December 3, 2023 – Most gardeners go hot and heavy from garden prep as early as January to seed start in February or early March through transplanting in spring right on to takedown after the first fall frost. The thought of growing crops through the winter just doesn’t compute! But on the other hand, if it were really, really easy, why not consider it?
As it turns out, you can have winter crops and perhaps two sessions before it’s time to transplant your spring/summer veggies. It’s too late to put in fall crops, but there’s plenty of time for several winter crops. Such crops contain built-in antifreeze to allow growth/maturity in cold weather.
I usually start cabbage seeds (I prefer Brunswick variety) in December, so they’re ready to transplant in January. 38-50 seeds will provide enough cabbage and cabbage steaks for us and the neighbors well into the spring.
When January rolls around, I try to get the earliest onion seedlings (sorry, I’ve had very poor luck with onion seeds!) possible, usually by 10 January. It takes very little time and not much space to put in 1,000 seedlings which will provide neighbors, the needy and us plenty of large (.5-1.25 lb.) onions.
Then, for those who want more varieties but fewer results, there are the carrots (wait 2.5 months), radishes, beets, lettuce, onions and probably several other crops on seed tapes that are anywhere from 6-15’ long. Several of these offer multiple species for small, big, short, long, thin and fat produce! Stretch out the tape in your garden, cover with proscribed soil, water, and anywhere from 25059 days, start harvesting! Don’t have a regular garden? Not a problem, just cut the tape into sections and plant in containers! Some use seed tape to start marigolds, which will continue in the summer garden.
