Growing Winter Vegetables with Bill Herring

Bill Herring gave two talks on Growing Winter Veggies at The Sunflower Cafe in Duncan, BC.  Bill has been growing vegetables and fruit on his property in Cobble Hill since 1989.  He had his first garden when he was age 7 and he is still growing food 67 years later.

Bill says, "Winter gardening takes a long time, even 12 months for some crops, so be selective if garden space is a consideration."

Bill grows 38 different vegetable crops throughout the year, here are a few of his favorite Winter Crops.

Parsnip:

When you see the greens starting to grow on last years parsnip crop, it's time to plant for next year.  The seeds need stratification for good germination and by planting parsnips in Feb/March that can happen. Plant large seeds staggered for ease and less thinning.  Collecting seeds is not recommended by Bill because of a severe irritant in the flower head.  Bill's favourite variety is a hybrid called 'gladiator' and it's canker resistant.

Potatoes:

Potatoes also get planted early for an early harvest, therefore Bill plants his potatoes in Feb/March too.  The frost will set the tops back, but not damage the potato.  Start by digging a 8"  trench and line with compost, add potatoes and cover 4" - 5" with soil.  When tops emerge, cover with soil again.  Cover the tops completely 2 – 3 times eventually creating a mound. 
In this climate it is best to use the whole potato and in Jan/Feb move your stock potatoes to light to allow “chitting” to occur.  This is when the eyes of the potato form.

Cabbage/Kale/Cauliflower/Broccoli/Brussel Sprouts:

For winter cabbage, cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli, plant seeds in early July and plant into the garden in August/Sept.  There are varieties specific for winter crops so be sure to buy the correct seed. 
In Bill’s garden he has club root which affects the brassica family by creating a nasty root system eventually killing the plant.  Bill has found some club root resistant varieties that he has had good luck with.  The seed is more expensive, but well worth it.  The varieties are called, “Kilton, Crisp and Clapton. 
Kale is easy to grow and can be direct seeded in summer for a winter harvest.  Two of Bill’s favorite varieties include ‘Thousand Headed’ and ‘Hungry Gap.’ 
Brussel Sprouts seeds need to be started in March and take almost a year to produce.  They like to be planted into firm ground and will form rosettes instead of round sprouts if the soil is too soft.    Stake plants to reduce winter damage.

Leeks:

There are two types of Leeks.  One is grown and harvested before Christmas and the other is grown for winter harvest.  Bill sows leek seeds three times a year.  He starts in early Feb. inside using pots covered with plastic bags to create mini green houses.  He pricks them out into cell packs and puts them in the unheated greenhouse to grow on until planting in the garden in May.  Leeks produce a long root system that makes it near impossible to separate later on. 

The second batch is started end of April in pots and then he direct seeds into the garden in May.  When planting leeks into the garden, use a crow bar and make a 6” – 8” hole and drop leek into it.  Water and allow the soil to fall into the hole on it’s own.  The leek will eventually fill in the hole and blanch the leek leaving lots of white leek to use.  Bill’s favorite variety is ‘Jolant’

Lettuces:

Bill has been collecting and using the same lettuce seed for over 60 years, it’s called, ‘Little Gem.’  Lettuce is sown every three weeks to guarantee a continual harvest.  In the winter, Bill uses the large clear plastic juice jugs Cranberry juice comes in.  Remove the lid and cut off the bottom to use as cloches over the lettuce to protect from weather.  ‘Winter Marvel is a good variety to use for winter.

Swedes/ Rutabagas:

Swedes or Rutabagas are planted in July and harvested in Oct/Nov and later.  Plant seed in a double row in a zig-zag pattern to eliminate thinning.  To eat Swedes, peel, slice, steam or boil until soft, mash add cream and pepper. 

Spinach:

Bill tends to plant ‘Perpetual Spinach’ instead of regular spinach because it doesn’t bolt like other spinach.  Perpetual spinach is easy to grow, direct seed in spring and it will lasts all winter, may need thinning to 6” apart

Swiss Chard:

Swiss Chard is another easy green to grow, simply direct seed into garden in spring and it will produce all winter, setting seed in spring.

Bill's knowledge of the vegetable growing world is vast.  Be sure to look for Bill's next article on "The 6 Easiest Vegetables to Grow"  Thanks Bill for giving us this talk

Dan Jason's from Salt Spring Seeds, Talks about Saving Seeds, Cobble Hill, BC March 12, 2011

"Saving seeds is totally easy, Go For It!" is Dan's advice to all of us gardeners who are wondering about saving our own seeds.  Many of us feel intimidated, but Dan assures us that we will learn as we go along.  Start with one kind and go from there.  Humans have been saving seeds for 10,000 years.  It's important that we save seeds on so many levels, it's a wide spread movement through the Transition Network that now has over 700 communities on board. 

With world situations the way the are, the #1 priority is Food Self Reliance but what is being missed is, "We need Seed!" says Dan.  "Good Seed, not Hybrid and not GMO seed.  We need community seed banks.  Seedy Saturdays are seed banks, but it's not enough."

