Protecting root and stem crops with a thick, insulating blanket of winter mulch is the easiest – and cheapest – way to stretch your homegrown harvest into January and February. You don’t need to buy or build any structures like cold frames or mini hoop tunnels, and you can typically source your mulching material for free by using chopped leaves or straw. It’s a technique I talk about in my books, The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener and Growing Under Cover: Techniques for a More Productive, Weather-Resistant, Pest-Free Vegetable Garden.
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Cherry tomato round-up
Every year I grow several different varieties of cherry tomatoes in my garden, and at the end of the growing season, I compare each cherry tomato variety for production and disease resistance. I take careful notes on which varieties are most prolific, which seem to out-grow the blight, and which withstand summer droughts with nary a wilted leaf. Then I decide which ones make the grade and earn a spot on my “favorites” list. Here’s the skinny on a few of this year’s superstar cherry tomatoes from my garden.
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Asters: Perennials with a late-season punch
Asters are hands-down my favorite fall-blooming plants. These colorful, pest-resistant, and late-flowering perennials are perfect for gardens in areas where winter temperatures dip as low as -30 degrees F. There are about ninety species of aster native to North America, many with dozens of named cultivars, varieties, and subspecies. They range from one to four feet in height and vary in color from pink and purple, to red, white, lavender, and blue. The choices are dizzying!
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Growing Celeriac
With a show of hands, how many of you have ever grown celeriac, also known as celery root? Hmm, I don’t see a lot of hands. Why not? Celeriac, often described as knobby or (gasp!) ugly, seems to be a rather under-appreciated root vegetable, but it truly is a superstar in my winter garden. However, growing celeriac is a long term commitment as it takes around four months to go from seed to harvest. But, trust me, it’s worth it. Celeriac lasts all winter long, offering its rounded roots until we finally run out sometime in late March.
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Make salsa verde with your bumper crop of tomatillos
Several years ago, I discovered how easy it is to grow tomatillos. It’s almost too easy (as long as you have more than one plant)! That first growing season, I had such an abundance of the husk-covered fruits, I couldn’t keep up with the harvest. I happened to discover a timely salsa verde recipe in a magazine and I’ve been making it ever since. I’ve adapted the recipe over the years to tweak the flavor. If I want it to be tangier, I leave the honey out. For extra spice, I’ll play with the amount of hot peppers I add. This recipe is so easy to make, there is barely any prep involved.
Any extra salsa that can’t be eaten right away is frozen. It’s exciting to pull it out to thaw over the winter months. Salsa verde is delicious on tacos, burrito bowls, and enchiladas, or spooned over chicken and fish.
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Rudbeckias: Powerhouse plants!
Rudbeckias are some of the most robust and attractive plants around. They are no-fuss plants that require little more than average soil and full sun. The pollen and nectar of these plants support many different pollinators and beneficial insects (yay!!). North America hosts many native species of Rudbeckia and I seem to love them all. In my own garden, I grow no less than six different types of Rudbeckias. Here are five of my favorites:
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