Try planting cold-weather hardy plants, such as kale, garlic, and onion, in your winter garden, so long as they are suitable for your region and can be covered or brought indoors during cold spells. You can also try your hand at microgreens or hydroponic gardening to increase your range of crops in winter!
The latest time to plant for most vegetables would be the second week in June with a short harvest time. If planting crops that mature within 50 days, you could plant those as late as the last week in June, but keep in mind the weather will be turning cooler, especially at night. Cool crops are best for late plantings.
Some of the best vegetables to plant in December include kale, microgreens, radishes, and asparagus. You may also get away with planting scallions or green onions outdoors, and an indoor herb garden will always thrive no matter the outside temperatures!
The cold months of December through March provide a perfect opportunity for building cloches, cold frames and even greenhouses, which enable gardeners to extend the harvest season. Also, winter is a great time to start early spring crops from seed.
Light freeze - 29° to 32° Fahrenheit will kill tender plants. Moderate freeze - 25° to 28° Fahrenheit is widely destructive to most vegetation. Severe or hard freeze - 25° Fahrenheit and colder causes heavy damage to most plants.
The best time to winter sow perennials and hardy annuals is generally December to March depending on the weather conditions in your area. These seeds require a consistent period of moist, cold temperatures before germination occurs in spring.
Most people would love to eat freshly grown tomatoes year round. Though tomatoes can be grown in the winter in a greenhouse, this can become expensive with the costs of heating and supplemental lighting, in addition to the cost of the greenhouse.
It's never too late. It just matters what you put into that garden. It's too late to grow tomatoes in your Chicago garden in September because you'll be getting cold weather soon, but you could still grow carrots, radishes, and lettuce plants.
Depending on your local climate, June or July is the latest possible date you can plant cucumbers in order for them to be able to yield any fruit. When planted in warmer weather, the plants will establish much more quickly than when planted in the spring.
You can plant or harvest something from your garden almost all year. The two major planting periods, however, are spring (March to May) and fall (mid-July to September). The spring plantings are harvested in June and July, while the fall plantings are harvested from October to December.
Grow Winter Cover Crops
Some farmers grow broccoli and radishes during the winter months as they tend to thrive in chilly temperatures, along with crops like brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, cauliflower, and kale.
Some edible options for winter sowing include the classic cool-season crops – like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Leafy greens – like lettuce, kale and bok choy – are also hardy annual options. Herbs like sage, oregano, dill, and mint are good winter sowing candidates too.
December means that it is time to start planning your garden wherever you live. You can also try growing some fresh herbs inside on your kitchen windowsill. Listed below are flower, vegetable and herb varieties that are great to start planting in December based on the Hardiness Zone that you live in.
According to Foxx, kale, collard greens, and lettuce can all thrive during winter. "They are pretty similar in terms of how to grow them, too," she says. If you've never grown greens before, Foxx recommends starting with kale or collard greens.
These cold-weather champs are kale, spinach and collards. Other hardy vegetables include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, English peas, kohlrabi and leeks. Hardy root crops are radishes and turnip, which also yields some greens from the tops.
Potatoes are a great winter-early spring crop and at this time of the year you will find seed potatoes available in local garden centers and on-line. And there's a potato planting solution for any sized garden! They can be planted in the ground in rows or in mounds, in containers, in potato bags, or in potato towers.
For many garden plants in fact, a soil temperature below 50°F can be a problem. With temperatures in the 40s, seeds will readily absorb water, but not start to grow.
Long-season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, winter squash, and okra make the most sense because indoor growing gives you a jump on the growing season. I also start greens like kale, collards, and lettuce indoors to enjoy them early in the summer.
Cold hardy winter sown seedlings can tolerate freezing temperatures, and shouldn't need to be protected. Just keep the lids on your containers overnight, and they will be fine. It's the warm weather plants (the ones that can't tolerate frost) that you'll need to worry about.
Grow winter crops in a cold frame or plastic tunnel
Plant vegetables for winter harvest in a cold frame or plastic hoop tunnel or have portable hoop tunnels or cold frames read to set over plants when a frost or freeze threatens. A cold frame or a plastic hoop tunnel will protect vegetables from cold temperatures.
There's no reason to stop growing vegetables just because cold weather has arrived. Sun-loving edibles can be cultivated indoors in containers enriched by supplemental LED lights. But choose the right plant combinations for this four-season gardening. Some plants are more demanding than others.