Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest : Cool Season Crops for the Year-Round Gardener

by Binda Colebrook

In this revised edition of Winter Gardening, Binda Colebrook reveals the secrets of growing and harvesting fresh, flavorful produce during winter months in the maritime Northwest. Includes advice on how to select a winter growing site, what varieties to choose for hard weather and continuous harvest, how to utilize cold frames and cloches, and how to plan summer sowings to extend your growing season through the winter.

Genres: Gardening, Food, Nonfiction, Reference

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Rift Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book and nicely supplemented with quotes, poems and illustrations (no photos). I've been pretending to garden at a community garden since 2009, and I started winter gardening with garlic 3 years ago, I think. I am not a fan of kale, but this book has definitely given me some other ideas, like what the heck is corn salad?! :) I am not interested in gardening with cold frames or any other kind of cover, so some parts of the book were irrelevant to me. But I was impressed that the questionable ethics of animal-based composts (manure, blood/bone meal) was at least mentioned, as was the idea of making vegetarian compost!

Also mentioned in passing (top of page 17), and something I've thought about as well, is the fact that animal manure comes with a lot of extra chemicals. Even pet cows and horses are de-wormed at the very least, and factory farmed animals are fed dewormers, growth hormones, antibiotics and who knows what else. All these chemicals come out the back end, and composting will not break down all of them. I can't understand why anyone would want to put this poison in their garden, to be taken up by plants, to be eaten by you. Granted, probably all the food we eat is grown in a stew of chemicals, even organic veges. But don't you want to do better in your own garden?

Ha, that turned into quite the rant, didn't it?! :)

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out you need to plan ahead for winter gardening (like start in July). Woopsie daisy! Guess I'll be picking this one up again NEXT summer.

[Ashley Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had great information and I really appreciated the appendixes. This one i might consider.tonadd to my resource materials (I borrowed it from my local library as I do a majority of my reads).

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those resource books that you will continue to read through the years
if you have any interest in eating fresh into the winter. She has great ideas for cold frames
and cloches, lists many hardy plants and gives advice for pests that may like those veggies too.
The Winter Gardening book for the Pacific NW.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as an ebook but This is one of those books that I want to add to my personal gardening library. Lots of great advice on how to plan and get started in July to harvest in December.

[Linda Porreca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information

Love the specific notes for our area and tips from years of experience.

The annual guide allows you to plan your year of planting in advance.

[Jordan Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid info and level of detail. Answered some questions I had, plus the style is fun and colorful.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago, bought a copy, and keep turning back to it every year for both winter and summer gardening wisdom. Not so secretly, I want to be Binda Colebrook’s best friend.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reviewing 2 books on general year round gardening in the Pacific NW, I decided to read this book too since winter gardening starts in the summer! Nice advice specifically on winter gardening such as how to keep the vegetables from freezing, what veggies and herbs to grow, winter pests, year long plan, etc. With my other 2 books, I should be able to get something edible out of my garden this year. This book is a good reference for beginners.