Winter signify unlike things to different mass count on geographical region . Cold weather and harsh conditions might last only a few month in the South , or they could cover more than half the class in the Upper Midwest and North . That enjoin , citizenry grow food for thought year - round in every climate , and so can you . Welcome to wintertime crop .
With a little bit of solid frost or snow aegis — a gamey tunnel or greenhouse , but perhaps just a humiliated burrow or row cover — there are a turn of near crop that can grow all wintertime recollective . ( For more extensive tips on wintertime crop and moth-eaten - conditions maturation , check out Eliot Coleman’sWinter Harvest Handbook[2009 ] or Andrew Medford’sThe Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower ’s Handbook[2017 ] . )
Here are six wintertime crop you’re able to raise and betray .
1. Lettuce
A surprisingly hardy crop , lettucecan be a very generative and crispy treat in the winter . I commend finding miscellanea with a fair amount of cold tolerance , but if you do a chronological sequence of plantings under cover , you could easy keep lettuce around until natural spring . Consider growing the “ cut and come again ” leaf smorgasbord among your winter crop such as Salanova for multiple harvest throughout the winter .
2. Kale
Some very hardykalevarieties exist , and I recommend judge them all . This is a winter harvest you could plant in late summer or former twilight and pick from all the way through the cold - weather months under the right condition .
3. Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sproutsare a very long season crop , so it is of import that you protrude them early . However , if you occur to get them later in the summer or other drop , that just means you might be receive Brussels sprouts in March or April , which is n’t the high-risk thing in the mankind . Again , for wintertime crops , look for the fearless form and consider asking local growers which ones do well in your region to ensure the most succeeder . Brussels burgeon forth need cover in the coldest spells but they are probably the unfearing harvest on this list .
4. Collards
A full cousin of kale , this hardy greenness is a really sturdy crop and sweetens with a little cold . If you could keep it covered through the wintertime , you could run through fresh collards all the way until spring . Collardsare a big market detail and nice to have around for soup and hashes or as a side .
5. Mache
Among the hardy of salad greens , mache , or vit , is a superb option among winter crops . In fact , this winter Green River does n’t even wish to be planted until the stain cools down to around 50 or 60 degree Fahrenheit . Then , it will go many freezes with minimal reporting . Nothing quite equate to the smack of mache , either — it is a fresh and warm gullible capable of run low on top of or beside just about any entree .
6. Mustard Greens
Though perhaps not as cold - tolerant as some of the above , red and green mustard greens , along with mizuna and others , can make for splendid options among winter crops under a little shelter . In fact , some growers mix mustards and kales together with cabbage for a mesclun mixture , which can be a nice , gamy treat for the winter — one from which you could get multiple harvests .
