This year we decided to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs and salad greens in our warm greenhouse during the winter when we crave fresh food! Growing your own vegetables is easy and then you absolutely know where your food comes from! We always grow all of our vegetables organically so we can eat straight from the garden.

Our farm is located in a USDA hardiness zone 5b in eastern Oregon where typically during the winter our low temperatures will drop to 10 degrees or lower. In addition we usually receive a healthy snow pack that lasts until mid March. We keep one greenhouse warm with propane heating and add artificial lighting during the winter to propagate cuttings and divisions for our sustainable plant nursery. 

This year we built raised beds in half the warm house and filled them with a quality organic potting mix for good drainage. We soaked the beds first before seeded straight into rows that we created in the beds, then covered them with a sheet of clear plastic to help in germination. We haven't watered again since the initial seeding. We keep a soil thermometer handy to check on the soil temperature.

So far we have planted with success: basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, salad greens, carrots, beets and radishes. TIP: When thinning radishes, use the thinned radish greens in salads for a spicy, peppery addition.

We'll keeping adding varieties to test what works and what does not this winter!