Grow a Bountiful Harvest of Winter Vegetables in Pots

Even apartment dwellers can start winter container vegetable gardening. Read on for some winter container plant ideas to enjoy homegrown vegetables through the coldest months of the year.

Even apartment dwellers can start winter container vegetable gardening. Read on for some winter container plant ideas to enjoy homegrown vegetables through the coldest months of the year.

It’s a typically bone-chilling winter day in southern New York State, with the mercury huddled at 20°F and six feet of crusty snow on the ground. Yet I’ve just picked some fresh Swiss chard for tonight’s dinner! In another day or so, I’ll gather some kale. I harvested tender, green broccoli a week ago, and a few days before that picked brussel sprouts.

No, I don’t have a greenhouse, or even a cold frame. My crops are all grown in containers. I start them in late summer, let them reach maturity outdoors, then bring them inside when frost threatens.

The “green thumb bug” bit me a few years ago, when I first experimented with indoor plantings of tomatoes and cucumbers. Then in 1981 I rented a warehouse for my wholesale and mail-order spice business and decided to set up a rather ambitious container garden on the piece of asphalt pavement that came with the lease. During that summer my wife and I savored tomatoes, zucchini, peas, beans, kale, okra, chard, lettuce, and broccoli, all from my 200-square-foot plot of pots.

After the first hard frosts, I moved the remaining few containers of kale to the attic. A winter container garden wasn’t what I had in mind; I didn’t really expect the plants to survive, because the single, east-facing window there receives only three to four hours of sunlight (when there is any) during the short days of fall and winter. In addition, I keep the warehouse below 50°F because I only use it a few hours a week.

I was flabbergasted, therefore, at seeing how the kale flourished. In January and February, my family ate one plant each. Later that month, I put the other two plants back outside. They seemed to almost spread their leaves to the cool late-winter sunshine and, in early April, yielded a bumper crop of greens.

With that experience behind me, I decided in the spring of 1983 to plant enough containers to provide my family with fresh vegetables at least once a week through the cold months and early spring. Although I concentrated on crops that would grow back after harvesting (chard, kale, and broccoli), I also planted brussels sprouts and cabbage (which store well) and two varieties of lettuce. All in all, I put in about 60 plants, staggering the sowings so that each vegetable would be fully grown by October 1.

We had an unusually mild fall. Jack Frost didn’t move in until mid-December, but when he came around he seemed determined to make up for lost time! Like much of the rest of the country, we had the coldest Christmas on record. By then, of course, my plants were safely upstairs. In order to get the most out of the sun we had, I put shelves across the window and put the best plants on them. I arranged the rest of the plants on the floor, where they had to settle for a thin ray of light that made a slow arc from 8:00 AM until noon. (During the late afternoon, I actually had to turn on a light to find anything in the 60-square-foot attic. ).

Even so, our nine chard plants were very productive; we ate their greens once a week. By February, the leaves were small, but new growth continued. If anything, the baby shoots were more tender and tasty than the early pickings. The 30 regular kale plants and the five of the flowering types (which are as tasty and more colorful than the standard kind) also produced weekly harvests right up until I was able to pick outdoor crops in the early spring.

The broccoli, too, was a delightful surprise. Each of the ten plants produced scores of small but delectable sprouts. However, there weren’t quite enough for a full meal at each picking, so this winter I’ll plant more. The three cabbage plants weren’t expected to grow inside, and they didn’t. But one small head made some delicious coleslaw, and the other two, which were put outside in early spring, were ready to pick in just a few weeks. My five brussel sprout plants were harvested by late January.

In the course of my experiments with winter container gardening, I’ve picked up some general knowledge that I would like to pass on.

• Just make sure the pots are big enough and have holes in the bottom for water to drain. Anything from plastic milk containers to redwood planters will work. However, I like plastic pots with a squared-off bottom so that the roots of the plants can spread out. You may be moving these around a lot, and they are lighter than clay pots. They also keep water from evaporating better. Pots with a diameter of 8 to 11 inches, which you can get at most garden supply stores for about $1 each 25 to $2. 00 – sufficient for all the types of plants I have grown so far
• Soil: I use regular potting soil, which costs about $3. 00 for 40 pounds, and it can be used over and over as long as good fertilizer is used on a regular basis. About 20 pounds of soil are needed for every 11-inch pot of broccoli. The other plants can be grown in smaller containers. Sure, you can make your own potting soil too. There are lots of garden books with recipes. ).
• When plants are outside in the summer, they usually need to be watered at least once a day. I don’t use saucers outside, but you need them inside to keep your floors clean. For most plants, a soak once a week or so in the winter is enough, but check on them more often than that. If they feel dry, douse them. When vegetables get old, they tend to get thirsty, and it doesn’t hurt them if they have “wet feet.” ”.
• When it comes to fertilizing, you will need to feed your vegetables in pots more often than you would garden plants because the watering will wash away the nutrients more often. If you have to scratch fertilizer into the ground, be careful not to hurt the roots of your plants. If they stand out, sprinkle fertilizer on top of them and then add more potting soil on top of that. When the plants are outside, they should be fed once or twice a week. In the winter, you can stop feeding them.
• For leafy plants to grow well in the summer, they need at least six hours of sunlight. Flowering plants need two or three hours more. If one spot doesn’t get enough sun, just move the pots to where the sun is shining. But this isn’t as important once they’re grown up and inside. They will get by with what they have until you are ready to harvest.

