What's happening in the early November edible garden

Lavender in late fall

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Well, we are still experiencing record warmth here in the Midwest.  We are seeing highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's.  Our normal highs are the 60's and lows in the 30's and there are no 30's in the forecast for the next two weeks!  It's like we moved to Georgia.  My summer veggies are still producing and the cool season crops are growing quickly.  

So far, I'm still harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, Red Malabar and New Zealand spinach.  They all have flowers and baby fruits on them.  They have slowed down as the daylight hours are so much shorter now.  

The cold season crops like kale, lettuce, onions, mustards, chard, carrots, garlic and many herbs are nice and green and growing quickly in the warmth.  When the mercury dips, the cold season crops will get sweeter.  Cold season crops for your edible garden

I have been planting onions and garlic recently.  I ordered a sweet Egyptian walking onion in the summer and it came in a few days ago.  I planted them in a pot to keep an eye on them for the winter..  Looks like they all transplanted well  By early next summer, they should be dividing underground and putting on top sets that I can then move into the garden bed.  I planted the top sets from my existing Egyptian walking onions into the garden bed a couple of weeks ago and many of those are up.  I planted some new potato onions at the same time.  I have a few of those up, too.  

Egyptian walking onions don't get as big as the potato onions but you can harvest Egyptians year round.  Potato onions multiply underground over the winter so can be divided next spring.  I'll then harvest the potato onions in the fall, re-planting all the small ones and putting the largest ones in the cellar.  Potato onions are long keepers.  By next summer, I hope to not have to buy any onions. 

If you are gardening in pots, move them up against a wall that gets southern exposure.  This will move your effective climate zone up a full zone and prolong the harvest.  If they are on stands or coaster, remove from their stand and set them onto the ground.  They will stay much warmer on the ground than suspended off the ground.  Putting the pots into the mulch will help keep them warmer still.  

Now is a fun time of year to experiment in the kitchen with all the fresh herbs that are still available.  Parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, bay, lavender, chives, oregano, and dill are all hardy herbs in November.  I have had many Christmas dinners with herbs fresh from the garden.

You can also bring tender perennials like basil, rosemary and bay into the garage or house for the winter.  Other veggies I bring in are my pepper plants, celery, eggplants, citrus trees and tropicals.  I keep them in our unheated, insulated garage or heated basement with a 4' grow lights over them.  We did finally transplant my Morton Citrange into our southern exposure garden bed up against the fireplace.  It is hardy down to 0 F, but being on the south side up against stone just helps give it winter protection.  It's fruit is supposed to taste like a cross between an orange and grapefruit.  Fingers crossed I get to taste some next year!  

Last year, I moved the pepper plants, eggplants and tropicals into my new walk in, portable greenhouse.  I chose clear plastic to maximize the sunlight that gets through since I will primarily be using it during the cold seasons. When it started getting down into the teens, I moved the tropicals to the basement.  Plants just don't do as well under artificial light as they do outside.  My eggplant didn't do great in the greenhouse.  I need to put straw around the greenhouse to hold the warmth in at a higher level, up where the leaves and fruits are.  I'll try that next year.  The natives I put in to overwinter did great.

Walk in, portable greenhouse

You can also take a look at all the tomatoes you have put up in freezer bags.  If you have more than you know you need, this is the perfect time of year to do some water bath canning.  I go through and any left over from last year or more than will fit in the bottom freezer bin, I make into sauce.  Time to make homemade tomato sauce! 

As even more freezing weather comes our way, you can extend the season for lettuce and greens through the winter by using a portable green house or making your own hoop house.  I'll put my potted lettuce, chard, arugula, celery, kale and mustard under my portable greenhouses to keep salads going the entire winter.  Extend the season with protection for plants

The biggest killer of veggies in greenhouses?  Getting too hot!  Make sure you crack open your green house when the temps get above freezing and the sun is shining.

