These cold winter days make it hard for me to keep warm. Just yesterday I recalled that January day 16 years ago when I decided to move south. It was these darn northern winters that convinced me! You see I’m fortunate to have low blood pressure, but it makes it extremely hard to stay warm – especially if I’m inactive like when I’m writing blog posts….
As I sit here huddled over my computer, I can’t help but long for my Tennessee winters, when it wasn’t unusual to be digging new garden beds in January; or getting ready to start indoor seedlings no later than the end of February. Admittedly, I just miss my gardens period. I’ve already committed myself to a patio garden for the spring and summer but I do wish I was outdoors getting different kales and carrots out of my own hoop houses this season. I’m envious of those of you that have the ability to do that.
Surely those of you that have garden beds and are eating locally are growing some of your own seasonal winter veggies. Right? Right?!
If you don’t know much about winter gardening I’m giving you the opportunity to learn from one of the masters. This week I’m giving away a copy of The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
But here’s the deal: I want to know that you’ll use this resource. I really dislike giveaways that don’t serve a purpose other than to get more readers and give away “stuff”. I blog to educate and learn (and sometimes make people laugh) and I’d love to know that someone somewhere is gleaning some helpful information from what I have to offer.
Instead of the typical “leave a comment” here, here, and here, I’m going to ask one simple, thoughtful thing. When you reply to this post to enter the drawing, I want you to tell me either what kind of winter crops you’d like to be growing or what kind of crops you’d like to extend using the techniques you could learn about in this book.
That’s it. As simple and easy as cake. I’ll announce the winner in my weekly post next Monday when I randomly pick a number. You’ve got until Sunday, January 29th at midnight Eastern to enter!
Now to go get a third layer of clothing on and reminisce about the gardens I left in warmer climes.
You can also find me at Unearthing this Life where I blarg about food, gardening, homeschooling, and parenthood.
His book has been on my wish list. I’m just getting started with the winter growing and even with winter seed sowing. This year I started with a simply row cover over greens (mustard, kale and collards) and it’s worked so far but we’ve had a mild winter this year. I would love to grow lettuce year round and some root crops like carrots, turnips, rutabagas. Anything really. I love to grow food and am getting into preserving as well.
Thanks for the giveaway!
this was the first year we had a fall/winter garden and it did really well but I want to add to it next year and try more things, like fava beans. This book would greatly help us grow more, better
I’m so new to 4 season gardening, I really don’t know much yet. This is the first year I’ve tried it and I’m watching my different crops waxing and waning. I know I got my veggies into the ground too late, even for Atlanta, but other than that all I know so far is that squirrels are really disruptive to a pot of growing greens. I think that my peas were doomed to fail, although they grew up fast and happy looking before they abruptly keeled over, because it was the wrong time and I needed to do more to protect them.
Also I have had a huge crush on Eliot Coleman (sorry Barbara) for decades. Sigh.
We’d like to work on season extending of tender varieties like cucumbers and tomatoes, grow greens for our family throughout the winter, and also have a jump start on seedlings for the upcoming year. Thanks for the opportunity-the local library would probably appreciate me getting my own copy! I check that one out so often!!
Most winters I do grow a garden. This year, I planted all kinds of greens the end of Aug/beginning of September along with carrots and beets and barely anything came up. We had lots of rain around that time in DC and everything was just too wet. I was frustrated and just decided to not do a winter garden – which is too bad for me since this winter has been very mild. I have row covers and have always been haphazard about using them the best way. I admire Eliot Coleman and his wife Barbara Damrosch and all the work they do.
I live in the NW, so I know 4 season gardening is a real possibility. My challenge is always maintaining enthusiasm! By the time fall rolls around, I’m usually tired of gardening & ready for a break. At the same time, though, I would love to have fresh greens all through the winter months! This book would probably be a great inspiration & motivator to me.
Hmm. I would grow beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, greens, beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, potatoes and if possible a couple of peppers and tomatoes!
Oh I’d so love to read the book. I do grow some things in the winter now. Bok choy, tatsoi, kale, spinach, The question becomes how useful it would be. I live in an urban environment. When the days get short so does the light. The houses shade everything. At least the leaves are off the trees.
What I would plan to extend or grow in a winter garden? Lots of the salad type things leap to mind as the most common. But what I would really like to have (grow) more of the year is members of the Brassica family. Since they tend to be cooler weather crops anyway, I think they would be ideal for keeping through the winter. I don’t know about other areas, but when I’m paying as much for broccoli and I am for hamburger, it is well worth my time to grow my own.
Oh this book has been on my wish list for awhile.. as a stay at home granny/nanny, sometimes I just have to wait to afford things:) I would love to own this book to learn how to extend the growing season on the usual salad greens, but also things like cucumbers, brussel sprouts, chard and others to help the food budget out and provide these 8 granchildren with good home grown lunches! There is nothing more fun than involving children in gardening too and harvesting in the winter would delight them!
Thanks for the opportunity to maybe win this book:)
Taken this book out of the library so much I have added it to my “to buy someday” list. I grow in an urban garden. We inherited cold frames alittle late (Dec) but I still added topsoil and transplanted spinach. It didn’t feel like December weather for NY. We’ll see how they do but in the meantime, I’d like to plan more for next winter. Great giveaway. Thanks!
I like thoughtful giveaways!
I would love to know how to grow ONIONS – the farmers around here just can’t seem to keep up with demand, and I’m always buying non-local onions from about November on. What the heck?! We don’t have a big back yard, so I don’t know how much we can do, but I’d like to learn. I’ve been inspired by other books too.
I would like to be able to extend my field pea season. Some of the things I’ve extended by covering just don’t have the flavor of longer summer days. Peas and beans seem to do well regardless.
