Today we're visiting a few edible gardens designed by Seattle Urban Farm Company, a member of the Remodelista + Gardenista Architect/Designer Directory, who also have some winter gardening secrets to share (to ensure success come spring):
Photography by Hilary Dahl.
Above L: Mizuna growing in a cold frame in December. R: Cold-hardy spinach in Seattle snow.
In addition to private clients, Seattle Urban Farm Company helps schools and nonprofits establish edible gardens; the firm's founders teach community garden workshops.
Above: Rhazes lettuce transplants covered in frost on a chilly November morning.
Seattle Urban Farm Company's blog has tips for Easy Seed Sprouting and Winter Gardening: Spring Planning and Soil Care.
Above: Clean out strawberry beds in winter. "If you do not renovate the bed, the plants will form a thick mass, choking themselves out and eventually they will stop producing." See the firm's Spring Strawberry Care for instructions.
Above: And if you fail to thoroughly dig through your potato patch in fall to pull up any tubers you missed during harvest, "there WILL be at least one forgotten potato sprouting in your garden this spring."
Above L: The Farm Co. calls claytonia "one of the hardiest winter greens." R: A huge kale plant that overwintered in a client's garden.
Above: Seeding onions, chives, and leeks on a sunny day in late January.
Above: In February, the Farm Co. reminds gardeners to to start seeding sugar snap pea transplants.
For more edible gardens, see Ask the Expert: How to Create a Beautiful Edible Garden, Gone Wild: How to Grow Vegetables in the Middle of Nowhere, and Moveable Feast: A Pop-Up Farm in Brooklyn.