We had our first hard frost on Thursday and I woke to a sugared landscape dusted with ice crystals. These are the mornings we long for in winter, when the garden becomes like Narnia, frozen and glittering, the skeletons of plants magically transformed into icy sculptures and the still-standing grasses into petrified fountains.
Once I had taken my fill of the enchanted garden as the sun rose, I went down to the polytunnel to check on the vegetables we have growing down there. The polytunnel is located on the slope below the vegetable garden and, although it is well protected here from wind – Storm Bert last weekend caused no damage, but brought down a nearby tree – and is south-facing it is also far enough down the slope that by early afternoon, it is shaded from the winter sun by the tall poplars in the wood to the south. The crops inside are protected but, when a frost is particularly hard, the temperature within can still drop substantially and the soft-leaved salads and brassicas can suffer. The thermometer showed the night temperature had got down to -2°C, but there was very little sign of damage, just a few late seedlings burnt beyond resuscitation. Everything else had slumped, but ready to come back as soon as the temperature rose.
As the tomatoes start to slow down in late September one of my last jobs before we go on holiday is to sow nursery rows of winter greens between them. There are four beds and I sow spring cabbages for one, a variety of kales, collard and texsel greens for another and then winter lettuce and other salad leaves and herbs for the remaining two to see us through the cold months. On our return from holiday in mid-October I spent a weekend carefully removing the tomato, pepper and aubergine plants before transplanting the seedlings into their growing positions. This gives them just enough time before the days shorten and cool, to get their roots down. Ideally the seedlings would be a little further on than this, but in the past when I sowed into modules there are too many variables with watering, slug and mouse damage for this to be foolproof while on holiday. By sowing rows in the polytunnel I know I will have enough seedlings to allow for losses.
After a few years of experimentation I have settled on the following varieties for annual sowing. All are hardy under cover and some are even frost proof outside, although benefit from cloche cover if temperatures below -5°C are forecast. This selection has a good breadth of flavours and textures for a mixed salad and some of them, like the chards, pak choi, chicories and mustards are good to cook with as the plants mature and the leaves becomes less tender. At this time of year I will add young kale leaves to a salad selection, but am careful not to overpick, since these plants are really intended for very early spring greens.
Although it may seem too cold to be the case it is also possible to forage leaves from the surrounding fields and hedgerows to add to these salad leaves. As long as you pick the youngest, most tender leaves they are quite palatable, and add some vim to the leaves grown under cover which are softer. Just this morning I picked salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor) – which tastes of cucumber – dandelion, wild sorrel (Rumex acetosa), fool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum) – which tastes of carrot – and ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata). There is plenty of hairy bittercress coming up in the vegetable garden beds, which will get added to salads as I weed them out and, as the season progresses, leaves of fat hen (Chenopodium album) and sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) will join them.
As the festive season approaches and food gets heavier we try to ensure that a bowl of salad comes to the table for every meal. Nothing tastes better than fresh homegrown and foraged greens to freshen the table and the palate.
Words & photographs: Huw Morgan
Published 30 November 2024
