Get sowing now for a winter salad bowl full of leaves

WHEN THE wind roars and howls and the rain patters down, hopes of having a productive and ornamental winter vegetable garden can seem not just impractical, but even a touch fanciful. It would be far easier, many of us gardeners might think, to let the kitchen garden slumber peacefully from now until next spring, while we wait it out for the beginning of another “proper” growing season.

Yet for those who are prepared to set aside a small corner of their vegetable garden (or even a few large pots or containers) for winter crops, there’s still much that can be planted as young module-raised plants or sown this month to bring a burst of seasonal freshness to the autumn and winter dinner table.

As long as you are willing to take the tiniest of gambles regarding the vagaries of the Irish autumn and winter, the possibilities include Swiss chard, winter-hardy lettuces, late-cropping or spring-cropping carrots, spring cabbages, scallions, annual spinach, chicory, rocket, quick-growing oriental greens such as mizuna, mibuna, mustards, tatsoi and pak choi, decorative kales and even edible, colourful flowers such as winter pansies.

While it’s true that such a winter potager won’t achieve the leafy, lush abundance of its summer equivalent, and that the more vulnerable plants will benefit hugely from the protection of a cloche, a miniature hoop-house or even a few layers of horticultural fleece, just think for a moment of the almost exotic pleasures of a winter salad bowl filled with a selection of home-grown, colourful baby leaves and flowers.

Even a handful of inky violet and golden-yellow pansy flowers, some brightly coloured lettuce and oriental leaves, some peppery rocket, corn salad, a few baby chard leaves (some with a canary-yellow midrib, others deep red) and the gently frilled, baby leaves of ragged Jack kale will add variety, texture, colour and flavour to any salad. Or what about the delights of baby carrots (look out for the fast-cropping variety Nantes Frubund), or onions, cabbages and early cauliflowers sown or planted now to harvest next year? If that all sounds rather tempting, then here’s a more detailed look at a few of the stars of the winter pot or potager.

Oriental Vegetables

The varietal names of many of these leafy salad plants give a clue to their ever-increasing popularity; mustard golden streaks, ruby streaks, red and green frills, red giant, Osaka and green in the snow are all highly ornamental, colourful and tasty additions to the winter salad bowl as are the decorative leaves of mibuna and mizuna.

There’s still plenty of time to sow seeds of these very hardy and rapid-growing salad crops outdoors, either into a pot or into modules for later planting outdoors. There’s also just about enough time to sow or plant young module-raised pak choi, komatsuna and tatsoi outdoors. Most good seed suppliers such as Suttons (suttons.co.uk) or Thompson Morgan (thompson-morgan.com) offer an attractive range and mix of varieties but if you’re interested in growing more hard-to-get varieties, take a look at Kings (kingsseeds.com), Wild Garden Seed in Oregon (wildgardenseed.com), Richters in Toronto (richters.com) and CN Seeds in the UK (cnseeds.co.uk).

Thin out seedlings after they have germinated to avoid plants getting straggly, watch out for stray weeds, give plants protection against cold winds and icy weather, and harvest individual leaves using the cut-and-come again method.

Swiss chard

The jewel-like prettiness of Swiss chard bright lights is a wonderful sight in any garden or even when used in a pot or container. Its crumpled, glossy leaves and brightly coloured midribs (silver, yellow, ruby-red pink, orange) are a lovely addition to either a salad or a stir-fry. The last sowing date for outdoor crops has passed but you can still pick up module-raised plants in good garden centres relatively cheaply.

Treat it as a cut-and-come again crop, protect from cold winds and frost, and pick individual leaves while they are still young, tender and packed full of vitamins.

Kales

Used in soups, stir fried, steamed or eaten raw (in this case, use only the babiest of the baby leaves), kale is a versatile, tasty and ultra-hardy but somehow still slightly despised leafy vegetable. My favourite is ragged Jack kale (also known as red Russian), a highly ornamental kale with lacy grey-green leaves distinguished by their pink midrib and their tendency to turn a lovely shade of lavender in cool weather.

Technically the last sowing for outdoor crops was earlier this month but it’s still worth sowing seeds into modules to plant outside later this month as a baby crop (in this case, protect with fleece). As with Swiss chard, you can pick up young plants in a good garden centre.

