Veggies in Winter

I used to be happy when the gardening season was over for the winter. It just gets to damn cold in Switzerland. Looking at frozen radiccio and harvesting brussel sprouts in subzero temperatures is just no fun at all.

Here I finally live in a part of the world where even in winter things actually grow in the garden. Things like lettuce, peas, broad beans, spinach, cabbages, etc. can be sown or planted in the fall and become ready to eat in March. How great is that!? Added advantage: in winter cabbages and beans don’t get attacked by aphids or caterpillars.

I even tried setting potatoes in the fall for a spring crop (I had read about it in some blog…). But alas, potatoes are too susceptible to frost and -2℃ in March killed off the young foliage despite a fleece on top (Note: they did came back in the summer…).