A Veggie Garden Tour!
It's November. And, on the whole, that generally puts an end to my vegetable garden. Here in the UK, there are crops you can grow through the winter - not that they'll do much other than sit and wait for warmer days - but, for the mostpart, it's time to put the patch to bed for a few months.
However, I DO still actually have vegetables in the ground and harvests to be had. Even better, many of these veggies can stay in the ground over the coming months in a state of torpor awaiting their harvest. I'd say that's a winner!
To see the full tour, click on the video below. OR, scroll down and have a read instead.
What Happened to the Winter Greens?
I forgot them. Oops. Winter crops need to be sown before the winter so the seeds can germinate and young plants become established. I direct sowed some spinach and winter lettuce (Arctic King and Winter Density) in August AND September but it was dry, I forgot to water and nothing came up aside the single, sorry spinach plant.
Oops. I guess it's kale, kale and more kale for me through the cold months!
What do I need to do better next year?
Water, water, water. And sow on time. Sadly I don't have a drip irrigation system. I don't even have an outside tap to attach a hose to, so it's all manual work with watering cans. And actually, I don't mind that...but I often forget. Meanwhile, next year I'll definitely start all my winter greens (spinach, rocket, winter lettuces etc) in plug trays inside the greenhouse and then plant them before the first frosts so they can acclimatise.
Harvests in the Ground
However, what I lack in greens, I have in a few other veggies. All of these can actually remain outside and in the ground throughout the winter and I can harvest as and when.
Aside from these four vegetables, I also have a few last summer lettuces, three Bright Lights chard plants and a sole surviving spinach.
Because of my bad-timing, I'll be keeping the beds weed-free and simply adding compost to them over the coming months before, around February, I begin thinking about new crops for the following season. In the meantime, I spy lots of carrot soup, roast turnips and pickled beets on the menu!
Thanks for reading,
Geoff :)
You can find me on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Patreon
I know you're cramped for space, but maybe one of these rain barrel configurations would help with the watering situation. Plus, it's portable, so you can re-locate it when necessary. That article is a little old, so adjust the estimated costs accordingly. (Looks like they're using US dollars.)
That's quite a lot of veggies for this time of year! Even the ones that didn't do so well, will make room for something else next time. You're going to get quite a few tasty meals out of those beds. Well done!
Thanks for the barrel ideas! I do have one on the greenhouse....i hate the thought of all that rain running away. Sadly its not been very full for much of the year. Hopefully we'll have a wetter spring next year.
Hope for many homegrown meals to come. :)
Great that you have one already! Fingers crossed it gets a bit more action next season.
You're doing great! I planted my winter cabbages, radish, and lettuces a little late too. They have all come up but growth is slow. I really don't know if I'll be getting anything out of them at all. It sure is fun to try though!
It's all just a big experiment after all. You never know! And then if you have mild weather, they might take off :D
Indeed! It isn't going to hurt my feelings a bit if I get a nice little winter harvest. And if I don't...they were 2 year old seeds anyway so I was lucky they did anything at all!! Haha!
Your crops are looking great @brimwoodfarm! Hopefully our carrots do better next year.
Thanks! What happened to your carrots?
The ground where I planted was a bit compacted so they didn't grow down very far. That's why I'm focusing on cover crops this winter to break up the soil.
Good plan. My soil is a bit too fertile so they come out with a bit of fibrous root growth but I don't mind as they're only for me. :)
Enjoyed reading your post. :)
Thank you!
I really enjoyed this tour. You have some great food in the garden even if it wasn't very well watered this year. I like the way you experiment with things. I want to do that too.
I'm not very familiar with your farm yet and what you are doing there, but I look forward to learning more. What you are doing in your current garden is great.
Thanks so much. It's very much a learning process and trying new things, new vegetables etc. And I look upon all this as learning in advance of the much larger farm-scale stuff so if I fail now, at least it's on a small scale.
It is such a good way to go about it.
Nice insight. Dry summer wow would have been nice, hammered it down up north from months. This weeks been the driest in ages. Time for me to prep for the spring find some containers and plan my garden.
It was SO dry in the south...many farmers were complaining as their crops simply didn't get started properly. I need some of your rain!
I know friends told me. We literally could count the sunny days on our hands
Looks great. You are lucky to have this great garden + harvest. :-)
You are part of my "Food by Redfish" #11.