Don't fall off the winter wagon- start seeding now for this winter

Extend your season and seed winter hardy vegetables now. Johnny's Selected Seeds has released their recommendations for varieties that are superior at overwintering. For instance, 'Nelson' carrots and 'Winter Density' lettuce were the best in their trials with unheated low tunnels. For more information, go here.

Last winter was the first year of my season extension experiment in Wisconsin. I will post results from last year very soon. Quick recommendations for superior winter greens crops would include mache, spinach, and arugula. If you've never heard of or tasted mache, it's time to try. Mache is an incredible winter green with a sweet flavor and buttery texture. However, be careful when Spring rolls around with 70F and above days. If you have warm days, harvest it immediately. But in the meantime, here are the crops and varieties that I will be growing this winter season.

Johnny's Seeds has some great, free low tunnel articles. For a more in-depth resource, I thoroughly enjoyed Eliot Coleman's new book, "The Winter Harvest Handbook", by Chelsea Green Publishing. It's available in print and as a kindle edition on Amazon.

The week of July 21

Carrots, 'Mokum', Fedco Seeds

Carrots, 'Red-Cored Chantenay', Fedco Seeds

Carrots, 'Shin Kuroda', Fedco Seeds

The week of August 7:

Yokatta-Na, Fedco Seeds

Kale, 'Red Russian', Seeds of Change

Dill, 'Fernleaf', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Poona Kheera', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Calypso', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Super Zagross', Fedco Seeds

Calendula, 'Resina', Fedco Seeds

Lettuce, 'Jericho', Fedco Seeds

The week of September 10:

Arugula (Rouqette), Fedco Seeds

Parsley, 'Krausa', Fedco Seeds

Mache, 'Verte de Cambrai', Fedco Seeds

Kale, 'Beedy's Camden', Fedco Seeds

Minutina, 'Erba Stella O', Fedco Seeds

The week of September 17:

It's the first day of the winter lettuce trial. All lettuce varieties are from Fedco Seeds in Waterville, ME.

'Winter Marvel'

'Red Salad Bowl'

'Salad Bowl'

'Cardinale Batavian'

'Jericho'

'Winter Wonderland'

'Lollo Rossa Cutting'

'North Pole'

'New Red Fire'

'Lingua Da Canarino'

'Red Tinged Winter'

Pest: The Birds

Birds can be helpful to a garden by eating insects. However, in my experience, birds will do more harm than good. I've lost an entire set of transplants to some hungry birds. Anytime the garden has seedlings, either from a direct sowing or transplanting, I use wire hoops and wildlife netting to protect the plants. I will leave this netting in place until the plants reach the height of the netting. Usually, once the seedlings reach an adequate size, the birds will no longer clip leaves. This year is a bit different. My neighbor has a wonderful garden with lots of bird feeders. I truly appreciate all of the wildlife, however, several species have an affection for my small Swiss chard planting. I took these pictures to document my Swiss chard bird feeder. As the chard leaves increase in size, the stem gracefully arcs and provides an ideal perch for their snacking.

Community Gardens, ooh la la

What is a community garden?

Community gardens are run by organizations, groups,or individuals who have access to publicly or privately owned tracts of land. The land is divided into small plots, typically between 300 to 500 square ft, that is leased for a season to individuals or families in the community. Most community gardens have one or more volunteer committees that help to organize and maintain the garden. Usually, volunteer service hours are expected or required to maintain the pathways, tool sheds, and watering areas.

What to consider when joining a community garden:

How close is the garden to your house or workplace?

What facilities are provided? e.g. water source, tool shed

Are any gardening supplies included? e.g. compost delivery on-site, seed or plant donations

Is there a work requirement?

What is the cost for a season and is there a deposit?

How large is the plot? Will it be adequate for the crops that you want to grow?

Are there any planting restrictions? For instance, many community gardens prohibit planting of perennials because of high turn-over of plots and aggressive plants such as bronze fennel, mint, etc.

Benefits of Joining a Community Garden

It's about COMMUNITY. If you've just moved into the area, joining a community garden is a great way to meet other gardeners, learn what grows well, and hear about pest issues specific to the garden.

The joys and tribulations of growing your own food.