I have pulled the seed heads of my zinnias, cockscomb, Cardinal basil, Christmas Speckles lima beans, Blauhilde purple vining pole beans, garlic chives, Turkish Orange eggplant, Red Burgundy okra.  After they dry thoroughly, I will separate the seeds from the petals/hulls and package in small plastic baggies for next year and for the local seed library we are starting in the community next spring.  I also have eggplant, squash and tomato seeds saved from earlier.

I usually save my extra garlic cloves for peeling and pickling in the late fall.  If you have a large harvest or have soft neck, it can take a while to peel.  I stick with hardneck as they are larger and their skins are easier to remove.  I also grow Elephant garlic whose cloves are huge and very easy to peel.  This year, I didn't have much of a harvest.  I had put my garlic in a pot last year as we were moving our beds around and they all died.  I had a few volunteers come back up in the garden bed from tiny bulbets left from a couple of years ago so I dug all those this summer and replanted in the garden bed a couple of weeks ago.  Next year, I'll see how these do and supplement if needed for next fall in the southern large bed we just put in.  Starting next year, the beds will consistent and I can just plant and practice crop rotation through my beds.

I just planted blueberry bushes in pots.  They require very acidic soil so will see how much they produce keeping them in pots.  Pots are easier to keep pH control.  I mixed half and half peat moss with potting soil to get the lower pH they prefer.  

I have 3 raspberry and 2 blackberry bushes that I've kept in pots that I'll put in the ground yet this fall.  Fall is a great time to plant trees and bushes.  These berry bushes grow well under the same conditions as other edibles so no special bed preparation is needed for them.

Lastly, I will need to transplant the lettuce I started into their permanent pots and cover them with a portable greenhouse cover.  I am going to move the pots onto the concrete so I am not creating a vole tropical winter habitat.  Hopefully, this will reduce the number of voles in my garden beds.  I am also going to use blood meal for nitrogen as it deters voles and lowers the pH in the soil, which I need to do in our beds.  

What to plant in the November edible garden

Portable row cover 

Saturday, November 2, 2024

You can still plant for the edible garden in November.  Plant seeds of cold loving crops.  Many cold season crops have much better germination success when it is cooler.  Even if they don't grow rapidly during fall and winter, they will start growing quickly at the end of January.  For those seeds that don't germinate now, they will come late winter, early spring when conditions are right.  Cover can be used for all the harvestable edibles to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can sow more greens, carrots, beets and herbs in the portable greenhouse or under cover.  You can also transplant perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Don't forget garlic if you haven't already planted yours, you still have time!   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Here are the crops you can start in the November Midwest edible garden:

November seeds outdoors
Austrian winter peas

Fava beans

Garlic

Rutabaga

Lettuce-winter hardy varieties

Snow peas

Spring bulbs

November seeds under cover

Arugula

Broccoli and Sprouting Broccoli

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee

Lettuce, Winter Hardy types

Mustard and Mustard Greens

Parsley and Parsley Root

Radicchio

Rutabaga

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Swiss Chard

November transplants
Asparagus

Cabbage, Oxheart

Winter and Perennial Onions

Trees and bushes

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Portable greenhouse

Look for cold hardy varieties when planting for winter harvests.  You will be surprised to harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, sprouting broccoli, and cabbage.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times and those that are advertised as winter hardy.  

 Fall planted crops take longer to come to harvest size than they do in the spring.  Rule of thumb is to add 2 weeks.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and the temperatures are falling.  Sowing in November, some crops may not sprout until spring.

The south side gets much more sun during the winter than does the north side.  More sunshine also gives the ground more warmth so planting or moving pots to the south side will help the plants grow faster and produce longer.  You can create an even warmer microclimate by placing pots against the house.  

Covering plants when there is a cold snap in the fall will keep them warmer and growing quicker, too.  I cover my edibles with the portable greenhouse or row coverings once daily highs are no longer getting into the 50's and night time temperatures are dipping down into the 20's.  If your portable greenhouse or row cover has vents, you can cover crops now with the vents open.  You can use cover to help your crops grow faster and to extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter 

November 2024 Edible Garden Planner

Late November edible garden
Sunday, October 27, 2024

November is the time of year we, and Mother Nature, burrow in for the cold months ahead.  It is also a beautiful time of year with the kaleidoscope of fall foliage colors and crisp, clear days.  Late fall chores should include cleaning up your garden beds, reflecting on the gardening season completed, and preparing your fall and winter edibles for the frosty days ahead.

Garden bed clean up

To prepare your garden for its winter nap, remove gardening debris from your beds.  For any diseased vegetation, be sure to throw these away and not compost.  You don't want to propagate and spread any diseases to other parts of the garden.  A really hot compost pile will kill them but it isn't worth the risk going into winter.  I leave most seed heads on the flowers in the garden for food for the birds over the winter.

Remove stakes, trellises, and tomato cages and store for the winter.  Clean and oil all garden tools.  Clay pots will crack if allowed to hold water when they freeze.  Either empty, cover or bring under cover for the winter to protect from breaking.  Make sure your hoses are drained, your watering cans are emptied, your water barrels are emptied and disconnected from gathering water for the winter and your outdoor faucets are insulated for the winter. 

This is a good time to make sure your compost and composter are ready for cold weather.  Compost provides nutrients, beneficial microbes, fertilizer and overall improves your soil’s condition.  Outdoor compost piles go slowly in the fall and winter, but speed up as temps rise in the spring.  I use an insulated stainless steel tumbler type composter with 2 bins.  This time of year, I fill up one side with garden waste goodies from tidying the garden and empty the other side of its finished compost so it is ready for the winter adds.  I also cover my tumbler composter with a grill cover when it rains or snows to keep the compost from getting soaked.  If doing compost piles, it is a good idea to cover them for the winter.  Super wet compost will not decompose; compost needs to just be damp.

It is critical to keep the greens and browns in the right ratio to keep the compost cooking in the winter.  You want to add 1 part "browns" to 3 parts "greens" to keep the microbes in balance.  I find that I need to add shredded newspaper to mine in the winter because there aren't many "browns" coming from the garden or kitchen.  We have chickens so I'll use their used bedding for my browns.   Here are some tips if your composter/compost pile starts having issues  Troubleshooting your compost pile

After your garden clean up, look to give your garden a nutritional boost for the winter months.  Doing a nice layer of compost and organic fertilizer, topped with mulch, will allow the nutrients to seep into the garden soil, ready to give your spring plants a boost.  The mulch will keep the soil more temperate during the winter months for your winter edibles and keep weed seeds from sprouting.  Organic fertilizers take a long time to release their nutrients.  Using in the fall will give the spring garden a running start.  It is best to get a soil test done to make sure you are keeping the nutrients in the right balance.  You may need only nitrogen.  If a soil test shows you need to make major changes, fall is the best time to do this to give the soil the winter to equilibrate.  Local Extension Offices will analyze your soil for a nominal fee or for free.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Reflection on the past garden season

While the past gardening season is still fresh in your mind, now is a great time to jot down some notes on what went well, what didn’t, and what you would like to research over the winter.  Make a list of the varieties that did great that you want to replant, which plants you want to be sure to have more, or less, of next year.  Also make note of how many plants make sense to plant for next year.  Here are my reflections last fall for the edible garden.  Reflections on the 2023 edible garden and plans for 2024

Keep track of what you eat over the winter to give you a good idea of what and how much to plant come spring.  This year, I am writing down what I have in the pantry and freezer so I can see come spring how much is left to adjust what I plant.  How much to plant?  Use this winter to figure out what to grow in the spring!

Even if you have a small area, you can grow most of what you eat.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

Fall is a fabulous time to make new garden beds.  It is super easy, too.  Just use a hose to outline your new bed, fertilize, put down a layer of cardboard (earthworms love cardboard!), a layer of compost, and cover with mulch.  By spring, the new garden bed will be ready for planting.  We have added one on the south side so far this fall and I am going to add another small one in the back for berry bushes.  Easy ways to make a new vegetable garden bed

Gardening after the first frost

For western Kentucky, the average first frost date is mid-October.  We have already had a few frosts this October.  When the lows start getting 28 degrees F or below, this is a killing frost for the summer veggies.  Be sure to harvest the remaining tomatoes, peppers, okra, basil, eggplant, cucumbers and squash before your first hard freeze.

Green tomatoes and peppers can be brought indoors to ripen on the counter.  Green peppers are great as they are.  You can let tomatoes turn red or eat as green tomatoes.  I remember my grandmother making fried green tomatoes every fall.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  Many make them into relish, too.

One vegetable that surprises me with how long it stays good just sitting on the counter are cucumbers.  I have kept cucumbers through February.  I just found a hidden one in the garden yesterday.  I'll likely make it into dill relish.  Quick tip-make homemade pickle relish

There are many edible crops that can still be planted in November.  You really can eat fresh out of the garden year round, even if you live in Zone 3.  Greens, asparagus, herbs, winter onions, broccoli, rutabaga, fruit bushes and trees and perennial flowers are a few of the crops that can be planted this month.  It is not too late to plant your garlic.  Growth does slow down from end of November to mid January as daylight hours dip below 10 hours.  For more on planting in November,  What to plant in the November edible garden 2023

I cover my greens with a portable green house to keep salads coming all winter when it calls for the temperatures to dip down around 20.  When I grow other cold season crops like broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, I use a floating row cover to keep them warmer and improving growth.  For cold climates, using cover is the key.  You can garden year round in small space

I have lettuce starts that are getting to a good size to plant into their winter pots.  When I move my outdoor pots into their sunny spot for the season, I will finish transplanting the lettuce seedlings into them.  It is likely too late to start seed for plants that you can harvest this winter, but it will give a boost for spring harvests.  I use gallon jugs of water inside the portable greenhouse to keep the temperature more moderate, too.

If you have a cold frame or greenhouse, you can sow spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets, cold hardy herbs, kale and mustard this month.

If you are using uncovered pots, putting the pots on the south side, in a sunny local and close to the house will keep them from getting frost bit into November or even December for cold season crops.  It seems to extend the season for 2-4 weeks.  Prepare for hard freeze

Late November potted lettuce

For the herbs you cut back earlier in the season to dry, November is a great time to now strip the stems of the harvested leaves and put into jars for winter cooking.  You can make your own “Herbes De Provence”.  Thyme, oregano, rosemary, savory, basil, tarragon and lavender are common herbs used in this famous French seasoning, but any combination is tasty.  I mix them up in about equal amounts and store in a sealed Mason jar.  It is great to add to just about anything-sauces, chicken, fish, potatoes, garlic bread.  Makes wonderful Christmas presents, too.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence".

For those that keep on going into the winter like thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, chives and tarragon, I would prune back the plants by about two thirds and strip the leaves from the cut stems.  Do so when there are warm temps forecasted for a few days to allow the plants cut ends to heal.  Otherwise a cold snap can kill the plant.

Use your herbs for your Thanksgiving meal Use your own herbs for your Thanksgiving dinner   More than likely you will have some edibles still growing in the garden.  Take a look and plan your meal around them.  Some winter hardy edibles include kale, broccoli, cabbage, chives, sage, thyme, corn salad, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, plantain greens, celery, mustards, even some hardy lettuces. 

Save seeds from your garden

Seeds from heirloom tomato bought in store

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Saving seeds has been the foundation of farming since it began thousands of years ago.  Seed saving is easy and saves you money.  Always save the seed from the best vegetable you grew! Or the tastiest you buy at the farmers market or store.  

Pick the fruit or plant that has the characteristics you want to grow again.  The one that was the biggest or had the best taste or produced the most or produced the longest or gave you harvests the earliest or was the most drought or pest resistant.  Whatever characteristic that you want to have in your garden next year is the plant's seeds you want to save from this year. 

Lettuce flower buds

One caveat, you cannot get "true to parent" plants from hybrids.  If they grow, they will often be totally different than the parent or could get weaker with each generation.  You need “open pollinated” or heirloom vegetables for the seed to for sure produce a baby like the parent.  You can always save seed from hybrids to try as an experiment, but don't be surprised if it is very different from the parent plant.

What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

It doesn't cost a thing to save seeds from store bought veggies or fruits you like and you can end up with some great plants for your garden!  To be sure that the seeds you save will come back true to the parent, heirloom is a sure bet.  One of my favorite paste tomatoes is one I saved the seed from a tomato bought from the store.

For garlic, you save the best, biggest cloves.  You divide up the garlic head into individual cloves and plant them in the fall when it cools off.  Typically, sometime in October or November.  Most store bought garlic has been treated to prevent them from sprouting so you may or may not have luck using the ones from the grocery store.  Organic garlic is not treated.  Your farmers market is also a great place to get garlic well suited for your area.  October is prime time to plant garlic

In our garden, seeds can be saved from tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, broccoli, cilantro, dill, celery, borage, salad burnet, garlic, okra, Egyptian walking onions (bulblets), basil.  I have many zinnia, amaranth, chervil, garlic chives, marigold and basil "volunteers" in the garden every year from seeds dropped by the plant last fall.

Try self-seeding veggies and flowers

Do not save seeds from any diseased plant as the disease can be in the seed itself and passed to the new plant.  You wouldn't want to save seed from a plant that is susceptible to disease any way.  You want to save seeds from plants that thrive in your garden conditions. 

Lettuce flower seeds

For peppers, squash and tomatoes, just scoop out the seeds, lay them on a paper towel on a plate and let them dry completely.  Some suggest for tomato seed to put them in water and let them ferment a bit.  The ones that sink are the ones you want to keep for planting, not the ones that float.  After drying, I put in plastic baggies and keep in the frig to prolong seed life.  Don't forget to label the variety and date saved.

Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow ...
Growing zucchini and summer squash
Warm joys of winter squash

I have finally found/grown two kinds of sweet peppers that produce well.  I'll keep saving the seed and growing them out.  They are now a mainstay for my garden.  This year I had great luck with California bell peppers so I will try these again next season.  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Many greens, like chard, parsley, lettuce, broccoli, will shoot a large stalk up then flower.  This is called "bolting."  The easiest thing to do is to let the seeds form, cut the stalk, then put the stalks with seed heads attached into a paper bag.  Let them dry thoroughly, then shake the seeds out.  Some may require that you roll the seed heads between your fingers to free the seed.  

You can actually re-sow seeds from cool season crops like lettuce, cilantro, parsley, chard, chives and get a second fall/winter harvest!  I re-sow seeding about every other week starting the first of September.  In about two weeks, you will have sprouting greens.  When they have grown a bit more, I will separate and transplant into pots and the garden.  I like starting seeds in long narrow pots what are self-watering to be able to move easily to the best growing conditions.  Can also move under the portable greenhouse when it gets cold.

Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds
Outdoor seed starting tips

I put my dried seeds in labelled ziplock bags and store them in the crisper, include the seed type, descriptor and date.  A picture of the plant can be helpful to remember the plant the seed belongs to.  Fun gift to give, too.  The seeds last for years this way!

This year, I have saved seeds from the best tasting butternut squash I have grown ever, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, Egyptian walking onions, garlic, orange Cactus and California Giant zinnias, cockscomb, Turkish Orange and Antigua eggplant, my bushiest sweet basil and Cardinal basil, Purple Yard Long and Blauhilde pole beans, Christmas Speckles lima beans, and Jigsaw pepper seeds.  I have left my celery, Red Malabar spinach, and some Giant Blue Feather lettuce plants go to seed for volunteers in the spring.

Our local Master Gardener group is looking to start a seed library (basically a seed swap station) in our local library.  I'll have plenty to use for my garden and give to the seed library.

What's happening in the late October edible garden

Lavender in late fall

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Late October is a great time to tidy the garden to prepare for winter, harvest the last of the summer fruits like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, plant winter edibles, get perennials planted and reflect on the spring, summer and fall edible garden outcomes.  

We have had a couple of frosts so far this month, but everything survived in the garden including frost tender basil.  Kale, lettuce, onions, mustards, chard, carrots and herbs are nice and green.  All cold season crops get sweeter when the mercury dips.  Cold season crops for your edible garden

Now is a fun time of year to experiment in the kitchen with all the fresh herbs that are still available.  Parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, bay, lavender, chives are all hardy herbs into January.  I have had many Christmas dinners with herbs fresh from the garden.

You can also bring tender perennials like rosemary and bay into the garage or house for the winter.  Other veggies I bring in are my hot pepper plants, goji berry, moringa tree and citrus trees.  I have kept them in our unheated, insulated garage with a 4' grow light over them.  We have an unfinished basement now so that is where most will go under grow lights while others will sit in front of a sunny window in the house.

If you haven't already, now is a good time to go through your summer garlic harvest, choosing the biggest cloves from the biggest bulbs to plant and preserving the rest.  I peel garlic while I watch TV.  I like to pop the extra cloves in vinegar to preserve them.  The easiest to peel are the hardnecks.  I grow only hardneck and Elephant garlic.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!   Time to plant garlic!

I have planted my garlic, shallots, Egyptian walking onion bulblets, and potato onions.  We are having a long dry spell so I am watering them.  I want to keep the ground moist, but not soaking wet.  Since the high temperatures have left us, I'll likely only need to water every couple of weeks when there is no rain.  I want to get them growing before it gets really cold so they can get good root systems established to take off in the spring.

While cutting basil for making pesto, I also saved the dry flower heads.  I saved the dried flower heads from my bushiest sweet basil plant and the dried flower heads from my Cardinal basil plants.  I am running low on seeds for both so I'll open the each dried flower head and save the seed for next year.

My zinnias, cockscomb and amaranths are winding down, too, so I cut their dried flowers and will separate the seeds from the petals.  I keep the zinnia seeds separated by color so I can grow them for specific spots.  The orange California Giant and cactus zinnias just shine in pots at the front of the house.

I have fruit bushes and a tree that are in pots that I will plant in the next month.  Any perennial is great for planting in the fall.  I am planting aronia, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry bushes and a fig tree.  It is a great time to plant ornamental flowers, bushes and trees.  We planted a Japanese maple and a hardy Morton Citrange tree so far and have a maple and serviceberry yet to plant.

You can also take a look at all the tomatoes you have put up in freezer bags.  If you have more than you know you need, this is the perfect time of year to do some water bath canning.  I go through and any left over from last year, I make into sauce when the days are chilly.  Time to make homemade tomato sauce! 

As even more freezing weather comes our way, you can extend the season for lettuce and greens through the winter by using a portable green house or making your own hoop house.  I have a portable green house I put over my pots with edibles.  I will still have lettuce and salad fixings until spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants

The biggest killer of veggies in greenhouses?  Getting too hot!  Make sure you crack open your green house when the temps get above freezing and the sun is shining. 

My 5 favorite winter garden edibles

4 season onions

 Saturday, October 19, 2024

The winter garden can provide food all the way to spring.  There are five strategies to having outdoor edibles all winter long.  One is to plant early enough to be at full size by first of November.  The second is to leverage protection like row covers, portable greenhouses, and cold frames.  The third is to choose varieties that are winter hardy. 

If you don't have transplants ready to go, many local nurseries and mail order nurseries have plants that you can plop right in the ground.  Both will carry those that are cold hardy.  Look for descriptions that show they are as cold hardy as you can get to last all winter.  

Just as info, ornamental cabbage and kale are not only stunning to look at, they are also edible. 

Make sure to add a scoop of finished compost to planting holes and organic fertilizer to add nutrients to soil that may be depleted after the summer harvest.  Espoma is readily available at most big box and hardware stores.  For greens type veggies, the general vegetable garden fertilizer is a good choice.

Use row cover or a portable greenhouse to extend the harvest all the way to spring.

These are my 5 favorite winter garden edibles:

1-Spinach and other winter hardy greens   Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green Fall and winter greens  Collards and kale in your garden  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 7 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Transplant seedlings about 6 weeks before first frost. Harvest the leaves around the outside of the plant; always leaving 5 leaves on each plant.  This will let you harvest for weeks from the same plants.  Other hardy greens include miner's lettuce, corn salad, sorrel, arugula, salad burnet.

2-Lettuce  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Ready for harvest in: 6 to 12 weeks for leaf lettuce; 11 to 13 weeks for head lettuce

Can survive frost: Yes (depending on variety-try Winter Density, Rouge diver, No Name Red Leaf, Arctic King, Continuity, Salad Bowl, Mottistone to name a few.  

Fall planting notes: Keep transplants indoors until soil cools. Lettuce seeds won't germinate in hot soil temperatures, above 75-80F.  You can also broadcast seeds in cool soil every two weeks for a continuous harvest. I like starting my seeds in a pot in a cool area and then transplant into the garden.  Harvest in early morning for best taste and structure.  

3-Sprouting Broccoli  Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Ready for harvest in: 8 to 9 weeks

Can survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Plant seedlings deep, leaving 1 to 3 leaves above soil. Heads grow fast. Harvest before flowering begins. May produce secondary heads. Harvest edible leaves, too — they are even more nutritious than the buds.  I love the leaves in salads.

4-Onions and Shallots  Everything to know about growing onions

Ready for harvest in: Next spring for mature onions, 6 weeks for green onions

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Onions, leeks and shallots like loose, rich soil.  Be sure to plant varieties for the length of daylight your zone has in the summer.  It is the number of daylight hours that stimulates the onion to form bulbs.  In our lower Midwest garden, we need intermediate onion types.  Don't be tempted to grow Vidalias in Minnesota; they just won't make bulbs.

5-Overwintering Fava Beans and Peas  Grow a European favorite-the fava or broad bean

Time to plant peas!

Ready for harvest in: 4 weeks-Next spring

Survive frost: Yes

Fall planting notes: Inoculate the seeds to get the nitrogen nodules that support more vigorous growth and nitrogen in the soil.  There are snow peas that are ready to harvest in just 30 days.

Now, don't forget you can harvest many Mediterranean herbs all winter as they are perennials.  Start a kitchen herb garden! 

How Low Can You Go?

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get a decent vegetable harvest even through winter with protection.  Many folks grow edibles through the winter in Zone 3 with some type of cover.  Several varieties will grow well into the snowy months, and a good frost sweetens many by forcing the plants to make more frost-protecting sugars.

Can Survive Hard Freeze with No Protection/Cover

• Broccoli

• Brussels sprouts

• Cabbage, regular

• Carrots

• Chard

• Collards

• Fava beans

• Kale

• Kohlrabi

• Lettuce (depending on variety-look for winter hardy) 

• Onions, leeks, and shallots

• Overwintering peas

• Parsley

• Radishes

• Spinach

• Turnips

• Winter hardy and perennial greens  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

Harvest Longer

In fall, promote faster growth by packing plants a bit more tightly than you might normally do. You can extend your growing season by adding thick layers of mulch around plants, or by using season-extending techniques such as row covers. When nights get chilly, protect plants by covering them with a cloth or blanket, portable greenhouse or cold frame.  Extend the season with protection for plants