Troy, from I Refuse to Recede, shared a post on how to start an herb garden yesterday. Growing your own herbs, fruits, and vegetables is a great way to enjoy real food, for less. As Tami, from Butter My Kitchen, pointed out in the comments, even buying small potted herbs saves money over buying fresh cut herbs from the grocery store.
I am anxious for gardening season. This weekend I will start my seeds in my mini-greenhouses. But I have been growing greens in my garden all winter! This winter has been warmer than usual; I believe our low for the year is 5 degrees, but I have had greens survive even colder temperatures. As Troy commented on one of my posts, snow is a good insulator. I pushed back the snow to harvest some greens and thought I would give you a peek at what I am growing.
I discovered that spinach and other greens, like kale, could survive our harsh winters on accident. Several years ago, I planted a garden for my kids’ guinea pigs and bearded dragon. I harvest all of our vegetables before our first snow but did not have time to get to the “pet garden”. Miraculously the plants not only survived the snow, they survived the winter providing our pets with fresh greens all winter long. Now I leave the family greens in the ground through out the winter as well.
Even though parsley leaves do not respond well to the snow, the plants do not die. I harvest as much as I need before a snowstorm, because I might have to wait a little while for new growth if the plants are covered in snow for too long.
I planted a dozen Swiss Chard plants in the fall. I pick the leaves all winter. Once it warms up these plants will take off and I will have trouble keeping up with their production.
Many people consider dock to be a weed. You can call it what you like, but it is an edible perennial, and a hardy one at that! I intentionally cultivate Patience Dock in my garden. If you would like to forage for dock, here is a guide from Hunger and Thirst.
This post is linked to Fight Back Friday.
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Christy says
Thanks Alea – I just have no garden sense whatsoever!
Alea says
Christy, The only plants that I cover with straw are my strawberries. The only thing that I have to remember to do is water them if we go through a dry and/or warm spell, meaning over 50 degree daytime temps and over a week w/o precipitation.
Christy says
How interesting Alea – I want to try this next year – Do you cover it with straw or anything? Hmm. (I do not have a green thumb AT.ALL!!
Miriam says
How interesting! I really like strawbery and spinach salads, so I might really like this one too :), Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
The Book Lady Online says
Gardening is such fun!! I love how you plant things that winter over well. Its fun, healthy and saves grocery money 🙂
Alea says
It will be intteresting to hear how the leeks do. My guess is they will get a little mushy and then divide like onions. Let me know, I love gardening experiments. 🙂 Now, I am off to tweet your real food Deal.
Barb @ A Life in Balance says
I haven't had a chance to read the herb garden post (I found you by way of Real Food Wednesday), but we've had an herb garden as part of our flower beds for years. The only herb that I need to replant occasionally is bay. Sometimes the winter here is so harsh that the bay doesn't survive, but we keep trying. 🙂
The only plants I left in my veggie garden this year were the leeks. I'm not sure if they'll be any good. I have left kale in the garden and found that it survived the winter.