Employee Favorites: Fall & Winter Edition

If you haven’t planned your fall & winter garden yet, don’t worry, there is still time! Here in the Maritime Northwest there is a wide range of crops we can grow throughout the fall and winter months to keep fresh food harvests coming and colorful flowers blooming when they are usually sparse.

If you’re having a hard time choosing varieties to grow, we have compiled a list of our favorites to get you started!

Kat B—Purchasing Coordinator:  

Avignon Parrot Tulip—Tulips are some of the bulbs that usher in spring. This extra-fancy parrot tulip glows with a vivid, multicolored bloom that looks stunning in the landscape and indoors in a vase. 

Gladiator Parsnip—Sweet and creamy, these roots are a staple of the cool weather garden. Roast ¼ inch slices with a light drizzle of olive oil and coarse sea salt. Yum! 

Harvest Knife & Corer—A great tool for harvesting and quickly turning whole heads of lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli into individual leaves or florets right in the garden! 

Camille S—Customer Service Manager: 

Speedo Carrot—I have had a difficult time growing carrots in the past. This carrot grew for me when others did not. It was nice, crisp, and held well in the ground through the fall. 

Music Garlic—This was the first variety of garlic that I tried. It grew so well, and the slight spice made it my favorite. I have to grow it every year. 

Victoria Lettuce—A quick little butterhead. I can harvest the heads and it is perfect for a couple of big salads (as we call them) for myself and family. 

Mel R—Marketing & Communications Specialist: 

Lakeside Spinach—I am a spinach lover! Lakeside grows reliably well for me in the spring & the fall. It has become a staple in my small, (mostly) container garden.  

Little SnowPea White Pea—Perfect crop for my small, raised bed. It’s quick and flavorful! I usually eat them right off the plant, but also love them in stir-fry. 

Jacaranda Broccoli—This is a new favorite for me. It blew me away in our trials with its eye-catching color. I enjoyed it raw in salads, grilled with carrots, and roasted with some garlic. 

Tim R—Marketing Director: 

Merida Carrot—Fall planted carrots are a real treat in the winter. Merida has a good, traditional, sweet carrot flavor that tastes so much better pulled out of the ground on a cold winter day. 

Roquette Arugula—A row of Roquette kept me eating salads all through the winter. Does not get as spicy as when grown in the spring. 

Bright Lights Swiss Chard—A few years ago Bright Lights held on well into the winter, and I was eating bacon-brazed Swiss chard for New Years! 

Andrew B—Product Development Manager: 

Lyon Swiss Chard—This is really a vegetable unto itself. It’s so tender and mild it can be eaten fresh. It has a very mellow flavor with little bitterness. Enjoy like you would spinach. 

Amara Ethiopian Kale—This mustard green is a new staple in my garden. It’s extremely cold hardy. It trades the characteristic mustardy heat for a built-in garlic flavor. I enjoy baby leaves in hearty salads and sauteed greens year round. 

Arun Kale—It took a while to arrive, but it’s well worth the wait. This kale is a game-changer for curlies. Heavy yielding with very large leaves compared to other curly kales. The leaves have a straight midrib, which makes for much easier trimming and chopping. Plants produce great tasting kale in all seasons. 

Carrie F—Customer Service Representative: 

Newham Lettuce—I really enjoy the crisp, buttery leaves it produces especially after the first frost. It continues growing all throughout the winter into spring once planted in the fall, so I can have lettuce all winter long. A real favorite of mine.

PL 141 Peas—My daughter absolutely adores the sweet, crunchy flavor of these peas. They can be sown in late summer for a fall harvest and in late fall for a very early spring harvest. I particularly like the fact that they grow to a manageable 5 feet tall, so I can trellis them easily in the garden.

Music Garlic—I recently started growing garlic and I wanted to grow a hardneck, because I knew that it was superior in flavor. I also wanted a long shelf life and, Music definitely lived up to that. The flavor is just hot enough to be robust in cooking but not so overwhelming that I can’t use a lot of it like I like to. Last year the Music garlic lasted until I planted new garlic in October. I’m growing it again this year.

Ashley W—Warehouse Shipping Lead: 

Oregon Sugar Pod II Pea—A classic pea and a family favorite. A great variety for wanting to enjoy peas and not needing a large garden to grow them since they are a part of the dwarf family. 

Northern Lights Carrot Blend—I love the randomness and surprise when pulling up these carrots. All the colors add a great pop of color to any salad. They are a great mix of tasty and fun.  

Sue Ann G—Farm Manager: 

A few veggies I enjoy this time of year are January King and Katrina cabbages along with Merida and Musico carrots, which provide fresh ingredients for coleslaw and the rare salad in the fall and winter months. The field holding ability of the Musico carrot is, for me, the best storage environment. 

For our fall & winter growing tips, including a planting chart, visit out website here. To shop all varieties mentioned in this blog, click here. Happy planting from all of us at Territorial Seed Company!