Topic: Growing a winter garden

[pigeonseed]

That's a good idea - when do you put the pots over the dandelions?

[1066]

Well I finally got to the plot today, nice bright sunny (but cold day here) and checked on progress - all the salads are doing fine - picked a lovely butterhead, and a escarole type  :)  And the Oriental veg is still looking good - the Chinese Cabbage have been nibbled but seem to still be growing well and the purple choy sum look great. At home I've just picked the last of the French beans

[artichoke]

Dandelions: last year I made the mistake of digging up the roots and putting them into a "Dandelion Corner", but they grew quite well. I was surprised by how nice the leaves were, though slugs got in on the act.

This time I will select a few plants in a messy area, clear a space round them and add a little fertiliser, cut off the mature leaves, then put big black pots over them with a brick on top. I am thinking February, March sort of time. After all, they are the origin of chicories and endives, free and self sown.....

I am digging out a rather neglected area at the moment, but am reminding myself to stop attacking the biggest dandelions; use them in the spring, then dig them out. I realise this won't suit tidy gardeners.

Can't recommend land cress too highly, as well. I have a thickly self sown patch and am assembling the best into rows to grow slowly over the winter then spring to life as the weather warms up.

[artichoke]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/448805

Can't resist this, on the subject of eating dandelions. And Joy Larkom writes that dandelions can be blanched from late summer onwards, and that big roots can be dug up now and forced like chicory. I can't believe I have thrown so many away.

[calendula]

yes they are great and free  ;D although I tend to prefer chicories and don't forget dandelion and burdock cordial - trouble is dandelions may you want to weeeeeeee  ;D so an excellent diuretic as well

[Digeroo]

My land cress is doing brilliantly.  I have a handful of leaves everytime I go down to the lottie.  It is great as a green manure as well.  Slugs do not like it. 

My best one has leaves four to six inches long.  I actually much prefer it to lettuce. 
There is also a nice type called wrinkel crinkle but my OH decided to tidy it up before I had taken off the seeds so I need to source some more.

[1066]

That's interesting Digeroo, I'm not convinced yet by the land cress, but may appreciate it later on in winter when the lettuce bite the bullet or have all been eaten. What variety are you growing that gets such high praise?  :)

[garrett]

yes they are great and free  ;D although I tend to prefer chicories and don't forget dandelion and burdock cordial - trouble is dandelions may you want to weeeeeeee  ;D so an excellent diuretic as well

Hence the common name "piss in the bed"! I remember being sent out to picking dandelion leaves to make salads years ago when I lived in France.

[Digeroo]

Wrinkle Crinkle cress is quite nice.  It comes in a Niche salad mixed by T&M  also available from Unwins.  You do need to rogue out the ones with the wrong shaped leaves if you save seed.

My one appeared as a weed and I have been growing it now and eating it for many years. 

[pigeonseed]

The land cress sounds interesting, I might try it next year. I wonder if the leaves will survive the freeze we have at the moment.

I went to the lottie this morning, to dig up all the winter radish which were left - I worried that if it stays frozen for a while, and gets even colder, the roots might freeze - then they just go all translucent and mushy.

So I'm a bit disappointed they only made it to November. But I plan to cook up the leaves as curry and freeze, and grate and fry most of the roots and make lots of stuffed rotis to freeze. I have no idea how well they freeze, but worth a try!

(I do realise it's a bit odd that I rescued them from a freezing allotment, only to freeze them using electricity...  ;D)

[star]

 ;D ;D ;D Yes it does seem daft, but electric freezing works better  ;)

I must sow my landcress next year, I hope it still germinates  :-\

[rugbypost]

Hello Jeannine you can start growing plants in the garden starting  very early in season first make a choice of what you like at differant months of the year carrots , parsnips, some hold in the cold weather or you can store them leeks hold up in the cold  and should all the way into the new year sprouts are the same califlowersI have up to  end of january but i do cover with fleeze and straw. Broad beans have not been doing to good in wales due to low night temps so i dont start them untill febuary  in 3inch pots. but look at what you want to do over winter there is a lot of information on seed packageing, Hope you have a lot   fun  while leaning thats what gardening is to me Dont forget to put something out for the birds they help as well.  Rugbypost

[1066]

