February 22, 2026
Some like it cool, some like it hot!
You can optimize the veggies you grow by knowing what season is best for the type of vegetables you love eating. Cool seasons like spring and fall are prime time for different veggies and fruits than hot summers and you need to get the cold hardiest crops for winter gardening.
Here are just a sample of the types of crops that thrive in each of the seasons. Read seed packets to see what season the flower, vegetable or fruit you are planting grows best in and when to start them from seed both indoors and outdoors. How to read seed packets for seed starting and planting your garden
Vegetables that are good to plant for spring harvests
Asparagus (these take a great deal of space)
Greens-spinach, chicories, radicchio, tatsoi, mustard, arugula, kale, sprouting broccoli
Lettuce-sow every 2 weeks so you have lettuce spring, summer, fall, into winter
Peas, fava beans
Cilantro, parsley
Carrots, radishes, beets, turnips
Garlic, onions, potatoes
For cool season crops, they typically bolt (send up a flower stalk) and go to seed when the temperatures start hitting the 80's. When this happens, cops like lettuce and kale become bitter. There are greens you can grow in summer that stay sweet all through the summer heat like New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, a few heat tolerant lettuces, orach, amaranths, sprouting broccoli and others.
Summer vegetable garden
Heat tolerant greens-chard, sorrel, salad burnet
Pole and bush beans, shelling beans
Fennel, dill, basil, leeks
Corn, Okra, Melons
Summer squash (like zucchini, Trombetta, crookneck)
Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Sweet & Chili Peppers
Cucumber
Strawberries
Strawberries
Most summer lovers will produce until the first fall frost.
Vegetables for the fall garden
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage,
Peas, Brussels sprouts
Winter squash (like acorn, patty pan or pumpkin)
Sweet potatoes (these take a very long time to mature)
Radicchio, Escarole, Frisee and Round 2 of Greens
In the fall, you are back to the cool season loving crops. The trick to a bountiful fall and winter garden is starting your seeds in August and September so they are at full size come November when daylight drops below 10 hours.
Late fall/winter garden
Cold hardy greens-arugula, kale, spinach, lettuce, sorrel, spinach
Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
Fava beans
Carrots, turnips
Onions, chives
For a winter garden, you will choose the most cold hardy vegetables. You sow the seeds at the same time as your fall garden. You can use cover to extend the season.
For each season, you will plant a month or two earlier than the season you want to harvest if growing from seed. Check seed packets to see how many days from planting to harvesting. Back up the date to plant so it is ready to begin harvesting at the right time. For fall and winter gardens, add 2 weeks to the maturity date (or days to harvest) as it is cooling down and sunlight is getting less going into fall.
If you are buying transplants, you plant when the season is just right for the veggie!
