Millie preps the beds for winter and gives us tips on how to keep the cool season’s produce coming. Subscribe http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Every moment in the garden is beautiful. There’s always something to stop to see and of course to revere. But as that gentle decline into autumn starts that slippery, icy slope into the depths of winter, there is also some work to do. At the peak of summer, after a glut of zucchini, it can be hard to think that you’d ever have a slow moment in the garden, but when the cooler weather begins to bite, you need to garden smart to keep the produce coming. Millie’s here to show us how to work with what you’ve got to get the most out of a winter crop.
Understand your plants:
Broccoli has loads of different cultivars and hybrids. Depending on the variety, some may produce one good flowerhead, which once cut won’t produce another flower. You can of course eat the leaves. ‘Marathon’ will continue to sprout side shoots after harvesting the main flower head and are well worth keeping in the ground over winter. ‘Spigariello’ is a sprouting type of broccoli with long thin delicious leaves, and cutting the tips regularly stimulates the plant to produce lots of tiny florets which can be harvested late into the winter.
Work with the weeds:
A useful tip to ensure you eat well through winter is to take note of anything that’s grown particularly well. In the winter, Millie says her “most common weed” in the garden is celery. Instead of pulling it out on sight, Millie waits until the plant is too big for the bed and harvests it for use in the kitchen. Another is coriander which can be a winter herb. Millie says the common issue is timing and that if planted when it’s too warm may cause it to bolt to flower. Millie suggests growing in batches every few weeks toward the end of summer and into autumn to create a succession crop and to assess which timing suits your climate best. With this method, Millie continues harvesting through winter and freezes any excess for later use.
Feed your food:
To keep the harvest coming right through winter you need to feed your soil, but when soil is cold, some nutrients may be hard for the plans to access. A quick way for plants to access nutrients is through the foliage. Add a cap full of liquid fertiliser to a watering can every couple of weeks and apply to the leafy greens.
Green Manure:
Another way to ensure you’re replenishing nutrients to the soil is to use a green manure. This is a method of using living plants in the same way you would animal manures or compost. Legumes such as peas and broad beans are a common choice because they fix nitrogen into the soil with the help of bacteria which affix to their roots. You can also incorporate any out-of-date seeds you might have in your collection such as mustard or other brassicas. Old seeds often have less viability, but if some of them sprout they’re better off improving your soil than sitting sadly on the shelf. Mix seed with soil for easy sowing.
Millie prepares the bed by raking back all the old straw and working across the surface with a fork to loosen the soil. Sprinkle the seed mix over the soil and give it a gentle tease to work it into the surface before watering in. The seeds will germinate and grow relatively slowly over the following months, but they’ll be doing good work while they’re there. When they’ve grown to knee height, you can chop them back down and work them into the soil to add more nutrients, and because they’re edible, you can harvest some for yourself, too. Getting extra value out of a piece of real estate in the winter garden is always worthwhile.
Featured Plants:
BROCCOLI ‘MARATHON’ – Brassica oleracea cv.
BROCCOLI ‘SPIGARIELLO’ – Brassica oleracea cv.
CELERY – Apium graveolens cv.
CORIANDER – Coriandrum sativum
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