Profiting from the Persephone Period

Discover how to grow winter vegetables during the "Persephone Period," despite the minimal daylight on winter's shortest days.

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This advice will help you learn how to grow winter vegetables, and benefit from fresh harvests even during the dark days of the Persephone Period.

If you studied Greek mythology, or you’re a gardener who’s heard of the “Persephone Period,” you might remember the story of the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Persephone was abducted into the underworld by Hades. No crops grew during the period of Demeter’s grief and anger while she desperately searched for her missing daughter. Demeter (goddess of agriculture and harvest) finally appealed to Zeus for her daughter’s return. Prompted by hunger among the people, Zeus complied. But Persephone admitted to being tricked by Hades into consuming a few pomegranate seeds. For eating the food of the underworld, she was condemned to reside in that place for a number of months of every year. To this day, Demeter withholds fertility and plant growth while her daughter stays underground — hence, the season of winter.

The Persephone Period in Your Garden

This tale is why gardeners today refer to the “Persephone Period” or “Persephone Days” (terms coined by author and expert winter gardener Eliot Coleman; read his technique for “Growing Plants That Survive Winter Outside“). In the Northern Hemisphere, this period begins in fall when the days grow too short to effectively sustain the growth of most plants. Seed companies know this well, and they send peppy emails in midsummer reminding gardeners, “It’s time for fall planting!”

Contrary to popular belief, not only cold temperatures limit vegetable growth; day length is also a factor. Most plants need at least 10 hours of sunlight per day for active growth. The Persephone Period begins with the last day that has 10 hours of sunlight before the winter solstice. As a rough rule of thumb for gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere, daily sunlight usually drops below 10 hours in mid-November and rises above 10 hours in about the first week of February. Knowing these dates will allow you to plan a winter garden by planting so vegetables will achieve maturity above that 10-hour-per-day threshold. You can generate a daylight/darkness table for your area on the website of the U.S. Navy’s Astronomical Applications Department.

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