Many greens will be grown in winter and harvested in winter or early spring. Some greens take most of a yr to mature; they’re planted in spring and harvested in winter. Different greens will be sown in midsummer or early autumn for autumn and winter harvest.
Greens for autumn and winter harvest embrace leeks, salad leaves, carrots, and onions. Root crops together with parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips will be planted in mid to late summer time for winter harvest.

Greens for autumn-winter harvest
Cool-season crops are greatest for the autumn and winter vegetable backyard. Leafy greens and crops reminiscent of beets, cabbage, kale, carrots, lettuce, parsnips, spinach, and turnips will be grown in winter. These crops desire cool temperatures. They use the shorter days of autumn to direct their power into leaf and root formation and don’t trouble with flowering and seeding or fruiting as summer time greens do.
Cool-season crops for autumn and winter harvest will be planted in nearly all gardens by the tip of summer time–earlier in very cold-winter areas the place summer time is brief. Autumn and winter crops substitute summer time crops as days shorten and temperatures start to drop. Root crops do greatest in cool climate as do most leafy crops.
When to plant the autumn-winter backyard
To know when to plant the autumn-winter backyard, observe these steps:
- Test the seed packet for the variety of days to maturity for the crop you propose to plant.
- Mark the common date of the primary frost in your backyard on the calendar.
- Depend backward from the common first frost date the variety of days to maturity for the crop you might be planting.
- Depend backward an extra two weeks and mark that planting date in your calendar. (The extra two weeks will enable for slower plant development as day size decreases and temperatures cool as summer time fades into autumn after which to winter.)
To chop brief the variety of days a plant will want within the backyard is to transplant out seedlings. Seedlings have a 4 to 6-week head begin over the seeds you sow at present. Nearly all vegetable seeds want heat soil to germinate. Ensure that seeds have time to succeed in maturity earlier than freezing climate or plan to guard crops from freezing temperatures.

Develop autumn-winter crops in a chilly body or plastic tunnel
In case you count on frost or a tough freeze earlier than harvest, plan to guard the crops from freezing temperatures. Plant greens for winter harvest in a chilly body or plastic hoop tunnel or have moveable hoop tunnels or chilly frames learn to set over crops when a frost or freeze threatens.
A chilly body or a plastic hoop tunnel will shield greens from chilly temperatures. Chilly frames and plastic hoop tunnels are season-extending units. You may develop greens in a chilly body or plastic tunnel in containers or straight within the soil or seedbed beneath the body or tunnel.
Temperatures inside a chilly body or plastic tunnel will normally be 10 to twenty levels hotter than the skin temperature. This temperature distinction is normally to advance the rising season by a number of weeks.
Cool-weather crops simply began and grown n a chilly body or plastic tunnel embrace beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, lettuce and salad greens, onions, and parsley.
Extra methods to guard winter greens
Row covers
Row covers–light-transmissible cloth–will be draped straight over rising plantings. Floating row covers and plant blankets will be set loosely over crops. Row covers will present some extent of frost safety, although not as a lot as chilly frames or plastic tunnels. Most row coves will elevate temperatures beneath by about 4°F throughout the daytime. A backyard tunnel is a big row cowl, supported by hoops.
Mulch
Shield plant roots and the soil from frost heaves–when the soil freezes, thaws, after which freezes once more–with mulch. Frost heaves can push plant roots up and even out of the soil exposing root tissue that may be injured or killed by the chilly. Scale back potential injury with a layer of mulch at leaves 3 to three inches thick. Use compost, straw, or shredded leaves
Windbreaks
Vegetation can lose moisture to evaporation brought on by robust winds; a plant that loses moisture to evaporation won’t be able to exchange that moisture if the water within the soil is frozen. Buildings, partitions, fences, and crops that provide shelter from the wind–a hedge or shelterbelt of timber–can shield greens from the wind. Windbreaks ought to modify, not block the wind; if the wind is blocked it might channel in one other path with even better drive. A windbreak ought to enable among the wind to cross by way of, it will light the wind, not block it. Industrial windbreak fences and home made burlap screens can minimize wind velocity, Windbreak netting or burlap stretched between poles in a zig-zag trend will allow some wind to cross by way of.

