I’m not the only one who loves winter. Some legumes are good with it and so are alliums, brassica’s, chard, endive, parsley and all manner of leafy greens. Salads and beetroot survive it, but very slowly so if you live in cooler places, best get them under cover from now on in.
Late summer planted broccoli are providing loads of useful shoots – they’re so big hearted, they give and give! Once the main broccoli head has been harvested, many side shoots will spring forth. Harvesting regularly is a win for longevity – it prevents them heading off to seed which signals the end of the shoots. Each successive round of shoots decreases in size, but they become more plentiful. For the most shoots, leave as much central stem as you can when you take the main head.
Whenever you go out to harvest, remove old ratty leaves and thin out older branches by cutting them right off where they meet the stem. This opens the plant to light and air, keeps it stocky and stimulates fresh, green productive shoots. In this way you can keep broccoli plants going for years.
Leeks are at peak perfection right now. The roots really hold onto the soil, so slide a fork in to loosen things up first, then hold the tops and lever them out. I cut the tops and roots while out in the garden and pop them on the compost. Rinsing leeks at the outside tap saves mud in the kitchen!
Parsnips are better by far after the first frost, but still lovely in frost free gardens. Use a tool to help lever them out of the ground – they can get really long, and in order to get them out whole, its easier to first loosen the soil. A forksta is awesome if you have one, otherwise a garden fork.
I’m so grateful to yams because they’re ready in winter – not busy old autumn. And there’s no preserving required either. Just patience.
Yams fatten up threefold in the cold. Guaranteed big fat sweeties after a few frosts and the tops have died off. If you’ve rushed in to harvest and been disappointed with your crop – it may just be that you were too impetuous, young at heart perhaps. You’ll be amazed at what happens in the yam patch after cold. Patience my friends.
Such a useful plant – nourishing food, weed reducing groundcover, aphid attractor and an easy source of homegrown OM.
Clean and sharpen spades and pruning tools. Once a year is better than never, and sharp edges are a treat. They’re heaps better for your body, and your trees too, making for clean cuts that heal fast.
If you haven’t done it already, prep your asparagus for spring.
If you are at the basemap, beginning phase of creating your gardens (so exciting!), dont rush into tree planting + bed building – use the winter to closely observe your land. Gather information my friends – more thought now = heaps less problems later.
Choose a few garden improvements to take care of this winter. If you’re at the start of your garden journey it’ll be the big impact, important stuff like drainage, shelter, clearing out the trees + structures that block light or flow, tree + plant research, and making a basemap (design). If those missions are all ticked off, you’re into the fun business of dividing and planting out perennials, making new beds, irrigation, stock + chicken improvements and planting trees – ticking away with the stuff that makes our gardens high performing. Indulge yourself. Re-organise your patch, give those improvements wings while there is sod all to do in the vegie patch.
It’s the chooks favourite time of year! They hit the greenhouse once the mustard greencrops (sown in April beneath the summer crops) are over their heads. I separate the chooks from crops (saladings, celery, beetroot, spinach, potatoes), by pegging birdnet to the overhead wires. They’ll have access here until August – weeding, bug hunting, fertilising and making compost for the summer greenhouse crops.
If you don’t have chooks, slash the greencrops down, spread compost, sow a mixed greencrop and scatter the slash back on as mulch. Living roots are the fastest way to fertile, stable soils.