Year round salad greens?
I've read that I can start most of my salad greens as soon as the ground is thawed each year. I live in northwestern washington, and we don't get a lot of frosting/snow each year. Does that mean I might be able to grow salad greens (Spinach, lettuce etc) year round?
Don't know why not. Eliot Coleman, in his Four Seasons Harvest, shows his cold frames bursting with salad greens while the ground around them is covered with snow. You just need to search out the plants whose need for sunlight is less in terms of hours per day; those are the ones for winter growing.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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DoubleDogFarm
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I planted fava beans and English peas in early November. When I last saw them on December 17, the favas were approx. 1 foot tall, and the peas were approx. 7 to 8 inches tall. This is in Palo Alto, Sunset Zone 15, where I visit only once a month or so, and where I'm dependent on an automatic (but erratic) watering system, esp. during our so-far very dry "winter." Point of this paragraph is to show that it is possible for some veggies to actually grow during November/December, although at 37 deg North I may have a sunlight advantage over Seattle.
On December 4 or close to it, DH and I planted winter seeds in our rented 4'x8' container: bok choi, chard, kale, arugula, carrots, beets, parsnips, more favas, and more peas. We visited a couple of times and then, on December 23, made what was intended to be a "take out the tomato plants so the favas and peas can get some sunlight" fly-by and read the notice on the door:
"All City-owned facilities will be CLOSED from Saturday, December 24, through Monday, January 2."
This meant that our seedlings would have no water except for what we gave them that day for at least 11 days.
The favas and peas were just breaking up from the earth; many arugula plants were 4 or so inches tall; some kale plants likewise. The bok choi and the root veggies weren't in sight yet.
The rented containers are behind a locked, city-owned fence, and our particular container is out of the direct line of sight of the fence, so I can't even l-o-o-k at how the veggies are doing. *sigh* But the plants that did grow exhibited December-only growth.
Today, January 1, DH and I worked outside briefly (I'm recovering from severe bronchitis, and he, from a bad cold). Pruned blackberries and other leggy plants, shook veggies gone to seed over the seed beds and weeded/watered same: red chard, red Russian kale, white chard. I left the chicory seeds on their stalks, unsure what I really want to do with them. In any case, I was beginning to get dizzy again each time I leaned over to pull out a weed, so it was time to stop.
I'll post again in a couple of weeks on this thread about any observed January growth in the beds here at the house, which have the worst sunlight exposure by far of the three growing locations available to me. The beds I "free seeded" today might get as much as 2 hours of direct sunlight each day this time of year, thanks to the neighbor to the south, who fooled the city's Planning Department into letting her overbuild her lot and kill the sun for this lot before we even moved here. (The sellers of this property were also livid about it; this neighbor is a pariah on our end of the block for the way she treats everyone.)
So if you have good sunlight exposure, I'd go ahead and put some seeds into a cold frame and keep notes this year on what happens and how long it takes. You might have some pleasant surprises.
Be sure to try mache; Coleman thinks it may be the hardiest salad green going. I grew it one year and absolutely loved how it tasted.
Cynthia
On December 4 or close to it, DH and I planted winter seeds in our rented 4'x8' container: bok choi, chard, kale, arugula, carrots, beets, parsnips, more favas, and more peas. We visited a couple of times and then, on December 23, made what was intended to be a "take out the tomato plants so the favas and peas can get some sunlight" fly-by and read the notice on the door:
"All City-owned facilities will be CLOSED from Saturday, December 24, through Monday, January 2."
This meant that our seedlings would have no water except for what we gave them that day for at least 11 days.
The favas and peas were just breaking up from the earth; many arugula plants were 4 or so inches tall; some kale plants likewise. The bok choi and the root veggies weren't in sight yet.The rented containers are behind a locked, city-owned fence, and our particular container is out of the direct line of sight of the fence, so I can't even l-o-o-k at how the veggies are doing. *sigh* But the plants that did grow exhibited December-only growth.
Today, January 1, DH and I worked outside briefly (I'm recovering from severe bronchitis, and he, from a bad cold). Pruned blackberries and other leggy plants, shook veggies gone to seed over the seed beds and weeded/watered same: red chard, red Russian kale, white chard. I left the chicory seeds on their stalks, unsure what I really want to do with them. In any case, I was beginning to get dizzy again each time I leaned over to pull out a weed, so it was time to stop.
I'll post again in a couple of weeks on this thread about any observed January growth in the beds here at the house, which have the worst sunlight exposure by far of the three growing locations available to me. The beds I "free seeded" today might get as much as 2 hours of direct sunlight each day this time of year, thanks to the neighbor to the south, who fooled the city's Planning Department into letting her overbuild her lot and kill the sun for this lot before we even moved here. (The sellers of this property were also livid about it; this neighbor is a pariah on our end of the block for the way she treats everyone.)
So if you have good sunlight exposure, I'd go ahead and put some seeds into a cold frame and keep notes this year on what happens and how long it takes. You might have some pleasant surprises.
Be sure to try mache; Coleman thinks it may be the hardiest salad green going. I grew it one year and absolutely loved how it tasted.
Cynthia
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rainbowgardener
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Our winter has been so mild this year so far (I think that is about to change) I still have lettuce and spinach and swiss chard growing in my garden. They continue to grow and produce more leaves, but MUCH slower than in the fall when it was warmer and more hours of light in a day.
But re the year around greens - when you can't grow spinach and lettuce very well is in the summer. Except for the chard, they tolerate cold much better than heat. The chard you could grow year round, but not spinach and lettuce, which just bolt and go to seed as soon as it gets too warm.
But re the year around greens - when you can't grow spinach and lettuce very well is in the summer. Except for the chard, they tolerate cold much better than heat. The chard you could grow year round, but not spinach and lettuce, which just bolt and go to seed as soon as it gets too warm.