I recently was asked by a viewer on how I preserve all my food for winter, and so I thought I would make a video to outline my core strategy for preserving food for the cold and dark months that perhaps differs to most but works excellently if you have little time for your garden, especially trying to preserve everything in late summer to autumn. I hope that this gives you some food for thought regarding how you approach feeding yourself over the winter months. Of course I do do some traditional preserving methods, but this video shows my core way that eliminates a lot of hassle!
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Does anyone know a source of seed for this tree cabbage in the US? Thanks!
Totally agree. It's what I do except I grow and store potatoes, 2nd early Charlottes harvested in July and they store really well. The potato bed is then planted with leek transplants and brassicas; kale and Psb so it's full of food for winter and spring. Eating seasonally is such a joy!
Are all brassica flower shoots edible, or are there some exceptions?
Hello Huw thanks for all the tips at Min 8,51 what plant is it thanks alot
Does the tree cabbage need to be netted to keep caterpillars off, during the summer? You seemed to be suggesting that it doesn't get 'butterfly interest' like actual cabbages do. I use a 6 x 8 greenhouse frame covered in mesh as a brassica cage – would a tree cabbage need to go in there?
The living refrigerator. This is what I do too. Prep during spring and summer for abundance all winter.
Thanks, helpful to know how to cook some of these. Oka and Jerusalem Artichoke… beets. The greens! Kale.
I really like that aprouch, but also like to preserve food, mostly by fermenting, which is also good for our bodies
Our winter is hard and long. (No polytunnel). I can harvest kale for a long while but that's about it, and even that eventually gets buried under snow.
My favorite preserving lazy preserving method is "carry down to a box in the basement," which is partly why I love growing winter squash. I can eat them through April, into May.
your leeks look amazing!!
I love these ideas…and have tried them all (except tree collards which I would love!) . However we have super rats here and almost nothing survives in the garden 🙂
Because things freeze solid here, in winter, I look for crops that just need a root cellar:
Potatoes
Carrots
Turnip and Rutabaga
Beets
Parsnips
(Sunchokes can be dug when the ground thaws in spring)
Or in a pantry:
Winter squash
Pumpkin
There are some preservation I do Because the product I want is achieved in the preserving:
Bottled apple pie filling
Bottled berries
Pickles
I love canning and I love taking the food I grow and preserving it for the longer colder winter months. Nothing better than canned tomatoes from your own garden. I believe there is a place for both, preserving and growing into the winter months for fresh produce. I have not tried growing a three or four season garden where I live (zone 8b PNW) and there is great value in what you are saying Huw. I plan to look at my garden planner and see how I can utilize my garden to give me fresh produce year round. Thanks so much!
We do a hybrid thing of both putting up and fresh, but, fresh all year round is critical. Fresh is peak in vitamins and minerals, most people don't realize that these are the glue, that helps your body burn those calories more efficiently while keeping 'nutritional hunger' at bay, stopping the vicious eating cycle in it's tracks. In times where you have to make your money stretch, the more fresh you can incorporate, the more you keep in your bank account.
so do you plant winter crops in spring, summer or autumn?
The sooner I put up this greenhouse the sooner I can adopt the year-long grower lifestyle.
This is my first year beginning to explore winter gardening to see what can/can't grow in my cold zone 5 winters. Inspiring video of things to try!
Thank you so much for this video and for sharing these ideas. I often feel bad that I have a glut of some vegetable and don’t manage to preserve it for winter. I’m going to try to create a better balance of harvests year round using your approach.
I have grown a lot more winter crops this year. One advantage is I had less gluts this summer, but plenty to harvest from late spring and my freezer is full. A lot of the winter crops were second crops of the year. I have two full sized plots and about about a quarter of a plot is permanent crops like fruit. A quarter is over wintering crops for the spring harvest or cover crops. The remainder is winter crops, most, but not all the beds grew summer crops earlier in the year.
I love the idea of switching priorities and plantings. I live in south Texas and prefer my fall and winter gardening. For one thing it isn’t 100 degrees.
VERY helpful video Huw; tks!!! What is the New Zealond Tuber that you pointed out? Plz someone help me; I'm hearing impaired and cannot afford hearing aids.
Huw, I just planted seeds of New Zealand Spinach. Heard it's a valuable Leafy Green to grow. Wish me well 🙂
I like Eliot Coleman and his Four Season Harvest. He's in Maine so his environment is challenging
I sincerely appreciate your time given. The one thing I have found, living in the US, is that when I mention certain options, such as kale, the resident simply does not recognize the plant as a valuable commodity (edible or not) so that I must hide it within the scape.. Funny to say it in such a manner.
This makes perfect sense to me. I just wish I'd timed most of my Winter veg correctly. My first Winter growing season. We went from 110 degrees in Nor. California to mild Fall/Winter, I thought it was too hot to start my Winter crops. Now, I have very little to harvest while I wait on my veggies to grow.