Despite popular misconceptions, you can still garden in the winter! Winter is the time to plan your garden, and depending on where you live, you can even grow food.
Back when I knew pretty much zip about gardening, I tended to judge the changing of the seasons in part by what the stores sold. Summer may have been in the air, but you knew fall was coming when the craft stores advertised their fall and Halloween decor. Likewise, every year, in the spring, the big box stores bring out the gardening supplies, seeds, and started plants. Gardening in fall and winter was not a thing, because stores didn’t advertise it.
If you go strictly by when big box stores sell things for the garden, then gardening is strictly a spring and summer affair. This is what I used to think, after all. Winter was the one time of year when you couldn’t garden, or even be bothered to think about it.
In actuality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Depending on where you live, you can still have a modest garden in the winter. Even better news: the cold weather means you can enjoy minimal maintenance! And if you live somewhere where it’s too cold and snowy during the winter to actually grow anything, there is still work of other kinds to be done.
So what am I even talking about? A gardener’s work isn’t over during the cold months; in fact, it’s just getting started. Early winter is the time to do much of the preparation that will ensure the success of your garden.
Don’t consider yourself a gardener? Think about last summer, when you wished you had put in those flowers or tomato plants or herbs. Now is the time to get a step ahead of the game, to plan what exactly you want for the year. In fact, planning ahead may even make you more successful: instead of wandering around the garden center picking up whatever plants strike your fancy, you’ll go in with a game plan. You’ll be able to purchase exactly what you need and therefore save money. (Although even experienced gardeners still impulse-buy plants!)
Gardening in the Winter
The amount of gardening you are able to do during the winter is directly correlated to where you live. Someone living in southern Florida or southern California will be able to actively grow a lot more than someone in Minnesota.
Dream of Next Season’s Garden
Winter is the gardener’s time to dream. In the dreary cold and short days, we long for warm weather and sunshine. We flip through seed catalogs dreaming of the beautiful new varieties of plants to fill our garden beds. We dream of eating food fresh from the garden, of snipping fresh herbs for the night’s dinner, of filling a vase with fresh cut flowers.
Don’t be afraid to dream big! Read all the books you can, browse magazines, and peruse seed catalogs. Think of your successes and failures from last year’s garden, and use that knowledge in planning this year’s.
Actively Plan Your Garden
After dreaming about your ideal garden, actually plan it out! Some people make lists of the plants they want to grow. Others actually map out their garden on paper.
Decide what exactly you want to plant. Plan where in the garden is the best place for it. This is especially important if you are rotating your crops. If you strongly amend your soil, then you may not need to rotate everything. Keep in mind any garden pests you had last year and plan your rotation around those. (For example, if you had a bad infestation of squash bugs, plan to plant your squash plants in a different part of the garden this year.)
Knowing how much space you have to work with can help you know how many plants to start or purchase. It will also give you an idea of how much seed starting equipment you may need.
Order (and start) Your Seeds
Now is the perfect time to browse your favorite seed catalogs, either in book form or online. (Scroll to the bottom of this post for a list of seed companies I like.) Whether you order seeds for a very specific garden plan or just whatever strikes your fancy, now is a great time to do so. That way you’ll have them ready in plenty of time to start them.
If you are planning to start your seeds indoors, make sure you have the necessary equipment. This includes containers of the right size, soil, and grow lights. Last year I managed to start my seeds indoors very cheaply by growing in solo cups with houseplant lights. This year I plan to expand my operation by purchasing some good T8 shop lights.
When starting your seeds indoors, there are two things you need to know. 1. You need to know your last frost date. You can find this by doing an online search for “last frost date” followed by your zip code. This is an estimation, not a hard fact, but it will give you a baseline date to work from. 2. You need to know how long your seeds take to germinate and how long to plant them before you can transplant them outdoors (and whether or not they can go out before or have to wait until after the last frost date). This information is usually found on the seed packet. If it isn’t, you should be able to readily find this information online.
Some seeds, such as onions, need to be started well in advance of the last frost date. Others, such as tomatoes, can be started six weeks or so before. Usually your seed packet will provide you with this information.
Grow Frost Hardy Plants
Ideally, if you wanted to have frost hardy plants growing in your garden, you would have started some last fall. (See my Fall Garden Planning guide here.) If you didn’t, then fear not! You can plan to plant your frost hardy plants for early spring. Get a head start by starting your frost hardy plants, such as brassicas and hardy greens, indoors several weeks in advance. You can then transplant them into your garden as soon as the ground thaws.
Most root vegetables can survive the cold. However, they don’t really like to be transplanted, so you’ll have to direct sow them. Near the end of winter you can put out your seeds for beets, turnips, and carrots.
Cold Frames and Row Covers
I have not personally utilized cold frames or row covers in my garden; however, plenty of gardeners use these to grow food through the winter and protect their plants from the cold (and pests) with great success.
A cold frame is a transparent enclosed structure used to protect plants during the cold. It acts as a miniature greenhouse. There are lots of ways to build them. Some people dig a hole in the ground and cover the top with a glass window. Others build an entire independent structure. If this is something you’re interested in using to extend your growing season, a quick google search will give you tons of resources.
Row covers are an impermanent way to protect your plants from frost. They are usually made from metal hoops covered with plastic sheeting of some sort. These are a good way to protect your early spring plant starts from the cold and wind.
So it’s not too early to be gardening after all! Even if you live in a northern zone where it is too cold and snowy to grow anything, you can still get a head start on your spring garden. Winter is the time to begin!
Seed Companies I Like
I like to support small companies who work to further the home garden movement and help preserve heirloom varieties. Most of these seed companies have free catalogs you can request from their website. Plus, several of them have highly informational YouTube channels!
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: rareseeds.com
Renees Garden: reneesgarden.com
MIGardener: migardener.com
Mary’s Heirloom Seeds: marysheirloomseeds.com
Seed Savers Exchange: seedsavers.org
Botanical Interests: botanicalinterests.com
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