Category Archives: Winter gardening

Plantings of Mache in my square foot garden

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This is such a great and tasty gem that many in the U.S. are not familiar with. I finished teaching a class last night and ended up having a discussion with a couple of the attendees. Somehow we ended up talking about things being harvested during the winter season and I mentioned “mache.” 

“Did I just hear you say mache?” She’s from Germany and knows this crop well. She commented how much she love and misses it. Mache is next to impossible to find here in the states but that’s very different in Europe. The MBC (mache, brassica, and chicory) salad is iconic in many parts of Europe. 

This plant was discovered long ago on corn or wheat fields in Europe. When they found that it was edible (and delicious), and even did better grown as a winter crop, it became a favorite winter crop of peasants. It’s thought of as a winter annual. 

Mache is so good it goes by 3 different names: mache, lambs lettuce, and corn salad. There are two types of varieties that can be found. One is Dutch variety-which has larger leaves and is said to grow better as the weather gets warmer. My favorite is the other-the French variety, often known by the name Vit. It’s smaller and has always done very well in my winter garden. It’s highly nutritious and makes a very distinctive and tasty salad. 

In an effort to see if mache can be grown in late winter, I planted 3 squares of Vit in my SFG today. This is planted in a 9 per square spacing. 

 

Planting for winter-square foot gardening style

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This and fall are the most fun times for me in the garden. Less work. Anticipating crops that only grow in cold weather. Less watering. No weeding. Pests are leaving. I have very few of those so that’s not really much of an issue. But the late fall/winter garden takes some planning. Today I pulled up most of my existing leeks and also found some garlic that I forgot about. When I tried to separate the cloves I discovered they were mush. Too long in the ground. Speaking of garlic, this is the month. I’m a hardneck garlic believer because of our harsher winters. 

After amending each new square with compost, spinach, arugula, mache, lettuce, minutina, baby bok choi, mizuna, and claytonia were all direct seeded. This is perfect timing for our winters. The lettuce wont be so big that it turns to soup after a hard freeze. Bok choi and its thicker stems hold up well in winter. Arugula grown in cold temperatures lose the peppery edge they normally have. The other greens are just delicious. Next week will be a succession crop of a few of the same and then some addition crops. 

The normal SFG spacings of 1, 4, 9, 16 are a little different for winter. Everything is planted with a spacing of 9 or 16. We just need more in the winter time. 

Prepping and planning for winter garden

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First week of September marks the time when I begin transitioning summer to fall and winter gardening. To make room I’ll need to pull up a few things like beans, kale, and maybe even a tomato plant or two, which really hurts!

I counted 16 different crops that I grow for winter. All do well in our freezing, snowy winters. As long you know how to put up a simple structure for protection and match the crop to the season anybody can enjoy the winter bounty. And, it’s so fun to do. The taste? It can only be described as awesome. Freezing temps turn starches to sugar so your carrots are delicious. The same for spinach and baby lettuces. Arugula is less spicy.

I’ve also mass planted several grow bags with lettuce varieties that will begin to be harvested in 40-45 days and will last until about the end of November, though I will have them under cover when the temperatures get to cold. I continue to discover great varieties that can’t be bought anywhere in the stores that have great taste. When those are done the salad greens planted today and through mid-October will all be ready. Those crops will last our family until about mid-March.

On October 25 I will sown a cold frame with lettuces. Lots of lettuces. That will be ready by the time all winter greens have been harvested-third of 4th week of March. That’s my rotation anyway.  

Putting old man winter to bed for a season

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For years it’s always been a problem to clean off the plastic which has covered my winter garden for 4-1/2 months. They’re a real mess. Melted snow mixed with mud, birds flying overhead, worms all over the place, your muddied footprints, etc. If you wash them down and don’t let them dry you end up with algae on the plastic when it’s time to use them again. If you don’t hose them down they look terrible with caked on mud, leaves, dirt, etc.

Using just spring clamps to hold the plastic down on each end and grow bags to hold the other ends down, I can easily wash front and back and let them dry in the sun. It only takes about 20-25 minutes to dry out. I have the back opened up so it doesn’t get too hot. Then it’s just a matter of folding them up and putting them away until needed. 

Hosing and cleaning plastic is always a challenge when you lay it on the ground. You have to anchor all the corners and then you have pooled water all over on the surface. You lift up and shake the plastic and then the wind catches it like a parachute. Having these quickly erected poly tunnels make things so easy. I can now clean my plastic without worrying about wind and pooled water everywhere. 

Another reason to take one of my upcoming fall or winter gardening classes, all of which will be posted right here on my blog. 

Prepping your square foot garden for winter and….

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Setting you up for major success in the next growing season. While my work for making compost is done for the year-at least the active part-there’s one last item that I’ve done for years to continue improving the tilth of the soil. 

If you live in an area where there’s freezing temperatures but can still work your soil it’s not too late. I remove 4-5 inches of soil, add a layer of fall leaves, and then put the soil back on top. When you come back in the spring to plant, you most likely won’t be able to find any leaves. The earthworms have been doing their job all winter long. 

This is a great way to continue improving your growing medium with a free and natural resource. Don’t throw those leaves away! Save and use as many as you can and then use the remainder next year to make the best compost around.

If you’d like to learn more about how to make that compost, you can find the recorded class available on this site under the “shop” section. You won’t be sorry. When you learn how to do it you’ll never need to buy another fertilizer again. Ever.