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The year-round vegetable gardener

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:01 am
by digitS'
That's the title of a book by Niki Jabbour.
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This lady gardener (and gardening radio program host) does her protected winter growing in cold frames ... In Nova Scotia!

The book begins with her looking around her open November garden a few years ago. Ms Jabbour suggests "a few potatoes can be tucked into the (cold)frames for a late-May harvest of tender tubers." This is under a "Spring" subheading. I'm thinking early March. Protected like that, they should grow well and quickly. Oh Boy!

She transplants leeks into the frames in the summer but leaves most of the ground available for seed, for cool weather. (The appendix has great charts for succession and interplanting crops.)

"... winter lettuces, mache, claytonia, endive, tatsoi, pak choi, spinach, Swiss chard, and bunching onions are seeded directly in the frames."

There are pictures later in the book showing her out with the broom, sweeping snow off her cold frames and hoopies.

Steve :D

Re: The year-round vegetable gardener

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 5:41 pm
by HoneyBerry
Thanks. I've been considering building some cold frames. This looks like a good book.

Re: The year-round vegetable gardener

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 3:55 pm
by digitS'
Ms Jabbour has a useful chart on succession planting.

There is a possibility for some of us to do once and be done. Those gardeners who focus on food preservation may take that route and have very useful gardens.

For salad gardens, few of us have such a restricted growing season where once and done would be required. The author isn't faced with those limits in Nova Scotia even without protected growing.

A 7 day harvest of radish or garden peas or new potatoes or sweetcorn is nice; a 6 week harvest of any of them is better ;).

Steve