How to Choose Lettuce Seeds to Plant in a Winter Garden or Cold Frame
Start with a well sunny southern exposure. This can be just a garden plot in the south, or a cold frame in the colder climates.
Determine the plant varieties that you want to grow. Winter gardening does limit plant selection. But you will have success if you limit yourself to Lettuce, Spinach, Chard, Pac choi – and just for fun – include an herb or two.
Purchase seeds online that are cold hardy, also known as cold tolerant. When purchasing locally at your garden center you may be limited by 1. how knowledgeable the local staff is on winter variety selections 2. single brand of seeds with whom they have a purchase contract.
Choose a Winter Hardy Seed variety:
Lettuce:
Buttercrunch
Deer Tongue
Green Ice
Spinach:
Space Hybrid
Melody Hybrid
Pac Choi:
Tatsoi
Toi Choi
Chard:
Any variety!
Kale:
Siberian Kale (red color is wonderful!)
Collards:
Champion
Mustard:
Chinese Thick-Stem
Herbs:
Parsley – any variety!
Watercress – any variety!
Things You’ll Need:
-Sunny garden patch in south.
-Cold frames in moderate climates where the coolest nights are in the 20′s.
-Coldframe with small heat source where the temperatures dip into the teens.
Tips & Warnings
Use Kale, Collards and Mustard Pac Choi in soups and stir fries
Use Lettuce, Spinach, Watercress in salads and on sandwiches
Use Parsley in everything, or harvest enough to chop finely, place in a small glass bowl on the table with a sugar spoon and invite your guests to sprinkle over their dinner (They will be impressed in February!)
Enjoy your sustainable, green lifestyle!
Written by Stratus
