Hey Pam:

I'm really new with the vegatable gardening, so I'd love to hear the answers to your question. I can answer the question on the herbs from first hand. We have very mild winters. We have thyme, rosemary, sage, mint and oregano that sat out in my herb garden over the entire winter. We get about four nice snows a year, so they did just fine through all of that. In our area, I didn't even have to cover them. And, it really rocked around the holidays--sage dressings, turkey, etc...

Pam, there really are a lot of things you can overwinter. Beside the items you mentioned above, in your area you could also probably overwinter cabbage, many Asian greens like bok choy and Chinese cabbage, raddichios, root crops like carrots, beets, turnips, root celery, bunching onions. One green in particular which is extremely hardy is Mache, or cornsalad, a popular European salad green. Herbs such as parsley, cilantro, chives, rosemary all might do well also.

You can mulch deeply with dry straw or leaves or even something inorganic like fiberglass insulation or styrofoam right inside the cold frame just before the coldest period of the winter hits. You shouldn't have too much trouble overwintering a lot of these things in SE PA.

You can also look at the greenhouse and container forums, lots of ideas over there...
Garlic and leeks will overwinter in your zone.
Most online catalogs have fall planting editions which are just now starting up, so check them out.

It's all in buying cold hardy varieties, and there are many of them. You're right, you do need to get started fairly soon, but don't panic, there's time. The real trick is babying these cold loving plants through the last heat of August/September, 'til it cools enough for them to take off and produce.

Check out the book by Eliot Coleman, "Four Season Harvest". He lives in Maine and runs an organic farm with his wife. An excellent book for managing winters. He goes through latitude-based winter planning, all possible crops, cold frames, tunnels, you name it. Very well-written too!

Thanks so much! I was planning on gett that the Eliot Coleman book...after reading through the forums around here his book seems to be highly recommended.

I have to survive our daughter's Sweet 16 Party tonight...DH and I have been totatlly consumed with fixing the back room and bathroom for this party so we don't have teenagers running through our house tonight! I have managed to pollinate zukes and water this week and that's about it.

So...as long as we survive until 10pm tonight, we are golden! (haha!)

Pam

You and I are in nearly the same climate, so my experience may be of some use to you.

I have found artificial protection of mature crops through winter - by putting plastic or cold frames over them - not very succesful. It generally results in their being attacked by aphids or other insects or fungal problems. Just letting cold-hardy crops take their chances with z6 winter is more productive - and a whole lot easier! About two winters out of three we're still eating fresh greens in februrary.

Starting stuff out anew in early winter inside or outside in a hotbed and then transfered to a cold-frame generally works well. Stuff grown in cold-frames is usually a lot healthier then in a hot-house. Of course, lettuce in february doesn't happen in a cold-frame. I forget about lettuce for the cold six months of the year - never heard of the stuff. In June I eat it in quantities that might seem deranged to some folks. My primary green thru late winter and early spring is walking onion. Can't recommend it enough - completely cold-hardy, reliable, effortless perennial. With that plant you could abandon the grocery store without fear of scurvy, though by May you will be tired of it! But then, you don't have to eat it again until December.

Anyway, my experience has been that effort expended to "baby" plants thru winter is largely wasted effort. Expand into the now little-used former reliables like walking onion, parsnip and other crops that can be left out, put up storage crops, and enjoy the luxury of greens in mild winters when they happen.....

After reading your post, pnbrown, I believe I will buy some walking onions. I found a source online. I use a lot of scallions in salads and cooking, however, if I don't have any in the garden I do without. All of the green onions in the store are from Mexico and from time to time, green onions from Mexico becomes suspect in e-coli cases. I prefer not to buy it. With walking onions, it sounds like I'd have it all the time. Thanks for the idea.

With regard to overwintering, I overwinter Rosemary, thyme, and basil in pots in my breezeway which is heated. I put the pots on top of a layer of pebbles in a larger saucer so there is some humidity. The problem in my house is dry heat so I don't keep plants elsewhere.

pnbrown - I am in Ma too and would like to know what you grow in the winter months. Also, where do you get your walking onions?

Thanks.

Just an FYI, I just noticed that The Winter Garden and the Winter Sowing forums are not cross referenced at the top of this vegetable gardening forum.

Anybody who wants to send me an SASE I'll send as many dry topset bulbils as will stay under the weight limit. I have untold hundreds of them by mid-august. September is a good time to start them most places. Po box 2492 tisbury ma 02568

yoohoo, I wouldn't say that I "grow" anything during the winter months. It's question of stuff standing live through heavy frost. I'm merely talking about the traditional so-called "fall" crops, kale and other brassicas, even chard often holds out til january in a mild winter.