The Deep Mulch Midwinter Garden

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When we finally sat down to munch on the tiny, incredibly delicious greens that resulted from our first experiment, we knew we'd never again have to depend on "the system" for our vegetables. We im mediately set about organizing and planting a garden that would supply us with fresh food every day of the year.

SIX SUCCESS TIPS

Now—after a half-decade's education in the science of cultivating a vegetable plot while snow is on the ground—we've reduced our technique to six basic procedures that any gardener can follow to insure a bountiful midwinter harvest. Of course, if you live in a milder climate than ours, you may find some of the precautions unnecessary (although they would certainly provide a measure of insurance against an unexpected cold snap).

[1] Select the hardiest vegetables you can find . All members of the Brassica genus are good candidates for a winter garden ... including white and red cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, brussels sprouts, collards, and kale. We're still test-planting such cultivars (by setting out two varieties of each vegetable every year) to determine which are hardiest, tastiest, and most productive.

Root crops that can be winter-gardened successfully include carrots, turnips, and beets. We've even chopped parsnips out of frozen earth and served them minutes later, steaming and delicious! In late winter, beets do sometimes turn "woody". . . but when they do, they'll also send out edible red and green leaves, which we pick for February salads.

We enjoy other fresh greens all winter, too ... by concentrating on the hardiest varieties of turnip, mustard, and spinach. As a rule, leafy crops require more protection than do root vegetables . . . but even when some of a plant's leaves are accidentally blackened by frost, the surviving foliage can be picked and savored. We've also found that Swiss chard will live through surprisingly low temperatures, especially if it's been hardened by the milder frosts of early autumn.

Furthermore, many lettuce varieties are even more cold-hardy than is chard. The Nearings taught us—in their book Building and Using Our Sun-Heated GreenHouse — to seek out the varieties with reedy stems. (Those that are tender and bulging with water will freeze readily . . . and that destroys nutrient-bearing cells, causing the plant to rot.) Oak Leaf and Black-Seeded Simpson are our lettuce standbys.

Most types of onions are well suited to winter gardening. We particularly like green onions (which actually thrive under snow), garlic, shallots, and leeks. Other promising varieties are chives and rocambole, a European leek.

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