winter veggies advice please :).

[momol]

Being able to eat our home grown veggies during winter is really very special and addictive. At the moment I have several leafy veg for winter :
Nero Di Toscano,Ragged Jack, Collards, Rainbow chard,Mustards (several types), Mache, Radish, Black carrot (no more to harvest), variegated chicory, early PSB (start to form floret at the moment),garlic chives and lettuce (1 left).

I managed to get some autumn king carrot (anybody need some seeds ?) from our local garden centre and still on the look of extra winter veg.
We don't like winter cabbages nor brussels sprouts (as it gives us too much problems).

I am planning to grow more winter veg so that we can have a bit of veg feast during winter too (next winter).
Could you give suggestions over winter veg you are eating/enjoying now ?

Thanks in advance for every coming in put .

[Hans Mum]

parsnips are left in the ground a long time, what about some squashes which can be stored, turnips and swede am sure others will be along with more suggestions soon

[Cutecumber]

This year I have:

two Garnet PSB (first cropped December- January, the second is cropping now)
two Claret PSB, due to crop from March to April

Dwarf green curled kale - small, but very delicate leaves. Started harvesting last week.

Leaf beet (perpetual spinach) - not much bulk to them at the moment but they usually give a feast in the spring

Valdor lettuce - one left in the greenhouse

A few other random leaves in the greenhouse (claytonia, land cress, rocket, lambs lettuce) all more or less finished now.

Next year I will try some of the bigger kales (the dwarf are really a bit too dwarf!) and more PSB. I still haven't managed to grow roots to store - we always just eat small ones fresh - so I have also got some Autumn King seed to try!

[momol]

Thanks for the promt reply ladies. Yes, I still have loads of winter squashes (Red Kuri and Pomme D'or). I am thinking of extra kale (Dwarf russian), extra radish (water melon radish and shogoin radish), and couple of other leafy veggies.
The thing is we are 2 veggy lover adults plus 2 vegetarian furry friends. The guinea pig and the bunny are conctantly demanding fresh leaves....

[wormlady]

I really like swedes - they keep going all winter and I know our guineas like the leaves. Apart from swedes, Ive had parsnips, leeks and red cabbage overwintering. Anyone know if kohlrabi will overwinter? I think its pretty hardy?

[rustylady]

Don't forget the leeks and parsnips. Beetroot stand well in the ground. Spring cabbage are good, the thinnings can be eaten as fresh greens. Personally I like the dark coloured brassicas, such as Savoy cabbages, dark coloured kale, and also curly kale.

[momol]

Wormlady,

I think Kohlrabi won't be able to overwinter. Try some mustards they will overwinter well (with some cloche protections), mine are still standing out side(under cloche) .

[Snadger]

Leeks , carrots, swedes and parsnips! Or in essence..........a stew pack!

[Sue]

Hi Momol
I've still got spinach under the mesh, celeriac still to harvest and black radish and mooli radish - very turnip like in soup. For salads, I love the bite of wintercress and my salad leaves lasted till the heavyfrosts of the last few days will have to wait for the others to hearten up now. The cabbages are starting to hearten up and I've eaten some of the leeks and carrots. And I've still got a few potatoes left and 2 huge marrows. Ran out of onions but I made vats of Nigella Lawson's onion mush so still quite a bit left of that to cook with and have everlasting onions in the ground - fat juicy stems for onion flavour.
With the preserving pan, dehydrator and freezer am beginning to find that you can eat well off the allotment all year. But - still must try harder -way to go, need lots more spinach and carrots and the psb got attacked by slugs and pigeons.
Sue

[zazen999]

Hi
Beetroot, various brassicas, from Broccoli which are heading up nicely now, to romanesco which I have only 2 left [yummy], plus some real seeds greens [completely lost track of what it was but it's all growing well], swede of course, carrots if the flaming carrot fly hadn't got them, onions, garlic, the chives have all regenerated in the last 3 weeks, I could also have turnip [grows really really fast], if I hadn't had far too many last year [it was the only thing to grow in the rain], and salads if I had covered them, leeks of course; think that's it but starting to run out of stuff now.

I am growing some late season toms this year, so if we get a decent summer, perhaps there is a slight chance of having those available through most of the winter; peppers as well - we only got rid of the last plant because it was waterlogged and the peppers had no taste - but if I had thought it through and taken it in during the autumn, we could easily have had peppers and chillis on the go at the mo.

This year, due to constant nagging by work colleagues - I will be growing some parsnips - not many but enough for a few roasts.

[momol]

Hi Momol
I've still got spinach under the mesh, celeriac still to harvest and black radish and mooli radish - very turnip like in soup. For salads, I love the bite of wintercress and my salad leaves lasted till the heavyfrosts of the last few days will have to wait for the others to hearten up now. The cabbages are starting to hearten up and I've eaten some of the leeks and carrots. And I've still got a few potatoes left and 2 huge marrows. Ran out of onions but I made vats of Nigella Lawson's onion mush so still quite a bit left of that to cook with and have everlasting onions in the ground - fat juicy stems for onion flavour.
With the preserving pan, dehydrator and freezer am beginning to find that you can eat well off the allotment all year. But - still must try harder -way to go, need lots more spinach and carrots and the psb got attacked by slugs and pigeons.
Sue

Sue, would Gigante d'inverno spinach be good for winter?
I got some seeds from last year (seeds of italy) which said to be suitable fo autumn and winter planting too.
I am thinking of getting some Shogoin radish (turnip ?) as it is said to be good for autumn and winter.
Thanks for all replies and suggestions grapes , now I got more to take as considerations .

[la cebolla grande]

We grew Mooli (winter white radish - mentioned above) simply to fill some space this winter - brilliant. Turnip like in casseroles/stews etc. Huge roots (about 1ft long!) so ''value for money'' and they stay in the ground until needed - 1/2 ours are still out there. Leeks, and parsnips are obvious contenders too.

Stored squashes - but those were also mentioned. We grew CornSalad, which is brilliant and utterly hardy BUT tiny plants, so you need a lot to make it worth while!! The other thing that has grown very well, and is very much a winter veg is raddichio (red chicory). Use like lettuce (sparingly) or add it at the end of cooking. Excellent veg.

You'll be surprised just how much will grow over the winter - the biggest surprise was our row of coriander (a TENDER herb) which is still going strong having coped with all the frost (-9 here yesterday night) without batting an eyelid!!

LCG

[vegnut]

I think i read something about Pak Choi being reasonably hardy (can someone confirm please). Also as others have said:
Leeks
Celeriac
Parsnips
Carrots
Perpetual Spinach
Beetroot
I'm sure that there are loads more, but these few come to mind

[momol]

I think i read something about Pak Choi being reasonably hardy (can someone confirm please). Also as others have said:
Leeks
Celeriac
Parsnips
Carrots
Perpetual Spinach
Beetroot
I'm sure that there are loads more, but these few come to mind

I can assure you that pak choi not hardy is. I purposely left 1 Pak Choi out there with some plastic cloche and now they are bolting.
Thanks for the extra recommendation.

[vegnut]

Thanks for the info momol. i wont try that then.