It’s busy in the kitchen garden

There is a misconception that this time of year is spent just harvesting and not planting seeds “nothing grows in winter” I’ve heard many a time. The trouble is, I believed it until I tried planting lettuce and a few others over winter.

The benefits of planting now, is there are still a few growing months, where the seedlings get enough time to mature enough to stand the frosts and snow. They can be picked if needed or left until spring when they have a two month headstart. Early spring cabbage, lettuce and greens, all out in the open, without a poly tunnel or greenhouse.

Harvesting is a joy and sometime takes a bit of organising to make the most of it as once harvested most vegetables deteriourate in quality. What can you do with a glut? Beans you can leave on the plant to ripen and used as dried beans. All the root veg like carrots and beetroot can be left in the ground or put in a clamp – basically buried in sand and protected from frost. Spinach can be blanched, sliced and frozen, it does not take up too much space. There are other options, pickling and fermenting, both pretty easy but you need bottles and space to store them. Dehydrating is another option, it is possible to make a DIY dehydrator with a lightbulb and some wire racks in a cardboard box, although it sounds like a fire hazard to me. You can alway make jams, chutneys, syrups and the like, the internet is filled with recipes. Prepper web sites are great for ideas.