Winter (Hardy) Salads

[Garden Manager]

Can anyone recommend to me the best winter hardy plants that will provide salad leaves from autumn through to next spring and require minimal winter protection (and by that I mean grown outside and covered with a cloche or fleece, not in a greenhouse or cold frame).

I have done some research already and come up with  things like lambs lettuce, winter lettuce ('Winter Density'?), Mitzuna, Mibuna, chinese cabbage and endives. However i would like some advice on which of these are best to grow and acheive the croping aims stated above. Are there are any others that i have missed out, but are worth growing?

I am already growing some Perpetual Spinach and Swiss Chard, and have seed of American/Land Cress and Corn Salad, which i intend to grow.

Seed of the above plants seems hard to find, none of my local garden centres seem to stock them, so if you could recommend a good supplier (mail order preferably) that would be most appreciated.

Many thanks

[Garden Manager]

[antipodes]

errm be careful, corn salad is another name for lamb's lettuce, at least in my neck of the woods. I know that in France you bet the curly endive (frisee) lettuce in winter and also scarole which is lovely. Lamb's lettuce is easy but does take about 90 days to harvest so maybe you should think about planting it soon. I am going to do a patch of it myself. It is very tasty, lovely mixed with bolied egg and beetroot or with some blue cheese and nuts.

[Jeannine]

If you get stuck and can't find a supplier I can let you have a few seeds of most of what you have mentioned above. I don't have many but don't mind sharing if you can't find them this yearXX Jeannine

[tim]

Sorry to repeat -

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkmain.asp?PAGEID=20670&STK_PROD_CODE=1080-5385

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,34933.0.html

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,34868.0.html

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

I have plenty of corn salad and winter chicory seeds if you want. Rocket is another you might try, but I don't have seeds

lamb's lettuce always reminds me of when I was poor. At University my bursary never lasted through the summer, so I used to wander around the faculty looking for meetings. If I was lucky I could get plates and plates of uneaten sandwiches. If I wasn't, they just left the lamb's lettuce and tomato garnish  ???

btw William Cobbett said that lamb's lettuce was a leaf "eaten by Frenchmen, and by pigs (when they could get nothing else)"

[Barnowl]

Lettuces Quatre Saisons and Bronze Arrow (Cocarde) grow well over winter

[markfield rover]

Our spring onions last well through the winter, some of the herbs too

[calendula]

definitely go for some chicories, very hardy and if you choose one of the red/white ones or the red/green they look so lovely as well and don't forget the mustards, many varieties but again the red ones look so good especially if you can find red frills or ruby streaks and seeds of italy do a very good selection of chicories

[Jeannine]

I have some of those Seeds of Italy chicories if you want some

[Garden Manager]

Found some seeds of winter salads at the Amateur Gardening Show a couple of weekends ago. I got pak choi, mitzuna, mustard and endive. I recently sowed a few of each in modules along with some lettuce and land cress which I already had.  I went for module sowing because direct sowing in my soil can be a bit touch and go, plus i dont have space to sow them direct at the moment. By the time they are well grown I should have some spaces free. I also sowed direct some corn salad, rocket, radish and spring onion.

I am hoping I will soon have some plants to put out and try later on.

Thanks for earlier replies, sorry i havent responded sooner.

[asbean]

Tim - the Marshalls plants are good. We went for those last year, they arrived sometime in September and were quite small.  I put them under corrugated plastic in one of the beds and the 48 plants kept us in salad for most of the winter. I'm going to order more this year, and we can put half under the plastic and the other half in the poly tunnel (assuming we'll get the plastic cover on!!!)  ;D ;D ;D

[OllieC]

A bit pricey, Tim!!!  :o  :o

080-5385 Hardy Autumn & Winter Salad Collection
Price: £999999998.00

[sand]

We tried corn salad a couple of years ago, nursed it along lovingly and then picked some for a salad - yuk!  It was disgusting, mushy and tasteless.

We love frisee and land cress, which can both go through the winter without protection.  In the past we have had problems with some salads due to the damp, not the frost, so this year we plan to try some protection, not sure whether to try polythene or fleece?  I'm sure the snails will love both.

Sand

[antipodes]

wowo I am surprised by what you said about corn salad! here in Nantes we are a big growing region so we eat lots of it in winter!!! It is tender, with a smooth flavour, ok not really crunchy (unless you don't wash the sand out first) but mushy and tasteless? You know that you don't undo all the leaves? You eat the little bunch as it is... Or at least just slice it in half down the centre so you can wash out all the grit ("Mache" as we call it needs at least 3 washes). Eat it quickly, it doesn't keep! Most delicious in a salad with orange slices and a curry dressing, or with beetroot and boiled egg and a walnut sauce.
Needless to say that I have already sown my first lot ha ha.

[sand]

Maybe it's just us, we're not fond of 'soft' salad leaves, prefer something with a bit of crunch.

My hubbie's dad was french and as a family they spent a lot of time there so we grow stuff that he ate there, frisee is popular in our house, along with dandelion, raddichio and whitloof chicory.  All have quite a strong flavour that we enjoy. 

Sand

[Garden Manager]

Seeds starting to germinate and come up now. By biggest worry was that with this dry warm weather the compost and seed might dry out before they germinated, particularly the lettuce, which as we know wont germinate if its too warm.

I am now hopefull (rather than expectant) of sucess. Just hope they taste good!