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As the days cool down, now is the perfect time to prepare your winter vegetable garden for a bountiful harvest over the cooler months. Whether you have a small raised garden bed or a large plot of land, there are plenty of vegetables to grow within your space.
Especially as a trip to the local supermarket is becoming more and more expensive, growing your own food is satisfying and rewarding. The vegetables you’ll grow will be good for you, but the process of caring for these plants will be good for you, too. Don’t scientists always talk about the benefits of gardening?
When planning your winter vegetable garden, think of all your favourite winter vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage and peas are all staples that’d be delicious in a hearty winter soup. Garlic and onions are also a must, as they both protect other plants from pests.
The must-have plants to add to your winter vegetable garden
Beetroot
One of the most versatile vegetables you’ll find in any winter vegetable garden is the beetroot. Cook it, roast it or bake it into a cake; beetroot is very popular, and that distinctive colour adds variety to your diet and garden. Beetroot can be planted from spring until autumn, but as a root vegetable, it will complement your brassicas, carrots and other seasonal favourites.
When to plant: Broccoli can be grown throughout the year but prefers the cooler months
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist; do not overwater as this may cause the beetroot to rot
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 3 – 4 months; harvest at the size you prefer, younger beets will be sweeter than older, larger beets
Companion plants: Cabbage, kale, broccoli, lettuce and onions
How to grow beetroot:
Broccoli
A classic of any winter dish, the humble broccoli is a simple crop to add to your winter garden. There is a wide range of varieties usually available at your local garden centre, including purple, white sprouting and dwarf.
Broccoli do take up a lot of space, so you’ll need to plant your crops at least 50 cm apart.
When to plant: Broccoli can be grown throughout the year but prefers the cooler months
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 60 – 100 days
Companion plants: Beetroot, lettuce, celery, rosemary, onions and dill
How to grow broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Some people love them, some people hate them, but no one can deny the health benefits loaded into the Brussels sprout. A perfect addition to a winter veggie salad, stir fry or side dish topped with plenty of salt, Brussels sprouts are a must-have in the winter garden.
The plant can grow to be up to 3 feet tall, so it may require stakes to keep it upright. Each stalk can produce up to 20 sprouts, so best to plant one or two plants every week or so in autumn to have a plentiful harvest over the cooler months.
When to plant: Anytime from late summer to autumn
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 80 – 100 days, depending on the variety
Companion plants: Beetroot, onions, garlic, carrots, dill and basil
How to grow Brussels sprouts
Cabbages
If you’ve seen the prices cabbages can go for at the supermarket, why not grow these in your own backyard? Cabbages are an old favourite, great in a colesaw, salad or stir fry for texture and flavour. They look great in a garden, too, taking up plenty of space.
When to plant: Autumn to spring
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 60 – 100 days
Companion plants: Carrots, celery, beetroots, onion, sage and dill
How to grow cabbages
Carrots
What’s a winter garden without carrots? Full of nutrients, carrots are perfect as a healthy snack, copped and added to stir fries, grated into salads or baked into cakes. Growing carrots is a journey, too, and to be sure you pull happy and healthy carrots at harvest, there’s a bit of prep to do before you plant the seedlings.
To be sure you have nice, straight carrots, break up any lumps and remove any sticks and stones as the carrots will grow around these bumps, resulting in wonky vegetables. The finer the soil, the finer the carrot will be.
When to plant: Spring to autumn
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 50 – 65 days
Companion plants: Peas, leeks, chives, garlic, onions, shallots, lettuce and spinach
How to grow carrots
Cauliflower
A staple in the kitchen, cauliflower is both satisfying to grow and delicious to eat. Cauliflower steaks are gaining popularity as a vegetarian-friendly dish or low-carb alternative to rice. Cauliflowers like their space so when planting, be sure to give each plant at least 40cm to stretch out its leaves.
When to plant: Autumn to spring
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system
Harvest: 80 – 100 days
Companion plants: Beans, celery, oregano, peas, spinach, basil, thyme, rosemary and dill
How to grow cauliflower
Celery
Celery is another divisive vegetable, from which many people turn their back. But with many health benefits (and very few calories), celery is a simple sweetener to add to soups and stir frys. Prefering cooler months, celery is best grown in autumn or early spring.
When to plant: Autumn and spring
Sun: Full sun, at least 6 hours per day
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed:
Harvest: 80 – 85 days
Companion plants: White cabbage, brassicas, beans, onions, basil, rosemary and thyme
How to grow celery
Garlic
You can never have too much garlic in the kitchen. They’re great for our health, added to pretty much any dish you wish to create, and turns out they’re great for the garden too. Because of garlic’s strong scent, it works very well as a companion plant to many vegetables and flowers helping to repel aphids.
Plant garlic in your garden from late May until August, and enjoy a plentiful summer harvest. Using a fork, dig in the soil for the bulbs and leave to dry in a cool dark space for 2 – 4 weeks. This wait time helps to enhance the flavour.
When to plant: From late May until August
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep the soil damp but be careful not to overwater as this may cause the bulbs to rot
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system. Stop feeding about one month ahead of your harvest.
Harvest: 180 days after planting, traditionally around summer solstice (21st December)
Companion plants: Brassicas including cabbage and kale, carrots, potatos, spinach, beetroot, tomatoes and most herbs (except mint)
How to grow garlic
Onions
You always need an onion on hand, right? A staple in the pantry, onions add flavour, colour and texture to so many meals. They may cause the waterworks when cutting into them, but onions are well loved and great to grow in the garden.
Similar to garlic, a freshly harvested onion isn’t ready to eat. Once the tips start to die back, big up the bulbs with a fork and let them dry out on the ground for a week or so, then move them to a dry place until the outer skin is dry and brown. Store your onions in a cool, dry place, and they’ll last weeks.
When to plant: Autumn and spring
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system.
Harvest: 10 – 26 weeks
Companion plants: Brassicas, tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, potatoes, carrots and roses
How to grow onions
Peas
Forget the frozen peas from the supermarket. Growing your own peas is simple, and they taste even better when harvested fresh from the garden. Plant pea seedlings in the garden in winter, pick regularly, and you’ll have plenty to add to salads, stir-fries, soups or to puree throughout spring and summer. Peas are climbers, so make use of your bare fence or trellis.
When to plant: Winter and spring
Sun: Full sun
Water: Keep soil evenly moist
Soil type: Free-draining soil rich in organic matter
Feed: Use a liquid fertiliser once a month to encourage strong roots and a healthy immune system.
Harvest: 55 – 65 days. The lower peas are the first to ripen so aim to pick these first.
Companion plants: Most vegetables including lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, celery, corn, carrots, brassicas and beans
How to grow peas
How to save vegetable seeds
Particular success with a crop is all the more reason to grow it again by harvesting seeds from those plants. To ensure genetic diversity, save fully ripe seeds from at least five healthy plants. Allow them to dry out for at least a week before storing in a cool dry place, preferably in an envelope inside an airtight tin.
The seeds of courgettes, melons, capsicums, pumpkins and tomatoes need the flesh rinsed off before drying on a paper towel. In celery, coriander, lettuce, rocket and carrot, seeds form in the flower heads, which need to be left to brown before picking. Then place them upside down in a paper bag for a week or so while seeds fall out.
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