What's happening in the mid January edible garden

Chinese cabbage "Hilton"

Sunday, January 12, 2024

In our Zone 6/7 garden, mustard greens, sorrel, chard, carrots, thyme, oregano, garlic, chives, shallots, and onions are all still green in our January garden with no protection.  The peppers, basil, moringa, New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, bay and citrus plants over wintering in the house are also still green. My 1.5 year old Meyer lemon tree has its first baby fruit.

To keep your cold hardy crops going as long as possible, be sure to apply a good layer of mulch in the fall.  Frost forecasted? Here’s your to-do list  Preparing for a hard freeze

Austrian peas are a great winter crop to grow for salad greens.  I plant the seeds in the fall in pots.  They stay green all winter long with no protection in the garden.  I plant snow peas in the pots in the fall that I cover with a portable greenhouse.  The vines are a couple feet long.  You can plant peas for early spring eating next month, as soon as the soil can be worked.  Time to plant peas!

Don't despair if your beet, leek, onion or carrot tops look a little worse for wear, the onion bulb and carrot under the ground are harvestable all winter.  All you need to know about growing carrots    Onions-everything you need to know to grow 'em     All about beautiful beets

Mulch is not only good for retaining moisture and keeping the soil cooler in the summer, but does the same in winter, keeping the soil warmer.  This lengthens the winter harvest and protects more tender crops so that they have a better chance of reviving in the spring to give an extra early spring harvest.  As your mulch breaks down, it adds organic matter to the soil.  Weed free, self fertilizing, till free garden beds

You can also use cloches, covers, and greenhouses to extend the harvest and get a jump on spring.   Biggest watch out when using cloches and green houses is to open when the sun is shining and temps get above freezing.  Temperatures can rise quickly inside the protection, killing the plants.  A row cover has more breathability, but that also means it will not keep the plants as warm.  See this blog for more on protecting plants  Extend the season with protection for plants   

Plastic row cover

I use portable greenhouses to cover the pots that I grow salad greens in year round.  Right now, there is different lettuces, arugula, chard, Italian dandelion, celery, parsley, sprouting broccoli, snow peas growing quite happily in the greenhouse.  Even in the Midwest you can get fresh food year round by planting winter hardy varieties and/or using protective covers.

You can garden year round in small space

Winter edible garden

Lettuce, chard, parsley, sprouting broccoli

Celery, lettuce, chard, snow peas

I started onion seeds indoors this week.  They take 7-14 days to sprout.  Since I am in Kentucky, we fall in the intermediate day onion zone as the easiest to grow here.  So, I started Australian Brown, Flat of Italy, and Bronze D'Amposta of the intermediate type and threw in Red of Florence a long day type.  They should all be planted outside in March in my zone, about 4 weeks before the last frost.

I also started some native milkweed-Tall Green, Poke, Prairie, Whorled, Common and Spider.  Milkweed seeds needs to be cold, moist stratified for at least 30 days.  Instead of putting the seeds in damp paper towels in the frig, I have put them peat pots in our unheated garage.   I'll bring them inside and put under grow lights after 30 days.

You can also start mache, parsley, leeks, peas, spinach and celery this week indoors.  For flowers, you can start lisianthus, Chinese lanterns, foxglove, eucalyptus, verbena, and drumstick flower.