Planting winter salads during summer growing season
Revamped How-To: Winter Salad Planting
Are you yearning for colorful and crisp salads come autumn and winter? Look no further! Follow these speedy steps to delight in homegrown winter salads.
Firstly, choose the right cold-hardy plants for your kitchen garden. Consider endive, Asian greens, Chinese cabbage, and mustard—they thrive in lower temperatures.
Secondly, pick a plot in your garden with excellent soil drainage. Late summer (around August) is the perfect time to sow seeds or transfer seedlings, so they’ll be well-established before old man winter enters the scene. Make sure to give each crop ample space—folks say lettuce heads need about 10-18 inches apart—to allow for airflow and growth.
To help your fragile young plants survive the frosty nights, you might want to arm them with some protection. Cloches or cold frames will do the trick—just make sure your plants get some fresh air during the day. Keeping the soil moist is also crucial; but be careful not to overwater!
Growing your winter salads is easier than you think. Harvest young leaves as they mature, or snip the whole heads for stir-fries. Cut-and-come-again! Enjoy fresh greens all fall and winter long.
Bonus: Have a go at planting other veggies in August, too. Kale, spinach, radishes, turnips, carrots, kohlrabi, leeks, and onions (the winter-hardy varieties) will be more than happy to join the party and contribute to your cool-season harvest.
Salad Crops Worth Sowing
Here are some of our favored winter salad crops that are quite the stunners in the garden:
- Pak choi 'Rubi' – Talk about color! This Pak choi variety wins winter beauty contests with its stunning lime-green stems and flared burgundy leaves that deepen to remarkable purples in frosty weather. Use in salads or in stir-fries for a delightful contrast.
- Lettuce 'Black Seeded Simpson' – This lettuce beloved for its excellent flavor is incredibly hardy, making it an ideal choice for outdoor growth.
- Corn salad – Not the sweet corn you know, but this little leafy plant is a sight to behold! It may be slow to start, but don't give up, as its deliciously flavored leaves will delight you all winter long.
- Komatsuna – This easy-to-grow Oriental salad boasts an interesting mild-cabbage flavor, thriving in cold weather. Use a fleece to shield it from severe cold.
- Spring onion 'White Lisbon Winter Hardy' – A hardy winter version of the ever-popular spring onion! Sow successively from August up to mid-October, and both its tops and bulbs will be ready to harvest in no time.
- Mustard 'Red Frills' – This pretty Oriental mustard has filigree purple-stained leaves that offer a peppery punch with a little go. Once you try it, you'll wonder what took you so long!
- Incorporate 'Pak choi 'Rubi', a captivating winter salad crop with lime-green stems and deep burgundy leaves, into your home-and-garden for a stunning visual appeal, both in the garden and on your food-and-drink plates.
- Opt for the classic and hardy 'Black Seeded Simpson' lettuce, an excellent choice for outdoor growth, in your kitchen garden as part of your healthy-cooking endeavors this winter.
- Experience the slowness to maturity but ultimate reward with 'corn salad', a delightful leafy plant that offers a delicious flavor, as you nurture it in your home-and-garden for cool-season harvest.