Here’s what to grow through the cold months for a fresh and healthy harvest
Words Greg Loades Photos Shutterstock
While that spring feeling of being able to start growing literally hundreds of edibles may have passed, there are still a lot of crops we can begin growing now. There are so many benefits, from having something to nurture during the ‘off-season’ to having something healthy and homegrown to harvest, just when our immune systems could probably do with a winter boost!
You may well have winter-hardy veg growing in the ground that will stand through the season to crop next year, such as those indestructible broad beans, garlic and overwintering onions. But add some of these winter salads to provide a crop during the coldest days and the grow-your-own season really never stops.
Temperatures are still high enough for salad sown now to get established and well-rooted before the winter months arrive. Extra heat and good light levels are the key to getting a good crop and this can be achieved in different ways. If you have a greenhouse you can sow direct into greenhouse beds, or fill some troughs or deep trays with multi-purpose compost and sow on the compost surface. The following crops will grow steadily in an unheated greenhouse if covered with a cloche, which can be removed during the day on mild, sunny days when the temperature outside is 10C or above. Or you can grow on a well-lit windowsill indoors.
In mild areas, you could have a go at growing the plants outside under plastic cloches or fleece but results will vary depending on the severity of the winter. A sheltered corner in well-drained soil will give the best results.
Get a head start
Some garden centres and specialist nurseries will currently be offering plug plants of hearting lettuces or endive, which have already made sturdy young plants, and will steadily mature if grown in a greenhouse. Protect them with a cloche once temperatures start to drop in winter.
Keep on cutting!
The easiest way to sow is to scatter seeds of a salad leaf mix on the compost surface of containers or greenhouse borders, to harvest as a cut-and-come-again crop because no thinning of the crop is necessary. Just pick the leaves when they’re big enough for you by picking the leaves at the base, from the outside of the row or block first and leaving others to keep growing. You can cut the whole crop down with scissors but regrowth can be very slow.
Sowing in module trays
Fill module trays with multipurpose compost and sow a few seeds in each module, then leave the strongest two to grow on and be harvested in their modules when they’ve reached a good size. This works well for salad leaves such as rocket and mizuna. If you want to grow hearting lettuce, thin them to one seedling before planting in the greenhouse border or individual small pots when they have made a sturdy young plant.
Crops to grow now
SPINACH
Super healthy spinach is a source of fibre, vitamins and antioxidants and is a very useful salad leaf because of its versatility, being good to add to hot dishes as well as a salad garnish. Sow a hardy variety such as ‘Perpetual’, which also has good resistance to bolting and is a fast grower.
CHARD
Perhaps best known as a thick-stemmed vegetable, chard also makes a good ‘baby leaf’, and colourful varieties such as ‘Rhubarb’ will give you something pretty to look at over winter, too. Plus it’s a good source of iron and vitamins A, C and K.
KALE
If you grow one salad leaf outside through autumn and winter, this ultra hardy veg is likely to be the most reliable. Better known for its tough mature leaves that look so beautiful when captured by frost, you can start to grow them now to harvest as juvenile leaves for salads through winter. And it’s rich in Vitamin C, too.
ROCKET
A good source of vitamins A and K, this full-flavoured leaf will develop its distinctive taste best when grown in full sun. Keep picking off the outer leaves as they slowly develop through autumn and winter. Along with kale, this is another brassica, so both are best not grown in soil that has had manure or ericaceous compost added to it.
MUSTARD
Packed with antioxidants, this small leaf is big on flavour and just a few small pickings will give your food a big boost when it comes to taste! If you’ve still got some leaves left by spring they will mature into large leaves that can be used in soups and stews as you would use spinach.
PEA SHOOTS
A good source of iron and calcium, peas are surely the easiest winter crop to sow! Growing this crop is a good task to do with children, pushing the seeds into modules of multi-purpose compost. If you’ve got any Roottrainers spare, they will be effective for raising a winter crop of pea shoots. Snip them off with scissors once they are about 10cm tall. Add them as a garnish to a dish and pretend you’re eating at a fancy restaurant!
LAMB’S LETTUCE
A source of vitamin C, this is truly a cold-busting crop, tolerant of low temperatures as well as helping keep you healthy in winter. Sow it in a block in a large pot or trough and harvest leaves from the outside as they develop. Enjoy its fresh, nutty flavour!
LETTUCE
Loose-leaved lettuce can be sown in rows or in pots (at least 25cm wide) for a leafy crop but hearting butterhead lettuces, such as ‘Arctic King’, can be grown to mature towards the end of winter. Look out for them sold as plug plants, ideal for planting in greenhouse borders.
MIZUNA
A source of iron and folate, this tasty Oriental salad vegetable is good for outdoor growing because it can tolerate temperatures in single figures. Just cover it with fleece or a cloche if temperatures below freezing are forecast. This is also a brassica so avoid growing it in manured soil.