I loved this book! In fact, I own it but I would love a copy to give away to my sister. We area saving funds to put up a green house and do just this. Only we won’t be able to extend our season nearly as far as he has. I’d like to start with carrots and argula.
I borrowed this book last summer and planted my first winter garden this year. I would love to have this book in my library.
My dream is to be able to eat fresh greens all winter from my garden in Minnesota. I don’t know if it’s possible….but I can dream!
I have seen this book before and wanted it, so as soon as I saw it flash up on your blog I clicked it so i could put it on my wish list on amazon…I didn’t even wait to read what you said, so I was very happy, happy when I went back to read it and saw that you are doing a give-away!! I have great plans for my garden this year we are putting in raised boxes for my veggies and a little green house so I can grow veggies longer. I want to grow all sorts of things like garlic and kale oh my goodness we would be here all night lol. Needless to say I would love to win this book!!
I need this book because my mom stole my copy…I figure if you can grow in winter in Maine, you can grow anywhere.
This is our first year of a winter garden, and our planting was a little random (oh, this store still has some lettuce seeds. Guess we’ll plant that!). Next year we want to be more mindful of what we plant in the little greenhouse my husband built in our community garden plot. My hubby found GrowVeg.com, which has been great in helping map out where things will go and how to think about the planting. I think this book would help us think bigger picture about what we should be planting and how to use what we grow throughout the winter…I tend to just eat as we harvest. It would be nice to think about how to store the harvest to get more longevity out of it. Also, I just love books. They’re my weakness. (Incidentally, celery root is the one thing I really, really want to grow. love it!)
This winter has been so mild in NC that I’m still harvesting kohlrabi, carrots, and rutabagas! The ground hasn’t even frozen.
I would really like to expand my winter garden and grow more greens (lots more kale!), and rutabegas.
I would like to learn how to winter garden in MT, it would be great to be able to harvest more. I’d like to see what can grow here.
You must be in my brain. lol. I JUST put this book on my Amazon wish list and was thinking I need to do some type of book giveaway on my blog soon. Too funny.
I’m most interested in growing lettuce, cabbage, herbs, and root vegetables. I’d also like to learn more about what is feasible to grow so I can keep us in at least a small amount of fresh food all year. Here in MI, I start really missing local fresh vegetables in January. All I can get for lettuce is hydroponic on occasion at the farmers’ market and now I know that I can do something about it!
I’d like to extend peppers, lettuce, chard, and onions for the winter. I have borrowed this book from the library and it’s a great resource. I just have to plan ahead and do the necessary work to extend the gardening season
My experience with gardening is only 2 years old and has been restricted to summer veggies. I’ve never attempted a winter garden. (I confess, I never really thought about it). But gardening has made me more interested in where my food comes from, especially after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma. That then prompted me to join the Dark Days Challenge. The Challenge has forced me to think about my food in terms of seasons, and visiting the farmers’ market this winter has made me see the wide array of winter veggies available. I’ve been asking myself why don’t I try my own winter garden? I would like to become more self-sufficient. Even if I don’t win this book, I will put it on my reading list.
Winters are so severe in MN that I think I’m probably pretty limited in what I could grow, but I’m definitely interested in at least having some of the hardier greens like kale — not just for me, but also for our chickens. I also think we could probably have chives and some of the edible “weeds” (nettles, wood sorrel, etc.) that come up quickly in spring year-round if I could keep them protected enough.
I’m in the Pacific Northwest so should be fairly successful in doing some winter gardening. I’ve only just started with gardening and for some reason the idea of winter crops (even here) seems daunting, so this book would be a great help. I would like to start with growing some greens (spinach, chard, kale). By Dec/Jan, I really start to miss them.
I actually have Elliot Coleman’s other book and have really enjoyed it. The first book focuses more on cold frames. My understanding is the second looks a lot harder at hoop houses. And a large hoop house is on my list to build in the next few years.
We really have bitter cold winters and only a few crops will over winter in a hoop house for us. But I would use my hoop house to extend the time that I can plant and harvest crops like broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage, lettuces, peas and other greens.
I loved this book when i checked it out of the library and would love to have my own copy. It was a great help in getting my winter garden started. Now I’m experimenting with how long crops can stay in the cold weather. Our mild winters here in SC make for great winter gardening weather. I’m growing kale, broccoli, spinach, carrots to name a few!
I would love to have that book. Cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale top my list of cool weather crops and what I woul like to grow.
I would like to try to grow whatever fresh greens or vegetables are possible in WI.
Oh how I’d love to grow fresh salad greens through the winter! Those would be my first choice. In addition, fresh kale and bok choi are right up near the top on my list. Extending the season (especially here in Maine), especially for our heirloom tomatoes and sweet peas would be tremendous since our normal season is so short. This book has been on my “boy would I LOVE to own this” since I flipped through it at a friend’s house last year. What a tremendous blessing it would be.
I have two of Eliot Coleman’s other books, and I have a great appreciation for his approach to writing as well as the organic gardening information. I would love to broaden my knowledge of how to extend the growing season for cabbage, broccoli, squashes and greens.
Funny, I’m actually in the middle of his Four-Season Harvest book from the library. My winter gardening has always consisted of pulling up carrots when the ground thaws enough, but I’ve also been wanting to make a small cold frame and some row covers for several years. Aside from the typical lettuces and spinach, I’d like to add some stuff I’ve never grown before, including arugula, endive and radicchio. Should be fun!
I’d love to some day have a greenhouse that I could grow lettuce, tomatoes, squash and tropical fruit plants year round. I’ve been interested in that particular book for about 2 years now. I really need to getting around to reading it. It has been such a mild winter here I dug up soil today and am going to see if I can get some turnips out of it.