Top Five Most Colorful & Delicious Additions to your Fall/Winter Garden (and dinner plate!)
When it comes to a winter garden, there are many productive, mostly green vegetables you can grow. I will NOT be talking about those. This article is just to remind those of you who know, and educate those of you who don’t, about the idea of bringing color to your garden during those long winter days! When you harvest your first purple cauliflower, you’ll thank me :)
Purple Cauliflower
Purple cauliflower is maybe the most stunning of all crops in the garden, period. It has a brilliant purple color and can get VERY big when grown in the right conditions. While it is a one-time harvest, the size makes it worth it — and the taste is great too!
Continuous Harvest? No
Common Pests: Looper Caterpillars & Aphids
Spacing: 1-2 Square feet
Purple Broccoli
Until last year, I had no idea how much I liked growing purple broccoli. My plant produced more florets than I could harvest. Every time I harvested, there seemed to be more and more every time I went out to my garden. The taste is great and really was more prolific than any of my other broccoli I grew.
Continuous Harvest? YES!
Common Pests: Looper Caterpillars & Aphids
Spacing: 1-2 Square feet
Purple Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is always the plant that guests say “what the hell is that?!” Fun shock factor even for those who have tried kohlrabi in the past.
I call it the the alien plant—it looks so strange as it grows and is shocking to see take shape. Many people believe that Kohlrabi is a root crop because of its shape, but you’ll soon find out that your plant isn’t randomly bulging from the middle! That is just how kohlrabi forms. Its a unique crop that looks so interesting and it quite tasty as well
Continuous Harvest? No
Common Pests: Looper Caterpillars & Aphids
Spacing: 1 Square foot
Rainbow Chard
If you are into plants that are easy to grow, rainbow chard can be the easiest to grow in the winter. You can start from seed or seedling and most likely produce all that you will need with just a few plants in the ground. The bright yellow, red, magenta, purple, and greens will light up your garden and even if you never harvest, it still brings a little more life to the winter greens.
Continuous Harvest? No
Common Pests: Leaf miners, slugs
Spacing: 1 Square Foot, can be planted closer
Romanesco Broccoli
Sometimes called Broccoflower or Roman Cauliflower, whatever you call it this is a very beautiful vegetable and a consummate crowd favorite!
Definitely one of the craziest crop you can grow, the Romanesco’s visual Fibonacci sequence in all of its fractal-filled glory is, if nothing else, extremely cool. While this is another one of those one-time crops, it is a stunner and great vegetable to bring to your next socially-distant, backyard gathering.
Continuous Harvest? No
Common Pests: Looper Caterpillars & Aphids
Spacing: 1-2 Square feet