Winter is usually a time when things slow down. Many plants and animals take shelter during the winter months and wait for the warmer days of spring to reemerge. But not all life goes into hibernation during the winter. In fact, if you’re looking for some plants that will make it through the cold winter months, we have a few options for you.
These plants are not only hardy enough to make it through the winter months, some will even thrive during this time of year.
Let’s look at some seeds that grow fast in winter and the different planting options you have available.
Winter Vegetables
When it comes to veggies, you have a variety of choices to choose from: carrots, green onions, kale, lettuce, radishes, spinach, and sweet peas.
Carrots: This semi-hardy vegetable will grow during frost and light freezes. They can grow in a variety of temperature ranges, but don’t do well in extremely warm weather. Carrots tend to taste even sweeter when grown in frost or cold weather.
Green Onions: This vegetable has a short growing period and is a good option if you are looking for a vegetable that won’t take up a lot of room. Even if you don’t have an outdoor garden, you can plant them in a flowerpot and place them on your patio or in a window that gets a lot of sun. Plant the green onions 6 mm deep and 8-10 cm apart in double rows, leaving 15-25 cm between rows, for best results.
Kale: This cool-season, leafy green in the Brassica or Cole crop family thrives in frost and light freezes. It can be directly seeded in the garden or started indoors and set out as transplants.
Lettuce: Plant seeds in thin rows that are about one foot apart. For leaf types, thin them so that each seed is 5 –7 cm apart then pull every other plant, when they are half grown. For lettuce heads, space rows 45 cm apart and plants 20 cm apart. If you are looking for smaller heads, then plant them closer together.
Radishes: This cool-season crop can be grown in as little as twenty days and can be eaten either raw or cooked.
Spinach: This versatile plant can be grown just about anywhere that has at least a month and a half of cool weather. It is a hardy, cool-season crop that can withstand frost and a light freeze, or two. Space spinach seeds 7 cm apart in rows 30 cm apart for best results.
Sweet Peas: Ideally this veggie should be planted about five weeks before the last frost. You can place the seeds cm deep and 12 cm apart to achieve the best results.
Related Topic: Guide to Winter Plant Care
Winter Flowers
Nasturtiums: This flowering plant can survive moderate winter temperatures, if you take them indoors or move them into a greenhouse before the first killing frost. If you decide to keep them in the ground, cover them with a cardboard box overnight to protect them from frosts and add row covers when the temperature dips down below zero.
Pansies: Cold tolerance for this flower starts at their roots meaning they need to be planted in soil that is between 7-18 degrees Celsius. Pansies will also need extra fertilizer in the winter. As the weather gets colder, you can protect pansies by piling on a couple inches of pine straw, which will help trap more heat. Once the cold weather passes, remove the straw. Also, if possible, keep them in raised beds in order to avoid damage from winter rain and/or snow.
Snapdragons: A cold hardy flower. Once they are established in the bed and well acclimated, they can survive sub-freezing temperatures.
Get Professional Gardening Assistance
The arrival of winter doesn’t necessarily mean everything has to come to a halt until spring. Growing vegetables and flowers in the winter is possible, and with the right care and attention, they will even thrive during this time.
However, even with these tips, keeping your garden strong and lively during the winter does require a good deal of knowledge and time. If you would like to grow some winter vegetables and flowers, but don’t have the time, The Ground Guys can help. To learn more about the services we offer, visit us here or give us a call at 1-888-972-8063.