Ode to cool season crops

Carrots and beets

I have noticed that I can plant these as early as early May and they will be ready to harvest by July. I have also noticed that I can leave them in the ground into fall and they are still fine -- probably even tastier. I used to think I had to harvest them after they reached full size, or plan to plant late -- like mid to late June -- if I wanted them for fall harvest. But it doesn't seem to matter. I appreciate veggies with the ability to age gracefully in the garden and the patience to hang in there until I'm ready to pick and eat.

I still have about 4 large beets left in the garden, and even though we had several days with below freezing temps the last two weeks of October, I think they are still in good shape. The tops died back, but the roots seem fine. I plan to pull at least half of these this weekend and if I leave any out after that, I'll put several inches of leaves on them to mulch so that I they can last until the end of the month.

Potatoes and Sweet potatoes

These aren't cool season veggies technically, because they don't grow as it gets colder, but they store well in a cool basement and can be eaten well into the winter, so I'm adding them here as a nod to their longevity in storage.

Leafy veggies

We just went through two weeks of below normal temps, most days going below freezing for several hours overnight with at least one night when it got down to 17 degrees. While most leafy greens can bounce back with a few days of frost, this recent spell was too much for the lettuce. I have bok choi in my community garden plot that bounced back and my chard, arugula and cilantro have pulled through OK, but look a little tired. The hardy herbs are all fine (tarragon, parsley, sage, time, oregano, winter savory.) I may try mulching and over-wintering the bok choi to see if that works. I'm usually much more eager to have veggies to harvest in April than I am now when the larder is full.

Onions and Leeks

I don't know about leeks, but I do know my Japanese non-bulbing onions come back really well in the spring. I'll be wintering over some leeks this year and should learn how they do next April.

A word about onions: I grow some bulb onions (usually Ailsa Craig), that are usually fussy to germinate and a pain to transplant. And I grow Ishikura, a Japanese onion I get from Baker Seeds (rareseeds.com). Ishikuras look like extra-large green onions -- they don't form a bulb -- and the flavor is similar to a green onion. I love these because they germinate well for me, they grow well with no fuss, and they come back in spring right away and taste great. I've had perennial onions before and they taste like old onions with a tough consistency. The Ishikuras aren't like that at all. And I love having something I'm harvesting and using in April. I don't know if they need it, but I like to through some leaves over them in late fall to mulch.