Fresh Winter Garden -- December Lettuce 2012

Hello All :) Here is the December 2012 update on my winter garden. Below is what my garden looked like on Dec. 11. Two nights before these photos were taken, the low temperature was 9 degrees. Despite the chill, a FRESH winter garden is not only possible, but will possibly be the easiest gardening you've ever done.


If you look carefully, you can see my simple cold frames under the snow. Below are pictures of what these cold frames are hiding from winter! Keep in mind there is absolutely no electricity or artificial heat involved here. Just a cold frame -- varieties of which have been used for more than 2,000 years. The first documented cold frame was used by Emperor Tiberius in the first century Rome. He grew cucumbers in winter. I wish I had his seed. I'm still trying to find a winter cucumber.  

Here is a picture of some of the winter lettuce inside the first cold frame:


This is a larger view of the same cold frame, showing several varieties of winter lettuce:


 
Here is a different variety of lettuce in cold frame #2. This lettuce is Winter Green Jewel Romaine, an heirloom (never hybrid). I'm the only seller of this seed in the world. This is the world's best winter lettuce. You'll see more of it in a moment.





Below is a picture of Winter Green Jewel Romaine sticking out of a cold frame, with snow on it, and it as been exposed to a night of 9 degrees -- and it hardly seems to notice!


This is my largest cold frame of lettuce. It is about 8 feet long and two feet wide. There are mustard greens up front, and the rest if Winter Green Jewel Romaine:


What can I say? I even have winter frogs :) I bought this in Oregon and had forgotten all about it until I found it in a sea of snow. I couldn't resist a picture.

This is cold frame #4, with several test varieties, and one proven variety:


This is a close-up of the east end of cold frame #4. In the back you will see Caleb's Deep Winter, which I introduced to the U.S. this year. I am the only seller of this seed in the country. (I am now sold out of this variety.)



Cold frame #5: This is the fastest growing lettuce I've ever found, and I've tried probably 100 different kinds of lettuce (and will try more this summer). You can also see multiplier onions in here. This lettuce gets huge and has already been cut down. It grows right back, despite the temperatures.