Winter Salads Under Cloche

[Florence Fennel]

Hi Charles

Having followed your advice on winter salads, I have square metre bed of Grenoble Red lettuce, wild rocket, mizuna and Red Frills mustard under a (well-ventilated) cloche. They were all sown last September, and are now looking good after a number of small pickings. I was just wondering how long you would expect them to continue producing in the spring, and if you have any suggestions for what I should aim to follow them with? Also, should I remove the cloche at any point (and potentially replace it with fleece?), or leave it on for the duration?

[charles]

 Your salads sound healthy and productive; I would keep the cloche on untiil April, then give the whole area a good watering. Mizuna and mustards will probably be rising to flower by then, while the lettuce and wild rocket will keep producing leaves until June.  You could leave one lettuce to keep seed from in September, or remove all remaining plants to make way for June plantings of beetroot or french bean of fennel, leeks etc.

Lots of great possibilities.

[Florence Fennel]

Many thanks Charles, I’m impressed with the results so far, and definitely worth the effort of overwintering them if they will last that long. Think I may also have a go at seed saving as you suggest – certainly a variety worth preserving..

[Florence Fennel]

Hello

Following Charles’s advice above, I followed most of the lettuce with bulb fennel, leaving one Grenoble Red plant for seed saving. I’ve just upended this into a bucket and shaken off lots of ripe seeds…along with lots of little white maggoty grubs.

Any ideas whether the seed will be/have been affected, and (if not) suggestions for removing the grubs? I’m thinking I it may be possible just try to squish them into the bottom of the bucket, or maybe putting them in a sealed box the freezer might be effective (and less upleasant!)

[charles]

 I never had this (yet!), putting them in a deep freeze for a while sounds good. Then sow a few seeds to see how they grow, it is right time to sow them for winter under-cover.

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