Most people think winter means they need to put all the gardening tools in a shed, zip up their coat, and wait around for spring like a miserable, vitamin-D deficient ghost of gardens past. But you really don’t have to stop growing stuff when it gets cold—there are actually a large number of vegetables that survive in winter, and some that thrive in it. Cold even improves the taste of some. You just need to know which ones to stick with.
Here’s a not-exhaustive but useful list of cold-tolerant vegetables—and to be honest, some of them seem to like the cold.
Radishes
This one is real quick; as in, you-blink-it’s-harvest-time quick. And, radishes don’t give two hoots about frost. I used to think of radishes as kind of boring—but I really enjoy winter radishes. They are sharp, peppery, and a little spicy. They come up really quickly, so if you’re impatient (or really not that committed to gardening) radishes are a low-barrier win. Bonus: they look pretty cool sliced up—pinks, purples, etc.
Carrots
Carrots in winter? Better than carrots in summer, actually. Cold weather makes carrots sweeter. Yes; it’s true, not just some garden myth – you’ll pull a carrot out of the ground after a good freeze and bite into it; it will be like candy. Crunchy candy. They will take a little while to grow out, but they’re worth the wait, especially since you can pretty much just leave them in the ground until you are ready to eat them. It’s like a living pantry.
Collards
These are rugged. So rugged, they don’t even seem to care when it’s cold. They’re big hearty leaves, and a bit bitter if you don’t manage to cook them properly, but they are great in soups or just sautéed with some garlic and heat. Not to mention, they just produce. One plant is an awful lot of greens. If you like Southern food, collards in winter are a cornerstone of it.
Lettuce
Don’t disregard it. Sure, it can be delicate, but the right type can actually prefer the cooler temperatures – like Winter Gem or that Arctic King variety, whatever it’s called. You get really tight heads, crispier greens, and hardly any bugs trying to take it from you. The texture is better too! You’ve never had a good salad until you made one with lettuce that hadn’t even been placed on a set at the grocery store.
Garlic
This one is kind of slow and low. You’re supposed to plant garlic in winter, then don’t even look at it for a couple of months, and then out of nowhere, by spring or early summer, there it is—big fat bulbs of yumminess! You can’t rush it, but it feels so good when you pull it out of the ground. Not to mention you can plant plenty of it in small places. Just stab it in the ground, pointy side up.
Peas
Snap peas, snow peas – either way, these do just fine in cold soil. They’ll actually sprout while it’s still pretty frosty out. The vines are entertaining to watch, and give them something to climb, and they will go crazy. Sweet, crunchy pods you can eat right off the plant. You will feel smug every time you grab one. They take up little space too, so you could shove them in corners or alongside fences and pretend that your garden is more intentional than it really is.
Arugula
These spicy little leaves grow way faster than you would expect. Arugula needs little, and loves cool. You start with a few seeds, and the next thing you know you have a forest of arugula. A peppery, leafy forest. Mix it with spinach; put it on eggs; toss it in a salad; you will find ways to use it because it is a spicy green**,** unlike most lettuces.
Bulb Onions
The onions represent more of a long game. You plant them in winter, and by the time late spring shows up, you are pulling out full-sized onions that have actual flavor. Finding the right type of onion (there are short-day and long-day onions, depending on where you are) is not easy; you should look it up. Once you have that sorted, though, they are very easy-care. Literally and metaphorically.
Asparagus
Okay, this one is not for everyone. It has something of a commitment. You plant asparagus crowns in the winter, but you will not be harvesting much—if anything—the first year. You are building a bed that will give you asparagus for years. It is for people who want to be sustainable for the long term. But once established? You will be harvesting tender green shoots every spring, like clockwork. And they taste much better than store-bought asparagus. By a long shot.
Spinach
You knew I had to go here. Spinach is the quintessential winter green. It laughs at frost. It loves the cold, and you can harvest many times—you just need to cut the outer leaves, and it will continue to grow from the middle. It has iron, and vitamins, and goodness and tastes many times better than spinach that has been sitting in a bag in the fridge for two weeks.
So yes, winter is not only for sitting around waiting for your seed catalog to arrive in the mail. You can grow things now. Actual things. Vegetables that not only survive but thrive in the cold. And the best part? You get to grow vegetables without fighting off summer bugs or worrying about watering every twenty minutes.
Just be sure to check on your winter crops every once in a while; snow doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything. And depending on your zone you might also want some row covers, or mulch as a form of protection. Cold hardy does not mean invincible.
But if you plant wisely, and pay attention, you can enjoy some of the best crops of the whole year—while your hands are frozen to the bone!