Communities need to come together on this issue and make decisions for the whole.  They need to ask questions and figure out how they are going to work together, where will the food be grown, can we convince land owners to use the land for growing food instead of a few sheep.  We are getting no leadership from our governments, we need to become self-reliant communities and maybe even buy land for the community to grow it's food.

The First thing we need to keep in mind the kinds of seeds we grow.  For example, we need Tomatoes but not just for fresh eating but also paste tomatoes for sauces with beans and grains for year round eating.  Another consideration is nutritional value that plants offer.  For example, when looking at eggplants and peppers, eggplants have nearly zero nutritional value whereas peppers are more valuable in minerals and vitamins.  Looking at beans, most people plant fresh green or yellow beans, but don't consider planting dry beans for protein and carbs for year round eating.  Quinoa, amaranth and flax are good crops for protein as well.

The second consideration is How Much seed do you save?  How many are in your community and how much do we need to grow?  Bulking up on seeds now is worth consideration.  The question most asked is "HOW do we do it?"  Answer, utilize experienced seed savers as Mentors.

Begin with crop categories, break it down by category and have a mentor for each seed category.  Cross pollination is the biggest concern, but many of the plants don't cross pollinate.  Tomatoes don't cross pollinate, nor do peppers, lettuces, beans, or grains.  Their flowers are self-pollinated and seeds come true. 

Crops that do cross pollinate are corn, squash, leeks, and brassicas where bugs and wind play a role, but if you only grow one variety and if you don't have a neighbour growing a variety in the same family, you don't have to worry either. 

Some crops like beets and carrots are bi-annuals and need to be over-wintered to produce seed. In our climate, heavy mulching will allow seeds to produce in the second season.

When collecting beans or peas or brassicas, anything with a pod, (including lentils, favas, chickpeas,soy beans) allow them to dry until brittle -  the inside bean will be dry enough not to allow your finger nail to penetrate.  With brassicas, which include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, wait till the pod is brittle, crack it open, and when the seeds will have turned black they are ready to harvest.  Take branches of seed pods and stomp with your feet on a tarp to release the thousands of seeds.  Remove the shaft using screens with different size screens.  Screens are a seeds savers most practical tool and can be found in garage sales, or the hardware store, with different size holes. 

You can eat your crop and still save seeds.  For instance with lettuce, if you pick off the outer leaves and leave the center, and let it go to seed.  Lettuce will look completely different when it goes to seed.  It will form a candle bra of yellow flowers similar to dandelion fluff.  When the seeds form, shake them into a bucket.  One word of caution, seed heads are the action centers for bugs because it's the perfect place to lay eggs into.  Letting seeds sit on screens will prevent eggs and bugs from developing in your seeds. 

Hybrid seeds will not come true, therefore grow open pollinated varieties.  All small seed companies have good seeds, use them.

Film Review: Food Security, It's In Your Hands by Joy Story

On Saturday Feb. 12/2011, the film, Food Security, It's in your Hands by Nick Versteeg was shown in Duncan at the Christian Reform Church and here are some of the highlights incase you couldn't make it.

- Talking to a chef in Victoria recently, Nick learned that peppers were expected to increase in price 198%.  That should get our attention.  All food prices will increase as  the cost of fuel increases.
- 15 % of the world population is starving
- There are only 4% of the Canadian people who are farmers, the rest are urbanites
- 33% of Canadian Children have never been to a farm
- Bees are the MOST important insect we have and they are presently in danger due to climate change, hive parasites and the increase in pesticide use in agriculture and bee keeping.
- If bees disappear, all the tasty foods we enjoy, fruit, citrus, will become increasingly rare
- Start using mason bees in your gardens, orchards and farms for pollination.

From the Discussion After the Film.....
- 2/3 rds of every dollar spent here on Vancouver Island stays here on Vancouver Island
- Many farmers must turn towards value added products
- We need to solve farming challenges at local grassroots level
- To keep agriculture land for agriculture use, it was proposed that different levels of taxation be used for land owners who were not growing food.  As high as 5 - 6 times.  There would be less buyers, and less competition, keeping the price of farms more affordable for new farmers.  It has not passed yet, and it would only apply to new developments.
- Discussion around whether farm land should be broken into 5 and 10 acre lots raised many issues around whether it was sufficient area for growing food on a commercial basis, when you consider some land may be marshy, forrest, rocky, hillside and unsuitable for vegetable growing.  Maintaining and increasing soil fertility is the main concern for farmers
- Agriculture Land is falling into the hands of people who are not farming it.
- In the future, we are going to have to consider new ways of farming.  Eg. Human Urine pelletized
- We all need to grow food, just like in World War II
- It is illegal to grow food on your front lawn in Toronto
- Leasing land to farm is still a popular way to farm at approx. $150.00 an acre.
- This film can be purchased at the Cowichan Green Community Store

Nick is giving a course on Hobby Farming at UVIC on March 26 and at his farm on March 27