Creating Extended Season and Year-Round

Vegetable Garden Calendars

2012 Utah Master Gardener Conference
by Clarence Whetten
Create a Garden Goals document as part of your garden plan
1 List the vegetables to be grown.
2 List the uses for each vegetable.
3 List time of year for use. This drives planting and harvest dates.
4 Determine quantity desired for each use. This leads to quantity to be grown.
5 Determine space required and balance desires with available space and time.
6 List varieties to be grown. Try new varieties.
7 Work into a garden plan for when to grow.
6 Record results for the year and use these to refine next years goals and plan.
Baseline Traditional Garden Calendar
Bracketed by the average last spring frost date and average first fall frost date
Data is available from http://climate.usurf.usu.edu/reports/freezeDates.php or do a
web search for Utah frost dates
Garden Vegetables are classified as Hardy, Semi-Hardy, Tender, and Very Tender
Hardy Vegetables Include:
Asparagus, Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leek, Mache, Onions, Peas, Radish,
Rhubarb, Spinach, Turnip
Semi-Hardy Vegetables Include:
Beet, Carrot, Cauliflower, Endive, Lettuce, Parsley, Parsnip, Potato, Salsify, Swiss Chard
Tender Vegetables Include:
Celery, Cucumber, Dry Bean, Snap Bean, Summer Squash, Sweet Corn
Very Tender Vegetables Include:
Cantaloupe, Eggplant, Lima Bean, Pepper, Pumpkin, Tomato, Watermelon, Winter
Squash
Traditional Spring Season Planting Dates Along the Wasatch Front
Hardy Vegetables (from seed) March 15 May 1 Plant as soon as the soil dries out in
the spring
Semi-Hardy Vegetables (from seed) March 20 May 1 Plant about two weeks before
the average last spring frost
Tender Vegetables (from seed) May 5 June 1 Plant on average date of the last spring
frost or about when the first apple blossoms reach full bloom
Very Tender Vegetables - May 20 June 10 Plant about two weeks after Tender
Vegetables
Reference: USU Fact Sheet for Suggested Vegetable Planting Dates for the Wasatch
Front

Season Extension Techniques

Raised Beds
Transplants
Mulches
Hot Caps and Cloches
Wall-O-Water
Floating Row Cover
Low Tunnels
Cold Frames and Hot Beds
High Tunnels or Hoop Houses
Get to know your neighborhood weather
Use http://www.wunderground.com to find a weather station near you.
Hardy and semi-hardy vegetables can be moved 4 to 6 weeks to the left.
Tender and very tender vegetables can be moved 2 to 4 weeks to the left.
Traditional Planting Dates for Fall Harvest
July 1 August 15 (from seed) Beet, Cabbage, Kale, Lettuce, Onion, Spinach, Turnip
Learn to Start Your Own Bedding Plants
You will want transplants at times when they are not available from the nurseries.
You will want to grow varieties that are not locally available.
Google Weekend Gardener for help. There are three web sites at http://www.chestnutsw.com/ that are very good and helpful.
Fall Garden
Plant hardy and semi-hardy crops from mid July through August.
Floating row cover and low tunnels will allow harvest of hardy vegetables through late
November.
Crops are the same ones that were planted in the early spring garden.
Garden space is the same space used for the spring garden.
High Tunnel Winter Garden
Planting times are mid August through mid September for above ground crops.
Below ground crops use fall garden schedule.
The crops need to be harvestable size by the end of November.
From mid December to mid January little growth occurs but crops are available for
harvest.
Plan to water a high tunnel in the winter.

Winter Garden Planning

For young leafy greens it takes 1 to 1.5 feet of a 30 inch wide bed to fill a 12 inch bowl
or salad spinner
From November through mid January it takes 30 days for greens to grow new leaves to
harvest size
Leave the spinach leaf stem on the plant to speed regrowth

Plant Twice in the Fall High Tunnel

First crop is planted the same time as the extended fall garden
It will start bolting in mid February
Second crop is planted early November
This crop will germinate and stay as young seedlings through the winter
Second crop harvest will start late February and continue until outdoor extended harvest
starts
Year Round Salad
Start transplants in early February
Transplant into tunnel or row cover mid March
Subsequent transplants through out spring
Plant bolt resistant varieties for summer
Plant in the shade for summer
Start transplants for fall and winter garden in August
Plant seeds in high tunnel in August to early September
References
Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman
The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman
USU High Tunnel Publications
My garden website at: http://garden.uvci.com
Contact info: thegardener@uvci.com

Sample Entries from My 2012 Garden Goals Document

Salad Greens Fresh from the garden from Oct June. Enough for a daily large salad
with Dinner.
Spinach - 20 feet of bed in tunnel - 12 plants in early spring outdoor garden Space, Red
Cardinal in tunnel add Melody in outdoor garden
Arugula 6 feet of bed - only winter grown, too strong the rest of the year
Leaf Lettuce 16 feet of bed in tunnel 6 plants of 4 varieties in early spring garden
Mache 8 feet of bed only winter grown Oak Leaf, Paris Island, Red Sails, Buttercrunch
Asian Greens 8 feet of bed never plant more than two feet of a variety at a time 4
plants of three varieties in early spring garden. Planted late summer in high tunnel, with
a second crop planted at Thanksgiving - Chinese Cabbage, Komatsuna, Totsoi

Our Family Favorite Vegetable Varieties

Seed is primarily purchased from Mountain Valley Seed, Johnnys Selected Seed, Tomato
Growers Supply, Gurneys and Cooks Greenhouse in Orem
We try at least one new vegetable every year and try about 6 new varieties each year. This list
will change but today these are our favorites.
Broccoli Marathon, Pack Man, Premium Crop
Cabbage Golden Acre, Danish Ball Head
Cantaloupe Alaskan, Super Star
Celeriac Brilliant
Celery Utah Tall, Conquistador
Cucumber Sweet Success, Armenian
Garlic German Hardy
Leek - American Flag
Lettuce Red Sails, Butter Crunch, Paris Island, Winter Density, Oak Leaf
Mache Vit
Onion Utah Sweet Spanish, Walla Walla
Peas Oregon Sugar Pod
Peppers Hot - Biggie Chili, NuMex Joe E. Parker, Sahuaro, Cayenne Large Thick, Cayenne
Long Slim, Serrano Del Sol
Peppers Sweet - Early Sunsation, Lipstick, Ace, Carmen, Blushing Beauty, Giant Marconi
Spinach Space, Red Cardinal, Melody
Squash, summer Gold rush Zucchini, Elite Zucchini
Squash, winter Waltham Butternut, Sunshine
Sweet Corn Serendipity
Swiss Chard Bright Lights
Tomatoes Cherry - Sun Sugar, Sweet Chelsea
Tomatoes Determinate Celebrity, Pol Big,
Tomatoes Paste San Marzano, Super Italian Paste, Polish Linguisa, Olpaca, Big Momma (a
local heirloom) Ana Russian (Ox Heart)
Watermelon Crimson Sweet