{"id":66,"date":"2008-01-15T09:23:12","date_gmt":"2008-01-15T15:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/gardenblog\/2008\/01\/15\/later-winter-seed-starting\/"},"modified":"2008-06-17T21:35:27","modified_gmt":"2008-06-18T02:35:27","slug":"later-winter-seed-starting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/2008\/01\/15\/later-winter-seed-starting\/","title":{"rendered":"Later Winter Seed Starting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I chose the seed varieties below for the late winter garden. I love the new Seeds of Change<\/a> seed packaging. It is much easier to use, waterproof, re-sealable, and environmentally friendly. The descriptions below were copied from the Seeds of Change web site (with a few comments added by me), and links are provided to each page for easy reference and ordering.<\/p>\n


\nRuby Orach (Mountain Spinach)<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

Atriplex hortensis
\nHeirloom; 4-6 ft. Hardy Annual<\/p>\n

Brilliant magenta mountain spinach, cultivated since at least last century. Quite striking, it makes a fine addition to salads. Magenta leaves turn green when cooked. Seeds are edible. Direct seed as soon as soil can be worked for early crop. Can be planted throughout summer for a later harvest. Harvesting tips: harvest young 2-3 in. leaves.<\/p>\n


\nAmerica Spinach<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

Spinacea oleracea
\n12-16 in. Hardy Annual<\/p>\n

Introduced in 1952, this variety has first-rate flavor. Thick, deep-green, savoy-leafed plant grows to a foot in width. Medium-to-slow bolting. Can be spring or fall sown and can overwinter with mulch Direct seed in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked for a spring crop, and in early August for harvest in the late fall. Enrich soil well with mature compost. Acidic soils will benefit from the addition of lime. Harvesting tips. Harvest leaves or the whole plant before it goes to seed.<\/p>\n


\nFour Seasons Lettuce<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

Lactuca sativa
\nHeirloom
\n6-10 in. head Hardy Annual<\/p>\n

A classic heirloom lettuce from France introduced before 1885, this round, red butterhead has incredible taste and reddish-brown outer leaves that cradle a creamy heart. Fast-maturing, all-season compact head. Easy to grow. Sow 2 seeds per inch directly into soil as soon as it begins to warm, 6-8 weeks before the last spring frost. For earlier plants, start indoors 4-6 weeks before transplanting into the garden. Enrich soil well with mature compost. Harvesting tips. Thin plants when they have 4 true leaves. Harvest outer leaves when young, entire head when mature.<\/p>\n


\nLittle Gem Lettuce<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

Lactuca sativa<\/p>\n

Diminutive, sweet romaine from England. Compact heads with dense, blanching hearts and fine long standing flavor. The small size and tight heavy heads are a real space saver. Thinned seedlings can be replanted. Keep soil evenly moist but not wet. Heat will cause lettuce to bolt, so plant in fall and winter in zones 8 and 9. Pick outer leaves as they grow or harvest all at once. Harvesting when weather or day temperature is cooler will result in crisper leaves.<\/p>\n


\nEmerald Oak Lettuce<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n

Latuca sativa
\n10″-14″ plant width Hardy Annual<\/p>\n

This unique cultivar forms a beautiful, compact rosette of oak-shaped leaves with sweet, succulent midribs. Leaf texture is between the standard oak leaf (crispy) and a butterhead (soft, buttery). Broad leaves fit nicely on a plate or sandwich. This is a long producing lettuce which is slow to bolt in the cool fall and spring months in Central Texas.<\/p>\n


\nGeorgia Southern Collar<\/strong>d<\/a><\/div>\n

Brassica oleracea
\n24-30″ Plant, 10-20″ Leaves
\nHardy Biennial<\/p>\n

Big, dark green, rounded, slightly savoyed leaves have a mild cabbage-like flavor that improves with a light frost. This variety does very well in Central Texas all winter long. It is extremely cold hardy once established, and is tasty steamed and in soups and stews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I chose the seed varieties below for the late winter garden. I love the new Seeds of Change seed packaging. It is much easier to use, waterproof, re-sealable, and environmentally friendly. The descriptions below were copied from the Seeds of Change web site (with a few comments added by me), and links are provided to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,18,20,21,22,27],"tags":[43,59,67,359,360,76,77,361],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-organic-gardening","category-plant-production","category-propagation","category-seed-starting","category-winter","tag-collards","tag-lettuce","tag-organic-vegetable-gardening","tag-propagation","tag-seed-starting","tag-seeds-of-change","tag-spinach","tag-vegetable-gardening"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phuiL-14","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostvalleygardens.com\/LVGblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}