Best Vegetables to Grow in Winter. There are numerous winter veggies to cultivate to supplement your garden’s harvest. So, if you enjoy tending to (and enjoying) your own fresh vegetables, there’s no reason to put them on hold during the cooler months. Some of the best winter vegetables are not only delicious but also visually appealing. Consider ruby-hued chard and structural leeks as excellent choices for adding colour and structure to your winter garden ideas.
‘Winter doesn’t signify the end of the growing season,’ say the gardening experts of The Greenhouse People(opens in new tab). If you’re serious about growing your own fruits and vegetables for environmental and health reasons, there are many wonderful crops that thrive in the winter months.’ While some may be ready to pick and eat all winter, you’ll be preparing others for earlier crops once the weather warms.
Best Vegetables to Grow in Winter
1. Garlic Best Vegetables to Grow in Winter
Garlic, a popular culinary item, can be planted in both spring and autumn. However, doing the latter will allow you to plan ahead for next year, as well as give the bulbs more time to bulk up. They’ll be ready to pick by the summer.
2. Romanesco Cauliflower
This glitzy vegetable is nothing like its paler relative. The lime-green heads with crinkly whirling florets are a striking addition to the garden. They’re usually ready to harvest around September, but if the winters are warm, they’ll keep going for a while longer. Plus, if frost is expected, you may always add some extra protection with fleece.
If you pick the flowerheads when they’re little, you’ll get a second crop. Allow them to grow larger and enjoy their lovely shape and colour as a feature in their own right before picking them for the pot. ‘Veronica’ is a fantastic choice.
3. Swiss Chard
If you plant Swiss chard in late October, you’ll have plenty to pluck before Christmas. Then it will sprout in time for spring. And if you keep collecting them, the leaves will keep falling. The greatest type of flavour is Swiss chard, which also has attractive yellow and ruby-coloured stems that look lovely in the yard. In fact, in addition to the vegetable patch, you may plant chard in flowerbeds or in containers for your winter patio as a highlight in its own right.
4. Purple Sprouting Broccoli
There is broccoli and then there is purple sprouting broccoli, and we all know which one we like! It’s one of the most tasty winter vegetables to cultivate, and some varieties can withstand temperatures as low as -12C° (10.4°F). It’s especially useful if you’re short on space because the plant will continue to produce if you keep picking it. It truly deserves to be in the patch.
5. Shallots
Shallots have a sweeter flavour than onions and can be sown from October through spring. Samantha Jones, a horticultural specialist at MyJobQuote, suggests the ‘Jermor’ type, which can withstand cold weather. It’s also well-known for being a dependable cropper. However, as the RHS(opens in new tab) warns, autumn planting is not suited to heavy soils prone to waterlogging. This is because the crop is more susceptible to illness.
6. Cabbages Best Vegetables to Grow in Winter
The winter vegetable garden adores cabbage for its ornamental characteristics as well as its dependability in the kitchen. They come in all shapes and sizes, as well as ones that have grown only for decorative value, which may be potted up in containers for a lovely winter show. The variety ‘January King’ has a subtle purple hue to the leaves as well as a good flavour, and red cabbages look and taste fantastic as well. Meanwhile, ‘Tundra’ is a hardy winter savoy kind that can be harvested beginning in November.
7. Cavolo Nero
The magnificent, pointed, crinkled, deep-purple-green leaves of cavolo nero, often known as black cabbage, look just as wonderful in the flower garden as they do in the food garden. It is quite resilient and can resist frigid temperatures. Sow seeds inside in early spring before planting out in April, and then direct sow until September for a longer cropping season. Alternatively, you can purchase young plants from a garden centre. Plant them closer together if you desire smaller tender leaves, but the effect will be less dramatic.
8. Brussels Sprouts
According to the horticulture staff at Essential Living, Brussels sprouts can tolerate frost. In fact, several cultivars taste better after being exposed to cooler temperatures. Sow the seeds from early March to early April, under cloches or fleece, or in a cold frame, according to the RHS. They can be transplanted into a sunny location with rich soil that is kept moist from mid-May to early June.
9. Leeks Best Vegetables to Grow in Winter
They’re ‘excellent in a stew and great for your winter garden,’ says Essential Living’s gardening staff (opens in new tab). They are also ‘likely to endure temperature drops below 0°F (-17° Celsius). ‘ Plant them in the milder months of early spring and fall, according to the Essential Living team. Plant the leeks six inches apart in well-drained, nutrient-rich soil that gets plenty of suns. Adding compost to the soil will assist to increase them; if you want to produce your own, you can learn all about DIY composting in our tutorial.
10. Broad Beans
‘If you missed sowing wide beans in October, sow some now under glass for an early June yield,’ suggests heritage glasshouse producer Hartley Botanic (opens in new tab). Sow the seeds 5-8cm (2-3in) apart and 2.5cm (about 1in) deep in trays of multipurpose compost, or singly in tiny pots. ‘Place them in a cool, frost-free greenhouse to “harden off” before planting outside in early spring,’ they advise. ” “The Sutton” and “Robin Hood” are dwarfs and suited for windy areas; “Aquadulce” and “Aquadulce Claudia” are medium-sized “are taller, more conventional kinds.’
