Your gardening season starts in spring when the soil has defrosted and dried out enough for you to work it. The chilly temperatures of early spring are ideal conditions for many popular garden crops, including peas, spinach and kale, broccoli and cauliflower, carrots and other root vegetables, onions, and more. These vegetables provide you with lots of fresh food before the weather warms up enough for planting tomatoes, peppers, and other summer favorites.
You start seeds for some of the cool-season crops indoors in late winter, while with others you direct-sow the seeds into the garden while it’s still cold out. While the direct-sown seedlings are small, you may need to provide protection from the most frigid conditions with a low tunnel or cold frame. Once established, these vegetables survive low temperatures and even light frosts.
To help you start your garden early, we’ve put together this handy guide to the cool-season vegetables. By the way, many of these crops thrive in fall weather, too.
Leafy Greens
- Lettuce:Romaine types, such as ‘All-Season Romaine Blend’, produce spring and fall crops. ‘Green Ice’ looseleaf lettuce and the classic ‘Iceberg A’ heading lettuce are notably cold-tolerant varieties.
- Spinach: Some varieties of this super-nutritious green are so durable in cold weather that they can be planted in the fall, overwinter under a layer of mulch, and start growing again in spring. ‘Bloomsdale Long-Standing’ has been a standard for cool-season plantings for decades.
- Arugula: If you like a little zing in your salad bowl, sow this peppery green as soon as the ground thaws in spring. ‘Rocket’ grows rapidly in cool weather, with its tender young leaves ready to eat in about 35 days.
- Kale: Cold temperatures actually improve the flavor of kale. The leaves of ‘Red Russian’ kale turn a purplish hue after a frost. ‘Red Winter Organic’ stays tender even in chilly weather.
- Mustard: Your tastebuds will be tingly with the zesty flavor of these cool-season greens. ‘Tatsoi’ is so hardy it will survive a spring freeze or snowstorm.
Root Vegetables
- Radishes: The first crop you’re likely to harvest from your garden in spring. ‘Pink Beauty’ is extra cold-tolerant and its vivid roots are ready to eat 22 days after sowing.
- Carrots: Naturally sweet carrots thrive in cool soil and develop better flavor when lightly frosted. ‘Nantes Half-Long’ germinates quickly in early spring.
- Beets: Both the roots and leafy tops of beets are edible. ‘Early Wonder’ produces bright-red roots and healthy greens.
- Turnips: A versatile crop providing hearty roots and leafy tops. ‘Purple Top White Globe’ is a great choice for spring planting.
Brassicas (Cabbage Family)
- Broccoli: For tender florets, plant broccoli while soil temperatures are still below 50 degrees. ‘Marathon’ adapts to various spring conditions.
- Cabbage: Types like ‘Earliana’ produce dense heads and become sweeter after frost.
- Cauliflower: The close relative of broccoli thrives in cool soil. ‘Snowball Self-Blanching’ keeps its florets white as they mature.
Legumes
- Peas: Choose from shelling peas, snow peas, or snap peas. ‘Burpeeana Early’ is a classic for spring planting.
Alliums
- Bunching onions: ‘Parade’ produces zesty green shoots in early spring.
- Bulbing onions: Burpee onion collection offers a mix of red, white, and yellow varieties.
When gardeners start thinking about growing vegetables their first thoughts are beans, tomatoes and peppers. Seedlings of both peppers and tomatoes are tempting when we see them on the store shelves, and are a great way to get fresh tomatoes all summer, but home grown vegetables can start much earlier than the end of spring if you grow winter vegetables that do better in cool weather. Cool temperatures in spring have fewer pests around to bother your cool season vegetables which means they are less prone to damage and other problems. The best cool weather vegetables include salad vegetables, kales, chards, onions and the cabbage family as they are more tolerant of colder temperatures and light frost.
Just like the warm weather vegetables, most winter vegetable varieties are started from seed indoors. This is timed to put the seedlings into the garden about two months before the last frost arrives. Warm the soil with a plastic cover before you plant the seedlings, or use a cold frame to protect them from spring winds and late cold spells.
Winter Vegetables
The Cabbage Family: This includes cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower and kales which all produce white or yellow flowers when the plant goes to seed. They germinate in about a week and can be placed into a protected garden bed about a month before your last frost date. If the weather is still cool, add a row cover or cloche to the plants to keep them warm. In warm areas you can grow these vegetables in your fall garden too. Transplant the seedlings and put them into the garden in September, and protect from hot afternoon sun. Warm summer soil combined with cooler fall temperatures help the seedlings to settle quickly and a second crop is produced about 60 days later. Have a frost protection cloth ready in case an early frost occurs.
The Onion Family: Onions, shallots and leeks are the main members or this group and they take a long time to mature. Onion and shallot sets can be put into the garden about a month before your last frost date, as well as seeded in the garden for a fall crop. They can also be planted in fall to emerge late winter for an early spring harvest.
Salad Vegetables: There are numerous varieties of cool weather lettuce and mesclun mixes that thrive in spring gardens. Spicy mustards and colorful greens can all be started indoors about 2 months before the last frost. Put the seedlings out about a month before the last frost and cover with a cloth on cool nights. Seeds can also be sown for a longer harvest. Try planting some seeds in late summer too for a fall harvest.
Most of the cool weather vegetables can tolerate a light frost, but keep a cloth handy for sudden cold days and late frosts. Extending the season with winter vegetables will keep your dinner table full of fresh, nutritious vegetables for at least a few weeks longer.