Preserving the harvest for the winter.

Donating extra produce and every gardener has a bumper crop of at least one vegetable.

And most of all, if you don't have access to land, this is your ticket to gardening.

Technique: Harvesting salad greens that stay fresh longer

Materials: sharp knife, plastic container, cool water, salad spinner, storage container or bag.

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How to harvest salad greens: 1. Use a sharp knife or scissors. I prefer a sharpened knife. Scissors can have a tendency to crush the leaf tissue, which can hasten rot. If harvesting head lettuce, cut at the soil level and remove yellowed or dead leaves. If harvesting salad mix, cut a few inches above the soil. 2. Put the harvested greens directly into a bowl, tub, or bucket of cool water. This cools the leaf tissue and prevents wilting. Also, this step allows slugs, sand, and dirt to fall to the bottom while insects and spiders to rise to the top. 3. Use a salad spinner to remove the excess water. 4. Store in a plastic bag or plastic ware. If using a plastic bag, be careful not to crush the greens in the bag.

What not to do: clench or crush greens in a bundle, this will bruise the leaf blades or midribs and will significantly shorten the shelf-life.

Cooking from the Garden

I'm always searching for new vegetable preparation recipes. One of my favorite things to do in the evening is to walk out into the garden and harvest today's dinner. For many years, I either worked for an organic vegetable farm, purchased a veggie share from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at a local farm, or grew an abundance of vegetables. At first, I had no idea to prepare some of the vegetables that I had helped to harvest for the farm's weekly CSA pick-up. It was a very worthwhile investment to purchase some vegetable oriented cookbooks.

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The List

Author	Title
Jack Bishop	Vegetables Every Day
Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert	Simply in Season
Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition	From Asparagus to Zucchini: a Guide to Cooking Farm-fresh Seasonal Produce

Winter Vegetable Production

Growing salad greens, leeks, carrots, and beets through a Wisconsin winter? Yes, it is possible. And, no, this isn't new. We are talking about season extension. Eliot Coleman, in his most recent book, "The Winter Harvest Handbook", provides an excellent review of season extension's history. French market gardeners, particularly in urban settings, have been blending seasons to extend the harvest for at least a century.

Why did I choose to embark on a winter gardening adventure? First, I have a passion for growing delicious vegetables and am committed to eating food that is produced locally. Need help going local? Check out this website to find your "Buy Fresh Buy Local" chapter. Second, I have always been fascinated with the art and science of season extension.

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Supplies:

Agribon 19 row cover, 10 ft. wide, available at Johnny's Selected Seeds

Electrical conduit, 10 ft. length, 1/2 in. diameter

QuickHoops bender, available at Johnny's Selected Seeds

Tufflite greenhouse plastic, 10 ft. wide, available at Johnny's Selected Seeds

Sand

Sand bags or small feed bags available in feed and farm stores

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Sources of information:

"Season Extension with Low Tunnels" article, written by Jean English at MOFGA, from Eliot Coleman's workshop.

Four Season Farm's website, owned and operated by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, has lots of information on their publications, resources, and suppliers

Growing cool, crisp salad greens mid-summer, is it an oxymoron?

What do you want to eat when you want to beat the heat? Well, I want a gigantic, cooling, salad fresh from the garden.

Generally, lettuce and salad greens tend to become bitter when days heat up beyond 90 degrees Fahrenheit and rain is a memory of spring. However, don't despair, a lush salad in July may be in your future.

These are my suggestions: choose heat-tolerant varieties, mulch with 6-8 inches of straw to conserve moisture, and irrigate. Johnny's seeds has an excellent selection of heat-tolerant lettuce varieties. Although, as a general rule, I avoid planting any butterhead types during the heat of summer. If irrigating mulched, heat-tolerant varieties isn't working for you, there is another tactic- shade cloth. An excellent, local garden store may have small sections of shade cloth for sale.

Beyond the realm of lettuce and spinach is perpetual spinach. This tough but tender green will stand up to the mid-summer heat without becoming bitter or rushing to flower, otherwise known as bolting. Cornell University has some great cultivation information. Fedco sells seeds for a reasonable price plus they have the most informative and entertaining variety descriptions in their catalog.