Thought I'd do an update on my winter salads and veggies

The last of the Uncovered winter salads on the plot (Brune D'Hiver and Petite Rouge were dug and eaten at the end of Nov.  8) I will definitely grow Brune D'Hiver again - lovely, large, open, tasty lettuce

The salads that are on the plot that had fleece on them, which was knocked off with the snow have pretty much perished - except the raddicio which still look good. Memo to self cover the salads properly next year! But the winter radish have survived being uncovered as have the mooli - picked / dug some yesterday  ;)

The salads I grew in the garden - I used those blue mushroom plastic crates, with a compost bag to line them and some old compost and then in one of those placcy greenhouse staging things - have survived and in fact are still doing really well. I have a mixture of winter lettuce in them - like Tom Thumb, Petite Rouge etc, and even after all the cold and snow they are still looking fine and dandy. except I no longer know which is which cos the frame blew over in strong wind in Nov and all the labels and plants got mixed up! Except Tom Thumb which is really recognisable, but the problem being that it is not one of my favourites so I don't think I'll bother growing it again  ::)

All in all its been a real success this winter salad growing thing. So thanks all for the inspiration and suggestions. I'll definietly be doing more next year, and hope to fine tune it a bit more as well

1066  :)

[small]

Well done, 1066, you seem to have really made a success of winter salad.
What a difference 200 miles makes......I've lost all my winter lettuce, mooli, rocket, even parsley which has never happened before.....turnips,carrots, all sogged, really only parsnips and leeks left. This was stuff in open ground, covered and uncovered, and in an unheated greenhouse. At first I was inclined to give up but a bit of sunshine today has decided me to try again next year, including using my large conservatory as a greenhouse extension. And I suppose the parsley might just produce a bit more if we get a warm spell, I've left the stumps in as a mark of optimism!

[saddad]

I thought my chards in the open had all lost the will to live... but signs of new growth today...  :)

[1066]

Small, its been a real learning curve! I set myself a bit of a challenge earlier on in the year to have more winter veggies on the plot. And of course there have been success and failures. The whole attempt at growing salads was a real suck it and see. I had no real idea whether or not it would work. So next year I'm going to aim for proper cover, raising things up and more protection. I  think my major battle is to deal with the wet, not just the cold, but the wet ground. And as I couldn't clear the snow on some plants they have well and truly keeled over. I think January is going to be a lean month in terms of edibles from the plot, so that will be another thing to think about for next year  ;)

My brother has a plot in the NW, probably not too far from you, and what he and I grow, and when we grow it varies hugely, he's high up and exposed, we're south, low lying but exposed.


I don't have any parsley on the plot, but it is pretty tough stuff so don't give up on it yet! So keep up with the optomism  ;D
And yes my Chard is looking pretty miserable too, the spinach seems to have recovered more quickly. My problem last year was that as soon as it warmed up lots of stuff bolted!

Ah, the joys of growing

[manicscousers]

just pulled the last of the overwintering carrots in the poly, had to fleece them and keep them very dry, plus some of the smaller leeks outside, although one or two look a bit dodgy. our indoor salads looked as if they were dying as I hadn't fleeced them but one or two are standing up for themselves  ;D

[pigeonseed]

Yes I think in early spring you might get some parsley leaves from it, small. I foolishly saw that happen last year and thought - hooray, it's perennial parsley! But it's biennial, so by summer it went to seed...  ::)

It was a tough winter wasn't it? But I'm amazed at what does survive. Carrots, purple sprouting broccoli and kale - business as usual. I ate all my winter radish but other plots kept theirs all through the ice and snow.

I miss my winter radish actually - very nice snack. This year I'm going to grow loads more. The tastiest and crispest were definitely Hilds blauer Herbst und Winter, c/o 1066! :-*

[1066]

The Mooli were fab but I think I prefer the taste of the winter radish too  8)

I'm coming home in a few days and am really looking forward to getting up to the plot to see what has survived. The salads in the garden (under protection and in pots/containers) were holding out ok, even though I hadn't watered them for about 6 weeks............

1066 (the neglectful gardener!)

[saddad]

I'm a Winter Radish fan too... my (unprotected) raddichio succumbed to the cold and snow...
Saddad (The idle gardener!)  ;D