli on New Year's Eve! Something so magical about picking greens under a sky full of snow...

[Amy]

What a beautiful post...my "winter garden" is covered with a foot of snow, unfortunately. I would so love to grow edibles year round.