Rising winter greens beneath snow
Snow on the winter vegetable backyard doesn’t imply the tip of the harvest. Snow will insulate winter crops from freezing temperatures and shield them till harvest. A killing frost or freeze will do extra injury to winter greens than snow.
Carrots, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage, chard, and head lettuce will be harvested from beneath a blanket of snow. Scallions and fall leeks to the scale of scallions will be harvested from beneath snow. Onions can stay within the backyard beneath snow if a protecting layer of mulch lies in between. Parsnips and Brussels sprouts will style sweeter after being lined by snow.
If plant cell damaging freezing temperatures accompany snow, shield crops with mulch, plastic tunnels, or chilly frames. Unfastened straw or fallen leaves can insulate crops from freezing temperatures as effectively.
The very best time for harvesting cold-weather crops from beneath snow temperatures is when temperatures are within the excessive 20s or low 30s, particularly in case you are uncovering solely a portion of the crop for harvest and leaving the remaining for later harvest.
If freezing climate threatens to freeze the soil, all crops needs to be lifted from the backyard. Frozen soil or sustained freezing air temperature will freeze plant cells and trigger them to burst, damage crops, and kill crops.
Crops that may survive beneath snow—however not sustained freezing temperatures or ice–embrace asparagus, rhubarb, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cress, rutabaga, spinach, endive, horseradish, kohlrabi, kale, leek lettuce, onions, parsley, parsnips, radishes, and turnips.
Reverse season vegetable backyard
Reverse season is a time period used to explain planting warm-season crops in winter–reverse the time of yr one may count on to plant warm-season crops. Reverse seasons gardens are planted in far southern areas of the USA–southern Florida, elements of the Gulf Coast, and much southern California. In these areas, summers get too sizzling to develop warm-season crops (temperatures common better than 90°F). Heat-season crops in these areas will be planted in late summer time to mature in early winter (reverse the conventional season) or they are often planted in mid-to-late winter to mature in late spring. Cool-season crops are planted in mid-to-late autumn to mature in late winter and early spring.

10 steps to start out an autumn-winter vegetable backyard
- Take away the remnants of the summer time backyard—spent crops—and put inexperienced and brown plant supplies into the compost pile. Clearing planting beds of spent crops will be sure that summer time pest bugs and ailments don’t overwinter within the backyard. Keep away from composting diseased or pest-infected crops.
- Flip the soil with a backyard spade; flip the soil spade deep (about 12 inches) to aerate the backyard and break up clods.
- Add natural amendments to the planting beds—steer manure, hen manure, seaweed, kelp, and home made or industrial compost. Use a backyard fork to combine the amendments into planting beds already turned with a spade.
- Add blood meal (wealthy in nitrogen, common NPK ratio 11-0-0), cottonseed meal (wealthy in nitrogen, common NPK ratio 6-2-1), bone meal (wealthy in phosphate, common NPK 1-11-0), or bagged natural vegetable meals throughout the planting beds. Observe the instructions for every product and work them into the highest 6 inches of soil.
- Form winter backyard planting beds in order that they’re barely raised not less than 3 to 4 inches excessive and barely sloped to the south—larger on the north facet, decrease on the south facet; the southern publicity will heat the soil and direct chilly air away from winter crops.
- Put together furrows or planting mounds with a hoe; that is vital in heavy soils. Ensure that furrows run north and south in order that crops get full publicity to the solar in the midst of the day.
- Plant tall crops to the north and brief crops to the south in order that brief crops usually are not shaded by taller crops.
- Bear in mind full solar is required for winter greens; use solely planting beds that get all-day solar. Backyard beds close to south-facing picket fences, stone partitions, or buildings are ideally suited; they soak up photo voltaic warmth throughout the day and radiate it again into the backyard at night time.
- Have moveable plastic row covers or moveable chilly frames able to set over crops when the primary frost or freeze is forecast. You may arch PVC pipe over beds and stake them in place. When freezing climate arrives cowl the arches with clear plastic (4 to 6mil is greatest); be sure the plastic hangs over on the facet and ends to create a mini-greenhouse for crops.
- Add gravel, bark nuggets, or straw to all-weather paths or set raised planks in place to maintain your ft out of the mud when autumn and winter rains arrive.

