winter veg

[aquilegia]

EJ's reminded me of another question I keep forgetting to ask...

What can I grow outside through the winter?

Will lettuce (Tom Thumb), Beetroot, Radish (French Breakfast) and Carrots (Chanteney red cored) grow ok? Anything else (I don't do brassicas)?

I don't expect to get waping harvests, just little baby ones will do. I just like the idea of still gardening and harvesting through the miserable season!

[aquilegia]

[Multiveg]

(reminds Aqui that radish is a brassica  ;D )

Are you going to sow some veg for overwintering for that slightly earlier summer harvest? Onions (Japanese ones need to be sown towards the end of this month), garlic (one of the two varieties I tried this year was a complete success 32 out of 34), shallots, peas & broad beans (was very pleased with the early crop of broad beans this year, absolutely yummy and I didn't even use any fleece, etc)

[derbex]

Aqui,

not sure about any of those -the lettuce would get hit by frost, beetroot is normally lifted and stored, but it's probably not too late to plant an autumn crop.

You can grow broad beans, onions, garlic, shallots, chard (so maybe the beetroot would be ok), leeks (although they should probably be in by now). Root veg, too -although again most/all of these should have been in for a few months -might get baby parsnips if you're interested.

And, of course, various brassicas :)

Jeremy.

[Multiveg]

There are a few winter lettuce varieties out there. Winter density is a semi cos one, Winter Crop as well, and there are others.

[GardnerJ]

There are winter radishes to grwo arn't there guys? Black spanish is one i think???

[Chantenay]

Hi - In the third week of August last year (Midlands) I sowed Senshyu Japanese overwintering onions, mini-turnip Aramis, florence fennel and Early Nantes carrots. Everything succeeded except the carrots which were a bit runty but ok for stock. Forgot to do lettuce, but previous year at same time did Valdor and Tom Thumb - vg. Go on - chuck the seeds in!

[aquilegia]

Oh yes - forgot about leeks - mine are in already, although I don't expect any monsters!

I always thought radishes were root veg. Well ok - I do do brassicas, but only radishes!

I might very well give them all a go and let you know who they work.

So can I sow chard (bright lights) now, rather than waiting for next spring?

I really must try broadies as my spring sown ones have failed two years in a row.

ooh - exciting - gardening through the winter.

[Mrs Ava]

I think if you have fleece, which I know you do Aqui, then the salads would be fine.  You can sow some more fennel now for winter, and I think spring onions are okay in the ground.  You have an advantage over lots of us lottiers as you are doing these in your garden, so you can keep a closer watch on the weather, and create a nice cosy micro climate for them.  Go on, at the end of the day, what have you got to loose?  ;D

[tim]

Carrots should work - we shall be sowing ours up till October.
Chinese veg are quick - use fleece against fleabeetle.
Cut-&-come again lettuce, like the Fristina we sowed in August, survived -8F over a long period. Under cloches. OK till May. = Tim

[Pixie]

I was given a packet of Cool Carrots (kids easy grow stuff) and they have grown really well so I've chucked another packet in for now to see if it was just fluke as a few people have said that carrots are more difficult to grow than they look

Sam

[Merete]

Is there anything except kale that overwinters well in really cold weather? I'm in Norway, and snow is pretty much guaranteed by December.

Kale is BETTER after the first proper frost - my plot neighbour always harvests hers on Christmas eve, digging through the snow to get it.

I have been thinking about caraway. When I can get them, I pick the young feathery leaves for a wonderful soup, but the closest place I know of is half an hour's drive from where I live, while the allotment is just across the road. Caraway being a biennial (however that is spelled) and obviously liking the climate should be able to survive, giving me an early harvest, before anything else starts next spring, right?

[john_miller]

Merete- you are one USDA zone above me (you're in 6, I'm in 5), here we can also sow spinach in the autumn to mature in the spring, although we too depend upon a good snowfall. Their are also varieties of garlic that can endure such temperatures. Supposedly Purple Sprouting Broccoli will also survive in your climate although that will have to wait until next year for you.
Aqui- as a testament to what is obviously your discerning palate, radish, strictly speaking, are not brassicas. Genus Brassica (cabbage, cauliflower etc.) are in family Cruciferae, as are radish, wallflowers, stocks, but normally the phrase 'brassica' is reserved just for Brassica oleracea while radish is Raphanus sativus.