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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Chow / Life / The Weather Winter Gardening in the Mild Pacific Northwest

Posted by Goldy on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 4:33 PM

Goldy | The Stranger
Think maybe I waited too long to harvest all that kale and collards?

You know all that stuff I wrote about the joys of winter vegetable gardening in our mild maritime Pacific Northwest climate. Yeah... well... not so much.

I haven't had the nerve to peek inside the plastic cold frame protecting my lettuce—don't want to compromise the insulation—but I'm pretty sure I won't have edible leaves when they thaw out. As for the mustard, collards, and kale, well, we'll see.

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Comments (17) RSS

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Say that reminds me, the best part of this winter storm, no episodes of Gardening Wish Sisko on KING5. Ive never had to make a running leap for the remote control to change the channel before im turned to stone by the sound of his cocaine induced over enthusiastic voice.

Posted by Kinison

on January 19, 2012 at 4:45 PM

Is it wrong to mix Pyramid Hefewizen with Widmer Brothers Hefewizen?

Posted by Kinison

on January 19, 2012 at 4:47 PM

I was actually wondering about this.

Posted by biffp on January 19, 2012 at 4:52 PM

Maybe you should have grown iceberg lettuce?

Posted by scratchmaster joe on January 19, 2012 at 4:52 PM

You may be surprised, Goldy. I've seen a lot of lettuces do very, very well in cold frames like yours even after pretty hard freezes and snow/ice combos here in Cincinnati. I think your kale & hardy greens should be fine. Fingers X'ed! Let us know how it works out.

Posted by emma's bee on January 19, 2012 at 5:08 PM

Next year: Brussels Sprouts. Them shits'll survive anything AND taste delicious afterward!

Posted by laterite on January 19, 2012 at 5:42 PM

I thought kale and swiss chard were "better after the first frost".

/not a gardener

Posted by MLM on January 19, 2012 at 5:49 PM

I think the kale and chard should be fine and the lettuce might make it.

Posted by another southend gardener on January 19, 2012 at 5:53 PM

I've got my lemon tree outside under a cloche, and I'm not worried. But then again, the hot water heater vent is also under the cloche.

Posted by Greg Barnes on January 19, 2012 at 5:55 PM

snow is pretty good insulator, no?

Posted by tedwardma on January 19, 2012 at 5:57 PM

@7 - they are. The kale will be great, and will probably overwinter just find. We were picking ours still here in Wisconsin not that long ago, although admittedly the snow took its damn time.

The lettuce might die. That's one reason of many why you should grow spinach.

Posted by STJA on January 19, 2012 at 6:22 PM

@7: There's a difference between a "frost" and a hard freeze. We'll see.

Posted by Goldy on January 19, 2012 at 6:22 PM

Aw good work getting as much as you can out of the ground, Goldy, regardless if anything makes it.

I'm hoping for your kale. The collards bite it a little sooner than the kale.

Posted by onion on January 19, 2012 at 7:13 PM

All is not lost on the lettuce front. You may not be able (or want) to actually eat it as lettuce but, if you shred it and add it to a variety of chunky or puréed soups, you'll find the lettuce adds an incredible sweetness to the end result.

Posted by Helenka (also a Canuck) on January 19, 2012 at 8:17 PM