January is a Busy Time in the Garden
Lorie Hammond, UC Master Gardener, Yolo County 2024
As the tender of a four-seasons kitchen garden, I find winter a surprisingly busy time. I do not plant in December or January, because it is too cold and wet for seeds to germinate. However, if a fall-winter garden has been planted, and especially if you have citrus trees, there is much going on at this time. This is also a good time to start seeds indoors for summer crops, although that is not the topic of this article.
While garden beds are dormant in colder climes, the Sacramento Valley has perfect conditions for fall-winter gardening. It is a luxury to be able to garden without watering. This affords the gardener more freedom, providing time to read a book by the fire while the plants grow themselves. The key to a fall-winter garden is to plant it in the fall, by October, so that vegetables are established and can be thinned and eaten as they mature during the winter, then have their final burst in early spring. A second round of winter-spring crops can also be planted in February for late spring consumption.
For those used to agriculture, growing a seasonal edible garden involves a shift in thinking. Broccoli is an example. The broccoli we buy as seeds or starts is set up to produce a lot of broccoli heads at once, and then to be pulled out for other crops. Having many broccoli heads at once enables people to sell broccoli as a crop. But as edible gardeners, we do not want forty broccolis in the same week. Instead, we might plant six broccolis in early October, then six more in late October. Most importantly, once we harvest the central broccoli head, we keep the plants growing, harvesting side shoots of broccolini many times before they flower. This extends our broccoli season and makes it easy to whip up stir fries and other dishes any day you want them. The same logic holds for other crops. We can plant lettuce or other greens close together, then harvest the baby lettuces many times as they grow bigger and bigger, ending with large heads of lettuce just before they go to seed in spring. A winter garden is most bountiful when approached this way. The garden will grow very slowly in December and January, so it is important to get the crops started by October. They will begin to grow before it gets really cold and can be harvested as young plants during the winter.
Every late afternoon, at about 4:30 on these short days, I go outside to put away my chickens for the evening and to pick what my family will eat for dinner. My crops are not large, but they are constant. In January, my greens and lettuces will be small. I can make a salad which includes: up to three varieties of baby lettuces; side leaves of chard and kale; green onions; baby carrots (thinned from a crowded bed); and side herbs of parsley, mint, and cilantro to taste.
This brings me to the other part of winter’s bounty- citrus. While some citrus need to be protected from freezing while they are young, established citrus trees provide a bounty of fruit from December through March with very little care. For me, the most successful citrus trees are lemons, naval and Cara-Cara oranges, mandarins, and grapefruit. Just in time for the winter holidays, my oranges are sweet, and my lemons are bountiful for holiday cooking. I can finish off the green salad described above with thinly sliced oranges and a vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. As a seasonal gardener and eater, I do not buy “summer” crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers to add to winter salads. Rather, I appreciate each crop in its proper season. Summer salads rely on tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and stored onions, and rarely involve lettuce. Winter salads are mostly greens, with carrots, beets, celery stalks, and snap peas for accent.
I use one-foot-tall redwood raised beds which are either four feet by four feet or two to three feet wide by seven feet long, in a pattern which fills my garden space. These beds are narrow enough that I never step into them. Once established, I top dress them with compost and manure, and rarely dig.
I find it most productive to scatter seeds rather than plant in rows, so that the beds are filled with plants. Plants grown this way produce few weeds. The following crops grow in my winter beds:
- Broccoli with a few cauliflowers on the side
- Swiss chard interspersed with beets
- Carrots and spinach, with herbs on the side including parsley, cilantro, thyme, and chives
- Kale of several types (which provide leaves for chickens as well as soups)
- Three types of lettuce with celery and fennel plants on the side
- Along the fence, snap peas
- As a cover crop under a fruit tree, mint (which I use for tea and greens)
Onions and potatoes are great winter crops which have their own timing. Onions are more likely to produce big bulbs before going to seed if planted in November using shoots from a nursery, rather than sets or seeds. Potatoes can be planted in February, in bags if no garden space is available. Both are ready in late spring.
And if you are not yet busy enough, January or February is the time to make orange-lemon marmalade, which can be used all year and end as holiday presents for the next season.
Top photo - Lemons on my tree by Lorie Hammond, adapted
Bottom photo - Young lettuces by Lorie Hammond, adapted
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