A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Fall/winter crops for Illinois, and more questions

Can someone give me a rundown of what to plant for fall or to over-winter and when these should go in? I'm fairly new to IL and haven't gotten my gardening "roots" yet so to speak :wink:

Also, my MIL has some raspberry canes she wants to give me - should I go ahead and take some and put them in now?

And Meijer had rhubarb roots and 2 yr asparagus roots on clearance. If I bought some, should I put those in now or wait for spring... or is it even worth the buck to try?

Thanks!
Manda

These are cool weather crops
Beets
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Chard
Garlic
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Onions
Parsley
Peas
Radishes
Rutabaga
Spinach
Turnips
Winter Squash
There may be others
I think you could plant the asparagus and rhubarb now. Mulch it well over winter.
I know next to nothing about raspberry growing. I hope someone comes along and can answer this one.

WEll apparently there is conflicting information.

As you can see the first information is from the U of I--which is higly respected around Illinois.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/raspberries/planting.cfm

http://www.raspberries.us/
_______________________________________________________________
I have a book, pamplet really on Rasberries & blackberries.

It says the following:

To never plant your raspberries in soil that is too acid.--a ph that is 6.0 is preferable.

To set the plants out in the spring about the time that beans are planted in your section of the country.
If ordering from a nursery in early Jan or feb the nursery will send them out at the proper time.

Unless you live in the south or southwest one should plant in the spring.

It says IF the winters are not too severe one could plant in the fall.

(with Illinois we could have a mild winter or we could have a severe winters).

personally when I used to grow Blackberries, as long as it was wet & not really hot, I would start new plants.

You could always try a few this fall & plan on planting some more in the spring when it is wet yet ...