December Salad.

One of my gardening goals this year was to pick a fresh salad out of the yard in December, and we barely made it! I planted a fall crop of carrots, chard, mustard greens, spinach and lettuce in September- a little later than I should've, but most of it grew to an edible form. Protected by the cold frames covering a raised bed garden, they survived the frosty weather into the winter. Last week, we enjoyed our last fresh salad of the year- a variety of greens, radish, carrot and tomato (picked green in september and ripened in our basement). Then the true Minnesota cold moved in and took the rest- here is the remaining lettuce breathing its last breath. Next season I hope to pipe solar-heated water under the beds to extend the season a little further...