Lettuce

Lettuce is what’s known as a cool-season crop and, while hardy winter varieties will struggle in unusually harsh weather (the last few winters being a good example), they do surprisingly well in a more typical Irish autumn and winter if given a sheltered, south-facing sunny spot. While there’s still just enough time to module-sow varieties such tango, Belize, Nymans and lolla rossa types for later planting outdoors, it’s also well worth considering buying a few trays of lettuce plugs. If they are planted now into large pots or a sunny, raised bed, you should be able to use them as cut-and-come again plants within three to four weeks. There’s also still time to sow seed of corn salad (also known as lamb’s lettuce) outdoors.

Pansies

A few winter pansies will add colour and life to even the smallest winter vegetable plot, while the edible flowers look exquisite in a salad. Also consider using these dainty, long-flowering little bedding plants in a large pot and planted among a mixture of leafy salad crops as a kind of miniature winter potager that will look and taste beautiful.

In this case, forget normal recommended planting spaces and plant more densely using a very good quality compost. Remember also that such pot-grown plants need extra protection from freezing temperatures as their root systems are more exposed than those growing in the ground. Give the pot a sunny, south-facing spot, ideally with the further protection of a wall or fence, and don’t over-water. In severe winter weather consider swaddling the pot in bubble-wrap or blankets, while even in moderately cold or windy weather the plants will benefit hugely from one or even two layers of well-secured garden fleece.

* Hunting Brook Gardens is holding a mushroom hunting day next Sunday from 10.15am to 5pm with Louis Smith, a lecturer in professional cookery who specialises in the area of edible mushrooms. Cost is €90 (50 per cent payable to book and final 50 per cent on day of the course). The hunt will take place in the woods around Hunting Brook and nearby woods near Blessington, Co Wicklow. See huntingbrook.com for details.

* The OPW’s Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Café and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4pm

* Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer

WHAT TO: sow, plant and do now

Sow:outdoors in pots or modules, for later planting in the tunnel or greenhouse, or direct sow there now if not too hot: Cabbages Greyhound and leafy non-hearting spring types, carrots, kales such as cavalo nero, dwarf green curled and ragged Jack (red Russian) for baby leaves, lettuces, lamb's lettuce (corn salad), endives, Swiss chards, leaf beets, beetroot Bull's blood, McGregor's favourite, peas, claytonia, American landcress, leaf chicories, rocket, brocoletto cima di rapa, oriental greens such as mizuna, pak choi, choy sum, mustards, komatsuna, tatsoi, summer turnips, summer spinach, salad onions, leafy salad mixes, coriander, chervil, parsley and broad-leaved sorrel. Covering with a fine frame will give seedlings protection. Be extra careful with the watering and ventilation of seedlings in damp autumn air.

Outdoors: sow in modules, in a seed bed for transplanting, or in situwhere they are to crop, possibly to cover with cloches or frames later in autumn: Early summer cauliflowers for next year, brocoletto cima di rapa, early Nantes-type carrots for a late autumn crop, cabbages, leaf chicories, endives, salad onions, claytonia, lamb's lettuce, American landcress, winter lettuces, kales, rocket, summer spinach, Swiss chard and leaf beets, oriental greens such as choy sum, pak choi, mibuna, mizuna, mustards red and green frills, Chinese kale, komatsuna, and fast-maturing salad leaf mixes. Sow green manures such as alfalfa, red clover, mustard (a brassica so watch rotations) field beans, fenugreek and Hungarian grazing rye, to improve soil, "lock-up" carbon and feed worms (digging them in later after the first frosts, then covering to protect soil, preventing nutrient loss and possible pollution), on any empty patches of ground cleared of crops that won't be used over winter.

Do:Continue hand-weeding, hoeing, watering young module or container plants. Plant out well-established, module-raised plants, continue to feed pumpkins with a liquid feed high in potash, check that protective netting (Bionet) against carrot fly, cabbage root fly, cabbage white butterfly is firmly in place (inspect for eggs and caterpillars also), check supports for tall plants, (beans, peas, tomatoes continue to nip out side shoots), protect vulnerable crops against slug and snail damage, continue harvesting and storing produce, prune out old, fruited canes of summer raspberries and tie in foliage to supports.

* All sowing details courtesy of Nicky Kyle at nickykylegardening.com