A Crop-by-Crop Guide

• Swiss Chard: This very productive green doesn’t know when to stop! It’s the only vegetable that grows well in both hot and cold weather. I’m eating chard that I planted in April, and it tastes just as good as the small crop I planted in August. I’ve had the best results with Lucullus Light Green. The Rhubarb Chard variety is also very good. It has red stems and veins and looks great with the green species. You can get a lot of chard if you plant it in an 8-inch pot at the end of July and pick the leaves before they get to be 15 inches long. Fifteen plants are more than enough for a family of four to enjoy this treat once a week. Chard can handle a little frost, but why take a chance? Bring it inside when the first freeze of the season is expected.
• Kale: When people see my beautiful flowering kale for the first time, they usually ask, “What is it?” and “Can you eat it?” This beautiful vegetable would stand out in any flower garden, and it tastes just like regular kale. It has a tight head with a creamy white center and green leaves that are less dense around the edges. There’s another variety that’s red-on-green (Frizzy Red, from Park). I believe that picking only part of these plants would ruin their beauty, but when all of them are picked, they will yield up to four servings. Standard kale is another type I grow. It keeps growing even after the outer leaves are cut. To grow kale, you should start in mid-July and use 6 to 8-inch pots. The cool fall weather brings out the color, and the vegetable needs to be frosty for a few nights in a row to become sweet. In fact, it’s one of the vegetables that can handle frost the best.
• Broccoli: The sprouting types are the most prolific. After making small main heads, they’ll send out side shoots over a long time. Each time you pick them, they get smaller, but the taste is still great! I like Burpee’s Green Goliath. But keep in mind that broccoli needs a big 11-inch pot because its roots are deep. In the middle of July, I plant my winter crops. Broccoli can handle a little frost.
• Lettuce: Park’s Mission is my favorite. If planted in mid-July for winter harvest, the head doesn’t always form up. Still, it grows better than any loose-leaf lettuce I’ve ever grown. Bibb, which has small but sweet heads, is another plant I grow. Since lettuce roots are shallow, a 6° pot is fine. I don’t risk any frost with lettuce. The outside leaves turned brown even though the attic kept them safe, but we could still eat fresh salads for most of January.
• Cabbage: 1983 saw my first attempt at growing this vegetable. I was given some seeds, but I didn’t find out what kind they were. This year, I’m trying Park’s Darkri, a variety that grows quickly and has medium-sized heads. Last year I started cabbage in mid-July in 8″ pots. The plants seemed to hold up nicely indoors.
• Brussels sprouts: These little cabbages taste sweeter after a few nights of frost, just like kale. Sprouts need a long growing season, so they should be planted early in July. In 1983 and 1984, I chose Burpee’s Long Island Improved. It gave us a lot of sweet, tender sprouts that were only marble-sized, which we could eat until the end of February. A friend at the New York Horticultural Society said that the sprouts’ small size was probably due to the unusually high temperatures that stayed in our area during the growing season. Burpee’s Jade Cross E Hybrid should help me get bigger heads over the winter of 1984–1985.

Top 7 Container Veggies For Beginners – Garden Quickie Episode 142

FAQ

What are the best winter vegetables for pots?

Besides kale, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce, and peas are also great plants to grow in containers during the cooler months. Oct 16, 2024.

What is the easiest vegetable to grow in winter?

Eight vegetables to plant for a winter cropBroccoli. Broccoli is a staple of the autumn and winter vegetable garden. Cabbage. This cruciferous winter vegetable is delicious sautéed, roasted, pickled or raw. Carrots. Kale. Lettuce. Parsley. Rocket. Silverbeet.

When should I start my winter vegetable garden?

However, July and August are the best time to get a start on fall and winter food gardening.

What plants can you put in pots for winter?

Cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, and brussels sprouts are among the plants that will grow well in a winter container garden.