January Greenhouse Tour

Today I want to give a virtual tour of our greenhouse and show what’s growing in there this January. I generally grow winter hardy greens and herbs plus brassicas like purple sprouting broccoli this time of year. Right now it is jam packed full of plants in containers and those planted in the u-shaped beds that run down both sides and the back of the greenhouse.

the greenhouse in January

I have herbs like cilantro, sage, mint and winter savory growing in containers to give us a few fresh herbs in the colder months.

And I have several parsley plants growing in the ground at one end of the greenhouse. All of these tolerate the cold winter conditions and do quite well for me.

parsley growing in bed

I’ve got Violetta pac choi and Central Red mizuna growing in containers. We mostly use these greens in salads and soups.

Central Red mizuna

The last few years I’ve had good luck growing purple sprouting broccoli in the winter greenhouse. I’ve already cut the main heads of the Burgundy broccoli, and the Santee variety is now heading up too. I have ten broccoli plants in the greenhouse beds, and they have sized up nicely since I planted them last October.

side shoots of Burgundy broccoli

Rudolph is a later variety, and the mix of the three should give us modest harvests of PSB through the month of March.

Rudolph broccoli

Kale is another brassica that does extremely well in the winter greenhouse. I’m growing Mars Landing and Purple Moon for the first time, and both have done well so far.

Mars Landing kale

Purple Moon kale

The other kale varieties I’m growing are old favorites like Western Front, True Siberian and Groninger Blue Collard-Kale. These three make tasty kale rapini when they start blooming in late winter and early spring.

True Siberian kale

I have a few lettuce plants growing at one end of the beds. Bergam’s Green has done quite well this winter, and Simpson’s Elite always does well for me. Slobolt is listed as a summer lettuce but I’ve found it tolerates colder conditions as well.

Bergam’s Green lettuce

I’ve got quite a bit of lettuce planted in my salad boxes. Sea of Red is my new favorite red leaf lettuce, and colors up quite nicely when grown in the greenhouse. We’ve been eating on the lettuce since late last year, and I’ve been replanting the bare spots with young seedlings as I harvest.

Sea of Red lettuce in salad box

I’ve also got several plants of green butter head lettuce growing in containers. Sometime I harvest just as they begin heading up, and sometime I let them go longer depending on what we need in the kitchen.

Mirlo lettuce

I hope you have enjoyed this look at what’s growing in the greenhouse in late January. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres – including Harvest Monday!