Growing your own fresh salad leaves over the winter months is extremely rewarding. But most of the gardeners I talk to are a little uncertain about growing produce in the depths of winter. And there's definitely a bit of a knack to it.

Growing your own fresh salad leaves over the winter months is extremely rewarding. But most of the gardeners I talk to are a little uncertain about growing produce in the depths of winter.

And there's definitely a bit of a knack to it.

I've talked a lot about how when you sow your seeds is really important when growing produce during the coldest months of the year (you can download my free sowing calendar and growing guide here). But now I'm going to reveal the missing piece of the puzzle - how to harvest your winter salads for the best quality and most productive leaves. 

Why is harvesting important?

How you harvest your plants is important because it does 2 things.

1. It sends a message to the plant - for example, you can prolong leaf production just by harvesting the leaves in a particular way.
2. It sends a message to the pests in the area - how you harvest your plants alters whether your crop looks attractive to pests like slugs and snails.

My 5 tips on How to Harvest Winter Salads and Greens

Let's begin.

1. Harvesting from Nov-mid Feb - this is the darkest time of the year. Focus on harvesting the oldest leaves, leaving the new growth intact. Take NO MORE than 50% of the leaves during this very dark part of the year. The plant needs some leaves to continue to grow and make more salad for you! If you are growing lettuce, you can harvest the leaves by picking a few from the base of the plant rather than cutting whole heads.
2. Remove all yellowing, brown or rotting growth and take to the compost heap. At this time of year, rotting leaves encourage slugs and snails so it's best to get rid of them. Keep lettuce stems nice and clean of stubble - slugs love to nestle against the stems if you give them a chance!
3. Keep plants well weeded and soil clear as much as possible. This will also help reduce the number of slugs and snails eyeing up your plants.
4. Sometime around the middle of February, most of your winter salad leaves (mustards, pak choi and rocket in particular) will want to bolt. This means they will stretch their stems up towards the sky and start shifting their energy away from leaf production and into flower production instead. You can delay this by cutting them back hard. This essentially just means that when you harvest your salad leaves, you need to focus on cutting back the flowering shoots (which are still good to eat). Cut back around 70% of the leaves and this sends the message to the plant to make a few more leaves. You'll get another (final) leaf harvest before the plant really goes for it and flowers.
5. Remember that you can eat the flowering tips too! I wouldn't recommend eating lettuce flowers (very bitter) but rocket, mustard and pak choi flowers are tender, sweet and peppery - yum.

Thanks for reading my top tips for harvesting winter salad leaves. I hope they set you up for bountiful salad harvests this winter!

- Ellen

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