Christmas Gardening – winter vegetable gardening

Winter gardening is about harvesting your vegetables in winter, not planting them at that time, although some seeds can be started in February. True winter gardening is really about extending the growing season – many novices start their vegetable gardens in April and end them in September or October, but this is a waste of precious time as many vegetables can be started earlier in the spring and later in the autumn and a few can even over-winter.

Winter gardening has its advantages too, for example, you have to contend with many fewer pests that would bother summer crops. Because there is plentiful rainfall in the winter, watering is usually not necessary for a winter garden. You may even find you need to cover part or all of your winter garden so the plants like winter lettuce do not get too much rain which can beat them to the ground.

The time to plant most winter garden vegetables is in summer or late summer so they are strong and ready for when the temperatures drop. Depending on what you grow, you can harvest in winter and early spring. Unless you have a heated greenhouse, you can't grow warm weather vegetables like tomatoes or peppers, but you can try:

Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale, Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower are all ideal for winter gardening. You can plant them in July for harvest in late autumn or in September to harvest in winter or early spring
Garlic, Leeks and other members of the onion family are an easy and carefree crop. If planted in late summer, they are ready for harvest the following June or July. You can also grow Green Onions or Garlic to be harvested in winter and early spring
With a little protection you can grow lettuce and other greens such as spinach, chard and mustard greens for use all winter.

Christmas gardening flowering kale photograph by elroySF, used under a creative commons attribution licence