Hi, I'm master gardener John Fischer with KLCC's Good Gardening.
Harvesting from your winter garden is a lot like the Goldilocks story.
(Door opens- rain noise) Too wet. (Door opens)- too cold. (Door opens) Tweet Tweet, ah- just right. Getting those outside edibles into the house is best done during that occasional warm- ok, not cold, dry - ok, at least not pouring, afternoon.
Setting up harvest time in winter requires a little more planning than in August. When you know you want some kale, carrots or beets on the table, think of the harvest as a shopping trip. You wouldn't go to the store three times for noodles, sauce, and cheese at three in the morning, so don't make your winter garden harvest into a chore.
Once you are outside picking arugula, radicchio, fava greens, and sorrel for your salad, you might want to do a bit of weeding that can add to your meal.. A little weed called bitter cress will take over your empty garden in the spring, unless you pick it as a salad green all winter.
Dandelion greens are best in the winter and spring. Pick the youngest leaves from plants that aren't flowering, and add them to you salad in moderation. If you are a dandelion hater, they're much easier to pull out when the ground is wet in winter than when the little puff balls are spreading seed in July (and August, and September).
If you have kale that survived the aphid onslaught and the early season cold, pick a few leaves, wash them, then roll them between your hands until they are crushed, and bright green. Add the crushed kale to the salad along with that last stored summer tomato, and you'll have the fresh taste of garden vegetables in winter without the muddy boots, and soaked rain gear that go along with an unplanned harvest trip.
I'm John Fischer with KLCC,s Good Gardening
Pictures in order are
1. Bittercress
2.Dandelions
3.Wintergarden bed
4. Salad picked in January