In September, I planted vegetables for my Fall and Winter Garden. This posting is a photo essay showing the growth progress of this seasons crop. Most of the plants are in my greenhouse.
Lacinato Kale - a wrinkled kale variety that is a favorite of Italian cooks. We saute kale in a little olive oil to make a quick warm salad and also use it as an ingredient in hardy winter soups. Kale is one of the most nutritious vegetables around and so easy to grow in winter that it's a shame most gardeners don't know, or grow, this vegetable.
Miner's Lettuce - a native of the Pacific Northwest U.S., this cold tolerant edible grows wild in forests. It is reputed to have a high vitamin C content. It is crunchy and has a slight lemon flavor. My kids love it.
Baby Pak Choi - This vegetable is also called Bok Choi and there are probably more spelling variants of this vegetable name than any other variety in the garden. Pak choi is a staple of Asian cooking and is used in stir-fry and soup dishes. It is quite crunchy and the baby varieties grow to about 6 inches. They have a beautiful green color and are quite cute.
Radicchio - A bitter green that adds some red color to winter salads.
Swiss Chard - Another very hard vegetable that can be used in all sorts of cooked dishes. Chard leaves are deep green but the stalks come in a rainbow of colors such as white, red, yellow, and pink. Warm colors for cold days.
Upland Cress - similar in flavor to water cress but a member of the mustard family.
Mache - Prounounced like "mosh," this is a very common vegetable in Europe. Unlike many of the other winter greens, mache is very mild tasting, similar to bibb lettuce in my opinion. If you don't like the bitter stuff, mache is the way to go.
Arugula & Red Russian Kale - Arugula is a very peppery green. This is my wife's favorite and so we grow quite a bit of arugula. Despite its name, Red Russian Kale is very different than other kale varieties. And there's a good reason for this, its a different specie altogether. Red Russian is a very soft kale. You don't need to cook it very much and you can even eat it uncooked if you like.
Crapaudine Beet - I posted about this earlier this week. This variety dates back over 1000 years. It has a nice flavor and is a good addition to your heirloom garden.
Savoy Cabbage - a more delicate cabbage that has a less sulfur flavor than other varieties. This cabbage is great for cooked dishes and is considered the king of cabbage by foodies. I tried using this variety for sauerkraut earlier this year but was not happy with the results. Use more common varieties of green cabbage to make good kraut.
Saxa Radish - Fast and easy to grow. Makes a nice addition to salads or pickled and thrown into a Martini.
Inchelium Red Garlic - A hardneck variety planted now that I will harvest in the spring. Originally discovered on the Colville Indian reservation in Washington State, this variety has a robust flavor and is listed as an "Arc of Taste" variety by the folks at Slow Food.
Henderson Baby Lima - These baby lima beans mature in about 65 days. I planted them in September with the hope of getting a harvest before the cold weather kills off the plants. It's going to be close; the pods have formed, but the beans are not ready yet and we are now past the official first frost date for our area. If the weather stays mild, I may be able to squeak in one last harvest of beans. If not, I know to plant them in late August next year.
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