Using the Allotment during the winter months
There are some really robust vegetables that can put up with our cold winters, ensuring that you have a supply of vegetables throughout the winter months. Try Brussels sprouts, kale, leeks, parsnips and cabbage.
- Brussels sprouts are a classic for Christmas and can withstand harsh winter weather in situ.
- Kales will produce greens all winter and later a flush of tasty shoots that are very welcome stir-fried in late winter or spring; they make brilliant bubble and squeak. They are also very ornamental.
- Leeks look a bit sick after sharp frosts but rebound, growing slowly all winter.
- Modern hybrid Savoy and other winter cabbages are also remarkably hardy, shrugging off frost, and are very tasty. To save space they can be sown after over-wintered crops of broad beans or early peas and potatoes.
- Parsnips are resistant to frost.
- Purple ‘Cape’ cauliflowers produce small heads in February.
- Sprouting broccoli shrugs off hard weather and, whenever the air warms in late winter, develops delicious shoots that go on for weeks.