Winter is not normally regarded as a time for planting crops. However, there are numerous winter growing vegetables that will thrive in your garden even when the weather turns cold due to their hardiness, quality and adaptability.

Kale

Not only does this vegetable thrive during winter, its flavor will actually improve. While every variety can be grown in cold weather, the best is curled leaf kale, as it is exceptionally resilient and provides larger bunches at greater speed. Russian kale along with green curlies will grow quickest while red kale will grow at a slower rate. Lacinato kale will grow the slowest and might also display tip burn due to the frigid temperatures.

Kale should be seeded near the end of July or the start of August so they may be transplanted during September. You’ll need to cover them with a row cover that is light in weight to block insects and you can harvest between October and March through clipping their leaves starting at the bottom then working your way up. However, it isn’t always a necessity to protect your kale when the plants have been completely harvested, especially when the temperatures reach their lowest.

Kale of different sizes can be placed in lower tunnels for winter keeping, and then harvested at the beginning of spring. The leaf quality during that time will be based on the winter severity but plants that survive will grow rapidly.

Spinach

When grown during winter spinach becomes very flavorful and sweet. This is because the plant has a property where it collects sugars as a response to low temperatures, which prevents cell bursting. This combined with its ease of growth makes it the vegetable of choices especially for those who are new to winter gardening.

Spinach should be planted thirty five to fifty days prior to the beginning of a Persephone period. This plant won’t germinate well during warmer conditions, so to best optimize the germination rates you should irrigate prior to planting it so the soil can be cooled down. To obtain the proper plant density, you’ll want to begin by placing the spinach inside paper pot style trays or plugs so you can grow until transplant size, which are 2 leaves. Some gardeners use racks that are lit by LEDs or they place them in basements where the environment is cooler. Spinach like other plants comes in numerous variants, and while any can work for winter, the best are Space, Corvair, Auroch, and Kolibri.

Brassica Greens

Brassica is another top winter plant, especially Pac choi, which is prized for its stem thickness that is capable of withstanding a high degree of freezing damage. Others include tatsoi, komatsuna and arugula, along with mustards. In fact, many of these varieties can be harvested repeatedly especially during their baby leaf period, but you have to be careful otherwise you might sustain a winter kill should the greens be planted with too much density.