Hi all.
Today I thought I would talk about the winter salads that I grow at my allotment, especially now that Autumn is approaching.
On the 14th August I sowed some winter hardy lettuces, mizuna, corn salad, perpetual spinach and winter hardy spring onions. As the weather was still warm then, they germinated in just four days which I was quite amazed at:
This week they were big enough to plant out:
I cleared away some of my old crops in my polytunnel and then raked in some ‘Blood, fish and bone’ before planting them all out.
.
All the above salads are great to grow all through the winter. All they need is a bit of protection i.e. under a cloche, cold frame, a cold greenhouse or polytunnel.
I tend to treat the salads like cut and come again leaves, as I just pick a few leaves from the outside of each plant each time we want a salad to go with our meal. This way the plants continue to ‘heart up’ in the centre.
The photo below shows some different leaves I picked on a winters day at the beginning of the year. There are two different winter hardy lettuces, corn salad leaves, mizuna, winter hardy spring onions and ‘baby’ perpetual spinach leaves.
They all make a lovely salad mixed together:
.
The two photos below show the salads growing last year in my polytunnel:
The photo on the right shows the corn salad, mizuna and some younger winter lettuces.
I like growing mizuna as I particularly like the peppery taste of it in a mixed salad and as it’s a brassica, it looks beautiful when it eventually flowers in Spring and attracts the first butterflies of the year:
.
Winter salads are usually sown in August and September and grow slowly over the winter under protection. They have a lower proportion of water than summer lettuces, which is why they survive after being frozen.
A few winter salads you may like to try are winter hardy lettuces (I use a variety called ‘Artic King), mizuna, rocket, corn salad (lambs lettuce), mustards, winter purslane, land cress and winter hardy spring onions.
If you haven’t tried growing winter salads then have a go and I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
Thank you for reading my blog today.
I will be back on Monday at the usual time.
not just greenfingers 
Have never tried to grow winter salad, next year we shall try some in our greenhouse.
sue
Hi Sue. It’s not too late to sow some now and some nurserys sell winter lettuce plants if you don’t want the bother of sowing them now.
Thanks i will do that.
sue
I planted some around the same time and a slug has eaten them all. Boy do I hate slugs. I will be sowing some more this weekend!
Slugs are so annoying aren’t they and hated by every gardener I know, but they are also fascinating creatures. If you have five minutes have a look at a post I wrote last year about them-they are so interesting (bottom of the post): https://notjustgreenfingers.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/chocolate-courgette-traybake-potatoes-and-slugs/
We are still fighting the battle of the slugs ! I’m going to have to get my self a ‘pet’ hedgehog! Very interesting post .A bit of green salad is always welcome in the winter, especially when it’s so expensive in the shops I might try some Ive got a mesh tunnel & will try to remember to cover it with fleece if a frost is promised.
Carriet you have my deepest sympathy over the slugs! I live in Victoria, Australia, and I swear all the neighbourhoods slugs and snail masses originate from our back yard!!
Have a look above at my reply to ‘queen of string’ re the slug as they are so fascinating. That’s a good idea re your tunnel. I would leave the fleece over it all winter and not bother to remove it, just make sure there is enough ventilation so your lettuces don’t suffer with grey mould.
I have to say, yet again, that I am so jealous of your polytunnel! Everything looks so healthy in it. Do you water it by hand or do you have a sprinkler system set up? How often do you water?
Hi Mrs Yub. I am very lucky to have a polytunnel and even more luckier because it was left to me by my old allotment neighbour (though I would rather him still have an allotment as I do miss my chats with him, but he was elderly and it got too much for him).
I have four big water tubs that I use with my watering can, but in the hottest months I use a hosepipe connected to a sprinkler which saves me so much time. When it’s hot in summer I give it a good water every other day, but now it’s far less frequent.
Must admit we don’t grow much n the way of winter salads – we should really but to be really honest often we have a gardening break in winter.
I should really say an allotment break!
Lol, it is a well deserved break for you Sue as you work so hard all the other seasons.