If you have a garden at home and you’re starting to regret the coming of fall and then winter, take heart. With the coming of cooler weather, there are several vegetables that you can plant now in your garden and enjoy for months to come! Many of the crops that thrived in the spring but then withered under the heat of summer can now be planted to finish out your season strong. And maybe you didn’t know it, but the cooler weather also increases the concentration of sugars in many leafy vegetables and plants. The means your kale, lettuce, and other leafy greens taste sweeter. Here are our recommendations to plant now for your gardens:
- Lettuces and other leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, chard, collards, mustards, Asian greens, and arugula
- Root vegetables such as radishes, carrots, and turnips
- Bunching onions
- Sugar snap peas and similar varieties
- Shorter maturing varieties of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi (60 days or less)
All of these vegetables are cold hardy, meaning they will tolerate cold nights, frost, and even light snow. Many of these varieties can also be planted late in the fall and overwinter (especially with a light plastic or fabric covering [clear or white]) to grow vigorously starting in March.
Have you thought about growing through the winter and enjoying fresh greens in January? Although we have a large high tunnel that is ideal for that scenario, you can also grow some greens through the winter in your garden. To do so, follow these simple tips:
- Make sure you plant all of your seeds or transplants (the vegetables mentioned above work great) by the end of September or the week after. The reason for this is that you want well established vegetables by mid-November when the days get shorter. The plant growth through the winter is minimal, so you need the crops close to maturity by mid-November.
- Cover your winter garden with clear plastic (you can obtain online or at home and garden stores) in November. You can fashion hoops out of flexible, small diameter PVC and place them like arches in your garden. Or simply place a few stakes (2 to 3 feet above the ground) in the corners and some center areas and use them to hold up the plastic. You can hold the plastic down with rocks/bricks/wood/sand. Just make sure it will be easy for you to remove and lift up the sides to harvest when you want.
- Watering will likely not be necessary in the winter, but check regularly – especially in the center areas.
- Harvest all winter long!
