Growing winter vegetables is easy and sustainable without the use of plastics, fleeces, expensive greenhouses and energy by exploiting the “talents” of perennial and biennial plants that are naturally cold tolerant! End of February greens, many harvested in the garden in this very mild weather, used in a delicious green Mac and cheese! See the list of plants added below the pictures. The plants: Forced inside: Aralia cordata (udo) Hosta Aegopodium podogaria (ground elder / skvallerkål) Cichorium intybus “Witloof Væres Venners” (chicory / sikori) Allium senescens x nutans Petroselinum crispum (parsley / persille) Brassia oleracea (various perennial kales / flerårige kål) Cirsium oleraceum (cabbage thistle / kåltistel) Outside: Allium carinatum “Pulchellum” Hablitzia tamnoides (Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde) Allium stipitatum shoots (Persian shallot / Persisk sjalott) Rumex acetosa “Abundance” (sorrel /engsyre) Taraxacum sp. (dandelion / løvetann) Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard / løkurt) Dystaenia takesimana Scorzonera hispanica (scorzonera / scorsonerrot) Ranunculus ficaria var chrysocephalus (lesser celandine / vårkål) Cardamine raphanifolia Hemerocallis sp. Allium cernuum (nodding onion / prærieløk) Allium oleraceum (wild onion / villøk) Allium sativum (garlic / hvitløk) Allium paradoxum var normale Allium paradoxum var paradoxum (few-flowered leek) Armoracia rusticana ( horseradish / pepperrot) Smyrnium olusatrum (alexanders / sorte løpstikke); not a very hardy species, but I’ve kept it alive for many years growing up against the house wall protected by a leaf and sacking mulch (I overwinter tender plants in pots here):
This week I’ve spent a lot of time preparing various less hardy plants for winter, laying down blackberry canes and covering with leaves and jute sacking to hold the leaves in place and similarly with sea kale which is marginally hardy here.
Even though it was under -5C it was dry and quite pleasant to work outside raking leaves from the wild part of the garden.
I was a bit late this year, the cold spell with 10 days below 0C every day means that there’s already 10cm or so frozen solid in parts of the garden, so crossing fingers that I wasn’t too late.
Here’s part of my collection of perennial kales which are marginal here even with the roots protected. In my world, kales are of the least hardy vegetables :)
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Thank you Emilia Rekestad for putting last week’s webinar on winter perennial vegetables up more permanently on youtube. Emilia first introduces the webinar and the polyculture project through which it was organised!
I hope you find it useful and please help us by sharing with friends and relevant groups!!
An active weekend in the garden digging a trench for the Internet, moving and stacking firewood and piling leaves over less hardy plants…before the next freeze with air temperature forecast to be below zero for the next 10 days…
Forbordfjellet was illuminated for several hours today
Sunny Forbordsfjellet
Sunny Forbordsfjellet
A long hole has appeared this weekend
Long hole digging for Internet cable!
Piles of leaves give winter protection to some less hardy plants in pots and my blackberry which has been layed down flat..
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
The plants:
