Winter is Coming!

It may surprise you to learn that winter doesn’t mean the end of gardening season! There’s lots to do, and even lots to grow in winter, as long as you have the right plant varieties and tools!

Cool Season Crops

The most important aspect for successful fall and winter gardening is the selection of the right crops. One type of winter crop are crops planted to overwinter. We plant these now but leave them until Spring or Summer to harvest. The best example of this is garlic! Planted in the fall, garlic uses the cold snap of winter to form large bulbs that

can be harvested in spring and summer, depending on the variety. Garlic is available now in most garden stores: hard-neck varieties are especially recommended for Columbus climates. You can break apart the cloves, plant them pointy side up, pop some in a container or bed about 6 inches apart, and reap the benefits in 2022!

The other kind of cool season crops include crops that love to grow in cooler, shadier climates: lettuce, carrots, beets, spinach, swiss chard, kale, and other brassicas are in this group. They do wonderfully in the low 40s and 50s, and a frost can make taste them even sweeter! While they won’t germinate in low temperatures, if you plan ahead and start your garden in late September and early October, you can reap the benefits of a winter garden through the coldest and darkest months. Here is a picture of some lacitano kale and cabbages flourishing in my fall garden. They likely won’t survive too many hard frosts or extended temperatures below freezing, however, so the final ingredient for winter gardening success are frost covers!

Frost Covers and other Winter Garden Tools

Row covers, or frost covers, come in many varieties and thicknesses for a variety of conditions. Row covers can be propped over the plants with hoops

and clips or simply floated gently on top of them and held in place with rocks. You can see my row covers (pictured left) with one layer for the cooler nights we’ve had, with the second layer ready to go as we dip below freezing. You can buy more elaborate kits that have zippers and windows for very cold weather (pictured right) or lighter row covers and layer them as temperatures dip below 45 degrees F. Even better, these covers fit perfectly into spooky season! For crops that you’d like to survive even the coldest winter, you can invest in cold frames, or mini greenhouses like the one that will protect my lettuce and spinach through the New Year. They’re more pricey, however, and you have to be careful to prop them open if it’s warmer, because they can heat up fast. 

I hope these tips get you dreaming of a Winter Wonderland dotted with fresh greens!