My vegetable plot in winter. In this part of the UK it is possible to overwinter leeks and parsnips in the ground most years. So these remain now though most of it is cleared and dug. Interestingly I have read, that they were the main two vegetables grown in Western Europe during the middle ages, I wonder perhaps if it was for just that reason?
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7 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.is this because your soils don't perminately freeze during the winter?
BABSDAGGER
Level 5
Nov 18, 2018
0
Yes. Though they can take a fairly deep frost if it is not for days.
We can do the same down here in Devon in a normal year. Do your parsnip greens die back if you have a very cold snap?
CeliaVL
Level 7
Nov 18, 2018
1
Yes they do, in hard winters like 2010 / 11 even parsnips can be lost but that is rare. Hardiness here and maybe with you, is not so much about zones as rolls of the dice, I have known winters that killed conifers, and some when pelagoniums came through outside.
@Fernapple I agree. I have always found that Uk weather is so variable that you can have something which survives and even does well for years and then is suddenly killed off by an unusual event. With gobal warming we are told that extreme events will are likely to become more frequent, so forecasting weather that is already variable is going to become very difficult. The UK is not really big enough to have predictable zones like the USA.
What garden hardiness zone is your area 8a or 8b? Mine is a gardening zone of 6b (-20.6 to -17.8 degrees Celsius).
Can gladiolus come back year after year for you? I haven't planted any for a couple years and decided to invest my time with just dahlias.
flower_nut
Level 7
Nov 18, 2018
1
We don't really have the hardiness zones here, they do not work so well in Britain, though mine is said to be on the border of 8 and 9.
other winter greens that do well even here in Virginia are ; mustard greens and collard greens.. best in soups and other asian dishes.
Eldovis
Level 7
Nov 18, 2018
1
That's interesting I really like to find out about growing in other parts of the world. Having usually mildish winters here, we also over winter some cabbages of course though I do not have any this year, we also grow sprouts, which I love, and I have a good stand in another part of the garden.
I'm in Canada and I just pulled the last of my leeks this week, there are several inches of heavy snow on the ground and the only thing that was still alive in my garden were the leeks. Cockaleekie soup will be on the menu soon.
Surfpirate
Level 9
Nov 18, 2018
1
Nice, I love leeks in soup of any sort.
What are those flowers?
Zoohome
Level 8
Nov 18, 2018
1
Some late Chrisanthemums, we grow them round the vegetables, in the perhaps vain hope, that they will keep pests, especially insects away.
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