I haven’t been spending too much time in the garden lately and the reason is simple. It’s too cold to plant anything new. 😉 Well, that’s not entirely true really. I mean after all I am growing lettuce, spinach and peas in the greenhouse, but for the most part, I am in maintenance mode.
The garden is still thriving and hanging in there for this time of year.
The fava bean I planted earlier this fall are now about 10 inches tall. I’m not growing them to eat, but as a cover crop to enrich the soil in my garden boxes instead.
Have you ever planted leeks before from seed? Hole.Lee.Cow.Man, they sure take a long time to grow. I started my leek seeds last January, and it looks like these ones still have another month or so to go before they are ready to be harvested. That’s almost a year from seed to harvest. No wonder leeks are so expensive in the stores.
Turnips, check. I’m growing these for my neighbor the Hunter.
Fall peas. I’m not a pessimist, but these are taking forever. Forever I tell you. I think it will be a miracle if we actually get to harvest some snap peas this winter.
Lucy the puggle dog hard at work.
Rainbow Swiss chard. Yipee.
Carrots. Okay, so we actually have 3 beds with carrots planted in them. I’m saving this batch for Thanksgiving. The next bed of carrots should be ready around Valentine’s Day, and the ones below…
In the polytunnel should be ready {I’m guessing} sometime next March. We’ll see. I’ve never grown carrots during the winter months before so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for them to get big enough to harvest. 
Broccoli Romanesco. Everybody and their brother should grow it because it’s so stinkin’ cool.
And our red cabbage. I think it’s almost ready to harvest. Actually I won’t have a choice here pretty soon if we get an early frost. I’ll have to harvest all of it no matter what. Cabbage soup anyone?
And last buy not least, our strawberry pallet garden. All 6 of our pallets are now planted with tri-star strawberries. I LOVE growing strawberries in pallets. Having them up off the ground a bit makes them so much easier to pick.
Well, that’s the latest from my winter garden, what’s growing in yours?
Mavis wants to know. 😉
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Erica / Northwest Edible Life says
Cabbage is typically winter hardy in our area. The red varieties tend to do fine with PNW temps and some varieties, like January King, can freeze solid, thaw, and be totally fine. I wouldn’t rush to harvest your cabbage, just watch out for molds and mildews and slugs taking off the outer wrapper leaves and leaving the heart less protected. 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Erica, that’s great to know, I was worried I’d be serving cabbage soup every night like Charlie Bucket’s mom. Now I can stop freaking out about it. 🙂
Judy says
Mavis I have to agree with Erica. Cabbage and other types such as broccoli, brussel sprouts actually do fine with frost or a freeze..it actually improves their flavor. Leave it in the ground. You’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Happy Gardening
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Judy!
Susan says
Totally jealous of those gorgeous looking turnips! I LOVE turnip and rhutabaga. Mine were destroyed by the voles. Didn’t get any carrots either.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Stinks Susan. 🙁
Michele says
I’m disapointed that everything I planted by seed according to everything I read is still so small. We had an early light frost in Dallas area last night so I covered everything with sheets. Kinda aggrivating. I have cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli grown by seeds and my brussel sprouts didn’t sprout so I bought baby plants. Still all so small. Spinich still look like new sprouts, carrots growing still, bell peppers and herbs great. Just disapointed with my seedlings. I started all in mid August…so much heat here thst any earlier was killing the seedlings (took 3 rounds with some to get them to sprout well).
Am I the only one? Summer seeds say start in Feb but I’m starting in January now. Ugh.
Cecily says
I am so jealous of your beets! Mine are only the size of a gumball and a small one at that. Your leeks look to be about the right size for harvesting to me (hard to tell without a reference point). They are ready when they are a little larger around than a broom handle and IMO are more tender and taste better than if you let them get huge like the ones you find in the store. A great thing about leeks is that they often put out “babies” around their bases. After you dig up the leek you can re plant those little guys and harvest them later on.
Rosaleen says
Mavis-
I hope that your cabbage does do well remaining planted. I visited a friend who had a cold frame going in west-central MA. There was snow on the ground, but she was able to go outside and harvest some lovely bok choy (Or similar, it was a while ago). The brassica, whatever it was, was delicious!
Also,if you find yourself with a lot of cabbage to put up, consider dehydrating, fermenting, and cold storing some of it. Dehydrated cabbage does well in cooked dishes, such as soups, and I’ve even sneaked it into tuna salad I’ve been fermenting cabbage for close to a year. Homemade saeurkraut and kimchi are much better than purchased, especially canned sauerkraut. There is a whole movement toward geting people to eat fermented foods, from vegetables to yogurt. They innoculate our digestive tract with beneficial bacteria which has a big role in our immune systems. Other vegetables (and some fruits) can be fermented, as well, like cucumbers (pickles), and carrots. I haven’t tried it yet, but I spotted an interesting recipe for fermented gingered carrots when I did a search.
Katrina says
Here is an excellent cabbage soup recipe:
http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/02/creamy-cabbage-and-double-smoked-bacon.html
I personally don’t have much experience with red cabbage (except in making Rotkohl), but I assume it would work just as well in the recipe as… normal… cabbage. 🙂
Someday I hope to have a winter garden. For now, I will continue looking at yours admiringly.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks!!
linda harper says
Cabbage can handle it down to the mid 20s before it is hurt. We were able to keep them outside last year along with the Brussels sprouts and broccoli through the whole winter! Nice to go out in the winter and still pick something to take inside to eat!
Sarah says
I can’t wait for leeks to mature from seed, I hate to have that ground tied up with one crop for so long! I buy the six packs of starters, which with leeks are more like a 60 pack!
Jennifer says
How do you water your carrots in the polytunnel? I’ve considered building a tunnel over some of my beds but do not have irrigation out at that garden.
Indio says
I use an agribon frost cover on my winter plants to make sure they dont get too much frost damage. Its been owrking so far on my celery. Im in CT and weve already had 3 frosty mornings and its still going strong.
Deana Tankersley says
Wow.. I am learning so much as this is my first time “Winter Gardening”. I’m in Georgia and we usually have pretty mild Winters here. I don’t know why I never thought about doing any of this before, guess I too always thought of the cold hurting them, but I now know differently thanks to the likes of all of you fine winter growing folks.. =)) I’m growing cabbage, Pak Choy, broccoli, Red Romaine, Kale, Brussel, Turnips, Collards, Parsnip, Snow Peas..and a few other.. I was covering the seedlings during frost with plastic water bottles. So far it’s been super learning as I go.. =))P
Mavis Butterfield says
Covering seedlings with water bottles is a great tip! 🙂