Fresh lettuce in January - thanks to our row coverings! Using the technique outlined in an earlier post - using rebar, PVC pipe and plastic sheeting to make mini-greenhouses over our beds - we have been expanding our winter gardening ideas, and are now harvesting sweet, succulent lettuce in the middle of winter!
Reading this mid-winter, you might look out at the pouring rain, and think, "No way I'll garden in the winter!" But it's actually easier than in the summer! Weed, prepare, and seed the beds in late August (earlier for the broccoli and other brassicas), and build the row covers. In the first few weeks we watered a little, using a drip hose - but once the fall rains come, the ground gets so saturated, you don't even have to water all winter!
Here's one covered bed, taken in late December, with various lettuces and other greens:
We've also been able to harvest sprouting broccoli (in the foreground) and kale throughout the winter - rather than only in early spring. And out in the uncovered garden, our cabbages are overwintering as usual.
I'm also throwing in a photo of our covered garden last August. We built a super-sized cover (really, an ad hoc greenhouse) over some of our tomatoes, to protect them from the blight. The greenhouse spanned two 5-foot wide garden beds with a path between - and was high enough to stand up in. We left the ends open so it wouldn't get too hot or humid in there, but even so, the added heat really sped up the tomato ripening. Lazy about weeding, we also grew an extraordinary crop of chickweed beneath the tomato plants. We fed it to the chickens, of course!
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