“Salad, kale and beets are still going strong.”
As a newbie gardener, I’m wondering what to do with my Swiss chard that grew all through the summer and adolescent-aged romaine and butter lettuce and cilantro I planted towards the end of summer.
They are all ok right now, but we have some nights ahead dipping below freezing, the lowest 23. I cover them with sheets on the below 32 nights, and I’ve mulched around them heavily.
But I don’t know when to quit all this and just harvest them all. The lettuces are growing slowly, but the cilantro and chard are surprisingly growing well.
note to self - plant Swiss chard next year - it grew great in all temperatures and freezes well!
Winter greens I just let em grow and pick as needed. Most of it I don’t even bother to cover.
The kale can take some really cold temps. If it gets down to 25 deg the beet tops will fold up. I’ll pull a few of those later today and make some fresh buttered beets for supper tonight.
This is the first time I’ve tried chard in the fall. So far it has handled several nights in the upper 20s with no damage. It’s also the first time I’ve tried fall radishes. They are doing way better than they typically do in the springtime here.
I also have some volunteer cilantro and fennel out there that is doing really well.
I guess the best answer to your question is stick with what you’re doing as long as it’s working and you still feel like messing with it.
How cold are your winter lows? I would look for some old blankets to cover them at night
I take my extra chard, coarsely chop and lightly saute in some olive oil in a covered skillet. I let cool and use my foodsaver vacuum sealer to bag up and freeze it in small portions, like for a pizza topping, or to add to some rice or pasta. Have many bags of that and baby bok choi in the freezer. Very handy to use and good nutrition.