Cold frame/ covered winter gardening.

[Gormy Cuss]

I live in a moderate winter climate, a Zone 8/Zone 9 border(night time lows in the 30s, daytime in the 50s most of the season, last frost mid-March.) With portable cold frames and floating row covers in use at night we're able to grow lettuces, parsley, and cilantro all winter as well as carrots and beets for an early spring harvest. We grow fall planted broccoli and other cole crops without frost protection and garlic and onion family varieties too (these don't bulb up until the Spring, but we can use the green onion thinnings in the winter.)Winter is harvest time for our citrus too, and hardier herbs like thyme and rosemary don't die back. It is my favorite part of living here -- I'm used to Zone 4-5 climates where winter growing is impossible without a greenhouse or heavy duty cold frame.

So, who else has a winter vegetable garden? What are you growing? Do you need/use frost protection?

[sazemisery]

1. Zone 7 here

I built a greenhouse so we could have winter crops of lettuce etc. I will put up my hoops on my raised bed gardens in Feb or March to get an early start on some vegetables. Since this is my first winter with my green house, I haven't planted anything so I could make sure I could regulate my temperature/humidity correctly. It is housing all my tropical plants right now.

[NJCher]

2. I built structures for row covers over my raised beds

I did it by putting PVC pipe in the ground at intervals. Then I have arches that raise the row cover fabric off the ground. The base of the arches go into the PVC pipe. I have a pic somewhere. I'll put it up when I find it.

Cher

[hippywife]

3. We're going to try it this year

when the spring and summer planting is winding down.

Edited to add that we're in Oklahoma.