winter veg advice please

mardatha

Some of us in the OS forum are trying to be more self sufficient, and we are wondering about winter veggies. What can we grow and when do we plant it ?? Please

Farway

Getting a bit late in the year to sow winter veg, normally sown in Spring to allow growth until Winter

A lot of the winter veg does take up space, think of sprouts, at least 3 feet high & two across per plant, parsnips, need a big row really, same as leeks

Purple sprouting broccolli alaso takes space, but could be worthwhile as it is always dear to buy

Curly Kale, another space grabber, and prone to whitefly which hides in the curly bits

Cauliflower - not that easy, and takes space

If you can give some shelter perhaps winter hardy lettuce would be worth looking into, but be aware these are not like Iceberg or Little Gem etc

In general winter veg has to be tough as you appreciate, and has a long growing season, so now is time to plan for next year really

Primrose

Mardatha - you can still sow turnips. Also perpetual spinach and Swiss Chard are good leaf vegetables you can sow now. Except in high frost areas they're reasonably winter hardy and you can use the young leaves in salads. The growth pace of many winter vegetables slows down dramatically towards the end of September when temperatures start to drop but if you sow now, you've still got a chance of getting some winter vegs on the go. Obviously if you can buy seedlings from a garden centre, this will get you off to a head start.
If you want a winter salad leaf I can recommend endive which in our garden even seems to survive the winter frosts.

RAS

For winter salads that grow through rain, frost and snow:

Lamb's lettuce/mache/cornsalad
Land cress
Welsh onions
Rocket and perennial rocket
Salad burnet (one plant)

Also try parsley if you can offer a bit of shelter (to keep it dry).

And for next spring - Winter Density lettuce and spring onions.

Zazen999

Spring cabbages can be sown now....and I found another bag of self saved leeks so I sowed those last week; might grow those in soil in the greenhouse to let them catch up with the normal ones.