Help! When to plant veggies (lettuce, chard, spinach) this fall for spring growth

I’d like to get a few of the above in now, I think, to get a start on spring harvest but I don’t know any details- last year most of my attempts got heaved (hove?) out of the ground by frost and it was wasted effort.

Do any of you plant late for early harvest? I’d appreciate tips, points, warnings, favorite plants, and so forth; keep in mind that this is Montana and I’m not using a greenhouse or cold frame. I would like to just direct sow.

Thanks-

Mark

I planted lettuce in late August in Michigan (direct sowed). With a hoop house, it routinely makes it to spring. Things that overwinter easily without cover also include cutting chicory (my favorite, yields huge amounts of greens for nine months a year, also I find it very heathful), overwintering onions (for May harvest), arugula, and kale. Collard makes it in hoop houses. But I think you missed your chance this year, it is a bit too late for all of the above except perhaps arugula. I do plant garlic later than this, including bulbils that give me shoots in early March. Those I eat with great relish as they are the earliest crop.

Next year plant all of the above in August, starting with collard and ending a month later with arugula. Hoop houses are cheap and reasonably easy to set up. I build them on Thanksgiving week end and take them out as soon as temps are reliably higher than 25.

Thanks Glib.

I think I am late; plus, I won’t be using hoop houses. I’m actually thinking of things that will be in the ground over winter but will not make much of a show at all until spring. It’s more of an extremely early sowing thing- just trying to get seed in advance of spring so that when spring hits it will be competing with the dandelions.

Mark,
I think you might have success with spinach. It needs cold to germinate well and doesn’t mind a snow covering or two.
A low tunnel is so easy to construct. My first one was rebar in the ground, supporting 8’ pieces of 1/2"PVC bent like a hoop and covered with painter’s drop cloth. Worked great. Or something like this is small, cheap and easily stored away for the summer.

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One more thing to think about is mache. I don’t overwinter anything on purpose because winter weeds are an issue for me, but I often have many lettuce volunteers that germinate in late fall make it anyway.

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