The Winter Garden

Elm Street Gardens Hoop House in Winter

So often, we think of winter as a bleak, bare time in the garden when everything is brown and dead.  But I am pleased to report that Elm Street Gardens does not “die” in the winter.  It just changes.  And it is not dead and brown; it is very much alive and green.  There are the lovely soft greens of the lettuces, the smoky greens of collards, the colorful greens of Swiss Chard and the hardy greens of turnips and cabbages.  And then there is the broccoli . . .

How can you ask for a time when there is more green in the garden?  Maybe we’ll save the answer for that until the spring when there are new delights in the garden to be enjoyed. 

Now in January, we are in the depths of the winter days.  And here we are still growing and going strong with all our winter greens.  This is the time in middle Georgia for lovely salad greens. We protect those from the more intemperate days with plantings in our hoop houses and row covers outside.  Lettuces and broccoli and a number of other winter greens just do not like the heat of summer so now is our time to grow and enjoy those greens.

This winter we have been especially delighted with the wonderful new Elm Street Gardens Salad Mix we have created from a variety of baby greens that we plant and harvest weekly in one of our hoop houses.  It is a mix of cress, kale, red mustard, arugula and mizuna. You need to try a few bites of it without any dressing on it and savor the flavor in this mix of greens.  Add some of your favorite dressing and our baby carrots and radishes and it will be a salad to be remembered.