As you can see, I’ve got LOTS of lettuce and greens growing right now! I’ve got a wide variety of lettuce, spinach, rapini, Bok Choy, Swiss chard, kale, and other greens, as well as peas.
I’ve also got quite a few onions and broccoli plants that overwintered quite nicely. The broccoli and peas were direct seeded in bottomless pots sunk a few inches in the ground and filled with a rich soil and compost mix. During the winter I surrounded them with glass jugs of water to help keep them warm. The water would warm up in the sun (as did the black pots) and then the added heat would be released at night keeping the surrounding temperature above freezing. If the temps dropped too low (30 degrees or so) I’d also cover the plants with a sheet. We got temperatures down to 23 degrees and none of the plants sustained any damage.
I also planted pots with lettuce and greens in the greenhouse. Above is my beautiful Buttercrunch lettuce.
I planted some cauliflower seedlings in large pots in the greenhouse as well. Above is a potted cauliflower, some Buttercrunch and some Trout Speckled Romaine lettuce. I started the lettuce and most of the greens in shallow plastic berry containers. When the plants were about a month old and had some nice roots I was able to easily transplant them to larger pots without disturbing the roots and causing transplant shock. Sowing the seeds in potting mix in those berry containers works so well I’m doing it with all my greens now. It seems like whenever I direct sow I lose a lot (if not all) of my seedlings to insects- particularly potato bugs. Waiting until the plants are a month or two old before I plant them in the ground seems to give them a fighting chance against the bugs.
This year I bought a bunch of unique seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds. They’ve got lots of different greens that I’ve never heard of before. Above is Aurora Mixed Orach, a bolt resistant spinach substitute. I love spinach, but I can only grow it in the winter- the minute it starts to get warm the plants want to bolt and start producing seeds. I was able to find several different spinach substitutes that can handle the heat, so hopefully I’ll have a much longer season for harvest.
Above is another new find- Chijimisai greens, which are a cross between tatsoi and komatsuna. They have four times as much vitamin A as carrots and are heat and cold tolerant. I love greens like this- highly nutritious with a long harvest season. You can get so much out of plants like these!
I started all my greens and lettuce, and a few plantings of beets in berry containers and then transplanted them into 3 gallon pots. I kept the pots in the greenhouse until the nighttime temperatures were above freezing, and then hardened the plants off for several days before leaving them out in the garden. Since they’re in pots I can move them into the shade when it starts to get warmer.
In October I started some beets (Tall Top Early Wonder) in several berry containers and transplanted them into the greenhouse when they were about a month old. I’ve been harvesting the greens for several weeks now and recently thinned them and had some nice baby beets. I replanted some of the roots from the first thinning and most of them have survived and are growing nicely. Beets are another favorite of mine. You can get so much from one plant! You can harvest the baby greens and include them in your salad- they are so sweet and tender! As the leaves get larger you can harvest them and sauté them (stems included) as you would any other green. Then of course you’ve got the beet itself- delicious roasted whole or diced and sautéed.
Above is the lettuce I started in berry containers in October. In November I transplanted it into the ground in the greenhouse and have been harvesting ever since. It’s starting to get warm now (70 degrees or so) and these plants will probably start to bolt soon since they’re in the greenhouse and the temps get to 85 or 90 degrees during the day. I may save a few plants for seed, but the rest will go to the chickens. Now my lettuce in the gardens is really looking nice, so I still have plenty for salads. Plus I just noticed some stray lettuce popping up in a few of the gardens 🙂
I feel so lucky to have been able to continue planting and growing greens and veggies all winter. There’s nothing as grounding and calming for me as being among my plants 🙂 I just love growing things and tending them throughout the growing season. And there’s nothing as delicious or nutritious as food you grow yourself!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Michelle
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