What we're harvesting in the December garden

Winter hardy greens

Saturday, December 23, 2023

The harvest in December is varied.  Many cold crops are doing well with no cover.  Peppers are hanging on in the walk in greenhouse.

It is surprising what survives out in the garden bed with no protection.  Right now, lettuce, carrots, cultivated dandelion greens, shallots, onions, broccoli, kale and perennial herbs are doing just fine.  Annual dill and celery are happy as well.

I'm not growing them this winter, but spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, fennel, beets, turnips and Brussels sprouts all do well this time of year in the garden.

All the cold crops are sweeter, too, when the temperatures dip below freezing.  The cold causes the plants to concentrate their sugars like antifreeze in cars to protect them from dying from freezing.  A neat trick for the plants and tasty for the gardener!

I also have greens under cover.  The chard, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, tat so and cultivated dandelions are a good size.  I started my lettuce seedlings late so they are growing slowly under cover.  It will likely be a few more weeks before I'll start harvesting from them.

In the pop up, walk-in greenhouse, the potted eggplants have pretty much given up.  The potted peppers are still hanging in there.  

I also have a few hot pepper plants that I brought indoors and put in a sunny window. "Jigsaw" pepper has white, green and lavender variegated leaves with purple fruits.  I planted it indoors this summer.  It has produced a few fruits.  The other pepper plants are "Chiltepin" wild pepper.  It an ancient variety and produces very hot, small red peppers.  I have been bringing the large plant in for the last several years for overwintering.  Both the large and small plants have peppers on them.

Of course, I also brought in the 5 citrus trees I have.  The kumquat is just covered in fruits.  Kumquats produce almost year round and do well indoors and outdoors.  Keep them in a sunny window for optimum health and production. 

I have 2 different kinds of dwarf tomatoes I am trying indoors, too.  I started "Orange Hat" over the summer and was given Tumbling Tom from a neighbor over Thanksgiving week.  Orange Hat has been producing tiny orange tomatoes for a couple of months now.  Tumbling Tom has flowers, but no fruits yet.

If you don't want to garden outdoors or bring plants indoors, you can grow sprouts to keep yourself in fresh produce during the winter months.