Advice for hard winter crops, grown in Iceland!

[kittyvonsometime]

Hello people!
I am an English girl living in Iceland doing my hardest to grow veg just as well as when I lived in the UK.
So far I have been pretty successful with the summer crops as although the season is shorter and not as warm (12-20 degrees) the daylight is 24hours.
My question here is has anyone got any recommended crops I can grow in the autumn/early winter. I buy seeds both here and in the UK.

Some facts for you:
Min Temp (°C) Max Temp (°C)
Sept 5 10
Oct 2 7
Nov - 1 3
Dec -5 2
Jan -5 2
Feb -2 3
Mar -2 3

My garden is pretty well protected from wind but winter winds can be tough.
I have one patch next to a wall, 4 which are pretty unprotected. I also have a greenhouse which is more like a cold frame as it was heavily vandalised and I adopted it, patching it where possible with plastic sheeting.

Daylight in the winter months is sparse however... The winter darkness (three to four hours' daylight) lasts from about mid-November until the end of January. So i need stuff to be ready before/after this.


So far I have the following veg for winter:

Ground:
Parsnips - Countess, White Gem
Cabbage - Tundra F1, January King
Cauliflower - winter pilgrim
Kale - Curly Scarlet and Dwarf Green

For in the greenhouse/cold frame
Pak Choi
Winter Gem lettuce
Chinese radish
Spinach, perpetual

Anyone with any other ideas, especially in pots in the greenhouse....

[quark1]

Kitty - welcome to the Vine - I'm not sure what to recommend personally, as I'm from the south coast - but I know from the list provided that parsnips are 'better' for a bit of a freeze in the ground.

I think this may be one for one of our Northern, Scottish or Scot Isles dwellers to help you with - are you the first to sign up from Iceland I wonder?

You may also find that any residual volcanic dust could be gathered and used as an added 'extra' if you're in the right area! Or you could be digging up ready-cooked if things get a bit lively?!

It'll be really nice to get the 'cold' view on growing and any tricks you might be able to tell us about. You could have a chat with some of your local neighbours for advice - the 'oldies' are often a great source of knowlege and many love to pass on their inside info.

Enjoy your time in Iceland and here on the Vine.

[Nicos]

Hi there- and welcome to the Vine!

Gosh it sounds like you're already doing really well!

-some of our Scottish Grapes will experience smilar conditions.

...are you on the south side of the island? I believe the north is very exposed????

Oh- and gosh- we'll all want to be knowing- did the ash cloud affect your garden????We saw pictures on the tv of people walking through inches of dust

[kittyvonsometime]

Well the ash has not been a problem - except for one day which was pretty crazy (finding my iceland: The ash arrived). We haven't had anything hardcore here, I am on the south coast of the country in the capital city, Reykjavik.

I have been trying to harass the local older generation, a few people near me have good stock of veg gardens but the seeds here have been very limited until the last year or so, so they havent got experience on much. For example, NO ONE grows parsnips which is insane seeing as Quark mentions, they do best for a freeze.

The traditional Icelandic vegs are mostly root, which I am also growing, swede, carrots, potatoes, turnips etc. And the eco-energy greenhouses here grow many many peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, salads etc.
But most people here have never heard of a runner bean before etc. even though they know Aubergines and whatnot. I started an 'adopt a plant' scheme on facebook, swapping my excess seedlings for grow bags etc as I had everything germinate. Its been fun, but I haven't found the advice I need on the cold stuff. I think scottish/northern gardeners would definitely help.

[salilah]

As per my other posts, the Winter Harvest Handbook grows stuff through the winter in Maine, where they get down to -20F / -29C. He uses double layers of cover - e.g. polytunnel outside and fleece inside - although the veg freezes overnight, it seems to cope. He also uses fleece over hoops, and then covers with a plastic sheet over the top when snow is due, so again 2 covers.

The other challenge is daylight hours - he suggests that once you are getting less than 10 hours daylight a day, plants go into semi-hibernation, so you can still harvest, but they won't grow much (other than e.g. spinach and winter purslane which apparently still keep going). So you need to be sure your plants are young but a good size by the time you get to 10 hours daylight a day - which in London is around Oct 27 to Feb 16.

cheers
S

[kittyvonsometime]

Fantastic to know! I shall hit amazon for this!
I do only rent my home though so loathe to spend too much on polytunnels etc as i will probably have to move next year. but this is a definite help thanks!

[littleexperience]

Hello people!
I am an English girl living in Iceland doing my hardest to grow veg just as well as when I lived in the UK.
So far I have been pretty successful with the summer crops as although the season is shorter and not as warm (12-20 degrees) the daylight is 24hours.
My question here is has anyone got any recommended crops I can grow in the autumn/early winter. I buy seeds both here and in the UK.

Some facts for you:
Min Temp (°C) Max Temp (°C)
Sept 5 10
Oct 2 7
Nov - 1 3
Dec -5 2
Jan -5 2
Feb -2 3
Mar -2 3

My garden is pretty well protected from wind but winter winds can be tough.
I have one patch next to a wall, 4 which are pretty unprotected. I also have a greenhouse which is more like a cold frame as it was heavily vandalised and I adopted it, patching it where possible with plastic sheeting.

Daylight in the winter months is sparse however... The winter darkness (three to four hours' daylight) lasts from about mid-November until the end of January. So i need stuff to be ready before/after this.


So far I have the following veg for winter:

Ground:
Parsnips - Countess, White Gem
Cabbage - Tundra F1, January King
Cauliflower - winter pilgrim
Kale - Curly Scarlet and Dwarf Green

For in the greenhouse/cold frame
Pak Choi
Winter Gem lettuce
Chinese radish
Spinach, perpetual

Anyone with any other ideas, especially in pots in the greenhouse....

just a thought you could try autumn onion sets in large pots in your greenhouse. if the temps drop to -20c at night just put a fleece over them till the next morning i did this last year. we had the worst winter here in scotland for 47 years and the temps were going to -19c at night at times. even at my location for 6 weeks but my onions were fine

[Scottishnewbie]

my mum and sister lived in iceland for many years - married a gudmundsson so i imagine you'll know some of the same people! she didnt grow anything though so i dont think i can be much help - though agree with what others have said. anything that grows north scotland should do well in island i think -plus you have the gulf stream so i think you might do even better - though light is deffo the problem