When to sow and harvest autumn-winter greens
Listed here are winter vegetable backyard crops with their sowing and harvest instances (these instances are for Zone 8; different zone instances could range by a number of weeks plus or minus):
- Arugula: sow July-August; harvest October-December.
- Asian leaves (bok choy and so on.): sow August; harvest September-December.
- Asparagus: sow February-March; harvest two years later April-June.
- Broad beans: sow October-November; harvest June-July.
- Dry beans: sow Could; harvest September-October.
- Beets: sow Could-June; harvest October-December
- Broccoli, purple sprouting: sow Could-June; harvest March-Could.
- Brussels sprouts: sow April-Could; harvest October-April.
- Cabbage, spring: sow August; harvest April-June.
- Cabbage, winter (bullhead): sow Could; harvest October-November.
- Cabbage, winter (savoy): sow Could-June; harvest November-April.
- Carrot: sow June; harvest October-November.
- Cauliflower: sow June-July; harvest March-Could.
- Celeriac: sow March-April; harvest October-April.
- Chervil: sow July-August; October-November.
- Chinese language cabbage: sow July; harvest October-November.
- Corn salad: sow August-September; harvest October-April.
- Endive: sow August; harvest October-December.
- Garlic: plant September-October; harvest June-July.
- Jerusalem artichoke: plant March-April; harvest October-April.
- Kale: sow Could-June; harvest October-Could.
- Land cress: sow August; harvest October-April.
- Leek: sow April; harvest October-April.
- Lettuce: sow late August; harvest April-June.
- Onion/shallot: sow January-March; harvest July-August.
- Parsley: sow July-August; harvest October-December.
- Parsnip: sow March; harvest October-April.
- Potato: plant March-Could; harvest August-September.
- Radicchio: sow July; harvest October-Could.
- Rhubarb: plant roots November-December; harvest March-June.
- Rutabaga: sow June; harvest October-April.
- Sorrel: sow August; harvest October-December.
- Spinach: sow August; harvest October-December.
- Swiss chard: sow July-August; harvest March-Could.
- Winter squash: sow April; harvest October.
- Turnip: sow August; harvest October-April.
Winter no-growth interval
Issue into planting and harvest instances, the winter no-growth interval. When daylight is lower than 10 hours every day, crops within the backyard will cease rising. If shielded from chilly they won’t die, however they won’t actively develop when there are lower than 10 hours of daylight; they are going to enter a interval of dormancy. That is true for all crops together with greens and herbs.
The no-growth interval can final two to a few months relying on the place you reside (test the climate service for dawn and sundown the place you reside).
Through the no-growth interval, depart crops in place and shield them from the chilly; when sunlight hours are once more better than 10 hours, greens will resume development towards maturity and harvest. Spring cabbage, for instance, is planted in late summer time or early autumn. It grows to close maturity however then stops development and sits close to dormant throughout the winter no-growth interval then in early spring as daylight will increase the cabbage resumes rising, reaches maturity, and is harvested in spring.
Autumn-winter vegetable backyard month-by-month to-dos
January: sow onion/shallots; harvest beets, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage, celeriac, chicory, corn salad, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsnip, rutabaga, turnip.
February: sow onion.shallot; harvest beets, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage (savoy), corn salad, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsnip, rutabaga, turnip.
March: sow asparagus, celeriac, onion/shallot, parsnip, and rhubarb; plant asparagus crowns and crops, spring cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke, onion units and crops, shallot bulbs, potato; harvest arugula, beets, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spring cauliflower, celeriac, chervil, coriander, corn salad, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsley, parsnip, rhubarb, spinach, sorrel, Swiss chard, turnip.
April: sow Brussels sprouts, celeriac, leek, parsnip, rhubarb, winter squash; plant asparagus crowns, and crops, Jerusalem artichoke, onion units, and crops, shallot bulbs, potato; harvest arugula, asparagus, beets, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spring cabbage, winter cabbage (savoy), spring cauliflower, chervil, coriander, corn salad, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek parsley, parsnip, rhubarb, rutabaga, sorrel, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip.
Could: sow beans for drying, beets, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage (ballhead), kale, parsnip, rhubarb; plant arugula, beans for drying, spring cabbage, spring cauliflower, celeriac, potato, rhubarb, winter squash; harvest asparagus, bean tops, purple sprouting broccoli, endive, inexperienced garlic, lettuce, parsley, rhubarb, sorrel, spinach, Swiss chard.
June: sow beans for drying, beets, purple sprouting broccoli, winter cabbage, carrot, spring cauliflower, kale, rutabaga; plant beans for drying, celeriac, potato, rhubarb, winter squash; harvest asparagus, bean tops, beet tops, purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbage, spring cauliflower, inexperienced garlic, lettuce, parsley, rhubarb, sorrel, spinach, Swiss chard.
July: sow arugula, beets for leaves, carrot, Chinese language cabbage, spring cauliflower, coriander, endive, parsley, sorrel, Swiss chard; plant beets, purple sprouting broccoli, winter cabbage (savoy), spring cauliflower, kale, leek, rutabaga; harvest broad beans, garlic, shallot.
August: sow arugula, Asian leaves, beets, spring cabbage, chervil, coriander, corn salad, land cress, endive, lettuce, Swiss chard, parsley, winter radish, sorrel, spinach, turnip; plant Chinese language cabbage, chervil, coriander land cress, parsley, sorrel, spinach, Swiss chard; harvest onion, potato.
September: sow Asian leaves, corn salad, inexperienced manures; plant spring cabbage, chervil, coriander, corn salad, endive, garlic, land cress, lettuce, parsley spinach; harvest beans for drying, potato.
October: sow broad beans; plant garlic; harvest arugula, Asian leaves, beans for drying, beets, Brussels sprouts, carrot, celeriac, chervil, Chinese language cabbage, coriander, corn salad, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsley parsnip, winter radish, rutabaga, spinach, sorrel, winter squash, turnip.
November: sow broad beans; plant garlic, rhubarb; harvest arugula, Asian leaves, beets, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage (ballhead and savoy), carrot, celeriac, chervil, Chinese language cabbage, coriander, corn salad, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsley parsnip, winter radish, rutabaga, spinach, sorrel, winter squash, turnip.
December: plant rhubarb; harvest arugula, Asian leaves, beets, Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage (savoy), carrot, celeriac, chervil, Chinese language cabbage, coriander, corn salad, endive, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, land cress, leek, parsley parsnip, winter radish, rutabaga, spinach, sorrel, winter squash, turnip.
Associated articles:
Cool Season Vegetable Varieties
Chilly Body to Lengthen the Season
Backyard Planning Books at Amazon: