Persephone Period Approaches

Here we are at the end of October and we’re quickly approaching what’s known as the persephone period. That is, the time of year when daylight falls below 10 hours of light per day. This date is important because it’s the key to timing our crops so that we can get a winter harvest from them. Why? It’s because plant growth essentially stops once daylight falls below 10 hours of light per day. This means that we need to time our winter crops such that they are around 80% mature by the first day of the persephone period. That’s around November 7th for our part of the state.

The complication is exacerbated by the fact that the daylight decreases slowly from the summer solstice and by time September rolls around we’ve lost enough daylight that it affects the "days to maturity” guidelines that our seed companies offer. Further, the cooler temps also slow plant growth. Taken together, getting the planting date correctly to have our winter crops 80% mature by the beginning of the persephone period is tricky.

The Persephone Period extends from November 7th until February 4th. Our winter spinach will see pretty rapid re-growth in February and March due to the increasing daylight and increasing temperatures. If we get the timing and harvests correct then we can do a harvest of our winter spinach in November - December and have those same plantings re-grow in time for harvest again in March. It’s always nice to get two harvests out of a single bed of spinach!