If you’re new to gardening, you probably didn’t realize that you can still grow vegetables during the fall and winter. You’re probably wondering, which vegetables can grow during the the fall/winter season? 🤔
In most climates, leafy greens and herbs can be grown during the fall and winter seasons. However, if you’re looking to grow larger vegetables to keep your stomach full during the winter, try planting cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, or winter squash.
If you live in really cold climates, then you might consider getting a greenhouse (or mini-green house) in order to protect your plants from the frost in the winter.
Here’s a list of herbs and vegetables that we’ve found to be the easiest to grow during the fall season in most climate regions.
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Brussel Sprouts
- Winter Squash
- Pumpkin
- Garlic
- Beets
- Carrots
- Mustard Greens
- Swish Chard
- Sunflowers (Sunflower Seeds)
Starting Seeds
If you plan on starting your fall/winter garden from seed, getting the timing down is essential.
If you live in a southern climate (USDA Hardiness Zone 7 and above), make sure you germinate your seeds before the end of August to ensure a bountiful fall harvest.
However, if you are in a northern climate (USDA Hardiness Zone 6 and below), you need to start your seeds before the end of July to make sure that your plants get enough warmth, early on, to survive the colder climates ahead. It’s important to note, when grown from seed, cabbage family seedlings will require some warmth in it’s early stages, before they are able to tolerate the colder weathers.
Fortunately, leafy green vegetables don’t have this problem. Leafy greens can tolerate colder climates as seedlings and can even produce a better tasting crop when grown during the colder temperatures.
The key to starting a fall/winter garden from seed, is to utilize the end of the summer’s warmth to get a head-start with your seedlings.
Buy Seedlings
Of course, you can always purchase plant seedlings at your local nursery or even in the garden section of your local hardware stores.
There are many advantages to starting your fall garden with store-bought seedlings. Let’s take a look at a few:
- You can avoid the wait-time of having to start from seed
- The plant varieties in stores and nurseries are most likely to perform well in your local area
- You’re guaranteed healthy, quality plants – Some nurseries and most hardware stores will have a money-back guarantee on plants and fruit trees. Check with your local stores for more information on their specific policies.
Seedlings are a great way for new gardeners to grow a variety of vegetables without the difficulty or hassle of having to germinate the seeds. The important part is that they are kept in a good organic soil.
Soil Nutrition
Since most fall and winter crops are very nutrient-dense plants, such as kale and broccoli, it’s important that your soil is well fertilized during the colder climate.
Adding compost will enhance the organic composition of your soil because the microorganisms found in organic matter help to break down and make nutrients available to the plants to grow strong and healthy.
You can buy organic compost or you can make your own at home with left over food scraps and yard trimmings. Whether it’s store-bought or homemade, compost can take a bit of time to take effect in the soil.
Poultry manures, however, can help give your soil and plants a quicker nutritional boost.
Adding earthworms is another great way to improve your soil nutrition.
Earthworm castings, or the “poop” left behind from earthworms, is a nutrient-rich material that can be added directly into your soil and helps to boost the growth of your plants by providing a variety of nutrients.
Maintaining Good Moisture
Even though you’re planting for the colder seasons, it doesn’t mean that you should ignore your watering chores.
Dry soil can really slow down the growth of root crops such as carrots and beets. It can also upset more sensitive crops such as broccoli and cauliflower and might cause them to bolt early.
It’s a good idea to have a soaker hose, sprinkler system or some sort of irrigation system during these months so that you can make sure to maintain constant moisture.
Due to the cooler temperatures, you won’t have to water as often, even if you water by hand.
Think Mulch
Another great way to maintain moisture levels in your soil is to add mulch to your garden.
Mulch is a mix of organic matter such as dry leaves, bark, and compost that can insulate the plant roots by acting as a blanket and helps to keep moisture from evaporating easily.
HEAD’S UP: Never MIX the mulch into the soil, just layer it on top. Some wood chips that are found in mulch are still breaking down and will “steal” the nitrogen from the soil. Hence, less nitrogen for your plants.
The downsides to using mulch is that it’s an ideal hide-out for snails and slugs at night.
Grubs are often found in mulch because it can be a breeding ground for beetles to lay their eggs in. Fall is a great time for pest control, as most of the eggs have already been laid in the soil around this time.
Pest Control and Garden Maintenance
Fall and winter are a perfect time to implement some pest control and to start to clean up around the garden.
Soil-bourne Pests
A lot of pests such as Japanese beetles, figeater beetles, leaf miners, borers, corn ear worm, gnats, fleas, and a variety of other pests lay their eggs in the soil during the fall.
Nematodes Eating a Larvae – Public Domain Image
Fall is the best time to take preventative measures against these pests by using beneficial nematodes to stop them before they multiple in your garden.
When added to the soil, the nematodes pick up on the temperature and carbon dioxide given off by these soil borne insects and hunt them down and kill them.
The nematodes carry an associated bacterium (Photorhabdus species) that kills the eggs of these insects fast (within 48 hours).
The best part about using beneficial nematodes is that they leave plants, animals, earthworms, and other garden-friendly critters unharmed.
Garden Chores
Fall and winter are great seasons to do some maintenance.
You can add compost and organic fertilizer to your soil that will feed the microbes and the soil itself, prepping it for the coming seasons.
Weeding can be a very tough task to accomplish during the heat of the summer. Fall and winter are the perfect seasons to start removing any unwanted weeds in your garden since the temperatures are much cooler and it makes the task more bearable.
The reduced amount of light, from the seasonal changes, also helps keep weeds down to a minimum since they don’t have as much light to keep them growing like crazy.
Make sure that you water the soil before weeding to make the weeds easier to remove.
Take advantage of this time to do any sort of long-term prep work, such amending the soil with organic materials. Since these some organic soil amendments can take some time to break down, use this time to make your soil healthy and abundant in nutrients.
Enjoy Your Fall Garden
Growing vegetables during the fall can be a lot more enjoyable, especially if you enjoy the cooler temperatures. There are also less bugs to worry about, since most of the adult bugs are around during the spring and summer.
When you plant your seeds in the fall (or late summer), you can expect to begin harvesting some crops anywhere from early to late winter, depending on what vegetable it is and the variety. Check the back of your seed packets for the estimated time for harvest.
As long as you follow the guideline listed above, you should not only have a very pleasant winter harvest, but your soil will be enriched and “ready to grow” for the spring planting season.
Happy Harvest! 🌱🥕🥦😊