What to plant in veggie patch over winter?

tmq

Hi, I'm about to pull out my peas, beetroot and fennel from the veggie patch.

I think there's a few daffodil bulbs in there, but any ideas what would be good to plant for a bit of interest until next spring? A bit of colour would be great (though hard over winter I know!)

Thanks

Springwell

We keep a few veg going over winter - carrots, parsnips, turnips, cabbage and black kale are all fully hardy. Swiss chard is too. Rainbow chard will take light frosts and add some color. I plant broadbeans now (Aquadulce Claudia) for early spring harvesting. We have leeks, onions and winter potatoes in also.

laoch na mona

over wintering cabbage and autumn planted garlic are two I'm hoping to try this year, I've never grown veg in winter before I'm basing my choices off advice from others

randomuser2013

I'm new to the board and moved house over the summer, gaining a conservatory. I moved at the end of June so it was too late to put much in besides herbs, mainly parsley, basil, cilantro, rosemary and tarragon, which I grow for my rabbits.

Over the last couple of weeks I have sown land cress, oat grass, oriental salad (Pak Choi colour crunch), mountain spinach, erba stella and romaine lettuce. In Sept I'm going to put in some Celtuce (Wo Sun), Lettuce (Valdor), Corn Salad (Valdor) and Red Russian Kale. Hoping to keep it all going over the winter and add successive sowings. I get my seeds by post from Seedaholic.

tmq

Some good ideas there, thanks a lot.

i've only started this year, and its amazing how many options there are for things to plant!

cobham

I think it is good advice not to leave the soil bare over winter. You can sew a 'greencrop' that is dug into the soil in spring and improves it but it also stops the rain washing the goodness out of soil. Not sure if you can buy such seed in ordinary garden outlet??

Springwell

You can - they're usually labelled as green manure. We are using crimson clover this year.

randomuser2013

Yeah, there is also forage peas. I picked up a pack from Seedaholic. Not only will they improve the soil, but the pet rabbits can eat the shoots so it is win win, especially as the rabbit manure is going back into the soil.