Sow a bed of winter salads

Sow a bed of winter salads to keep you in deliciously fresh leafy greens right through the colder months of the year. This is a great technique for putting your greenhouse borders to good use once the summer crops are cleared – and it'll also work under a generous-sized cloche in the open garden.

All you need is a raised veg bed - around 1.2m x 3m will produce salad and to spare for a family of four all winter. If you have fewer to feed, it works just as well in a smaller space – even a 1m x 1m bed will produce generous pickings.

Once you've forked over the ground, removed any weeds and added some fresh compost, divide the bed into squares or rectangles using canes or tent pegs and string. Aim for each space to measure around 60cm x 45cm.

Sow each growing space with a different salad leaf of your choice, broadcasting seed freely and covering lightly with soil. Choose from winter lettuces, corn salad, mizuna, mibuna, rocket, red mustard, radishes, winter-hardy spring onions.... whatever takes your fancy. In a few weeks' time you'll be picking a few of each for a delicious mixed winter salad, made to order.