Tag Archive | enclosing the porch

Prepare Now for Cool Season Gardening

Sep23

Updated 9/2/2026

 

 

Today, In the Garden

 

 

leaf lettuce seedlings

 

 

My gardening year never ends, transitioning without a hiccup from one season to the next. One crop finishes up, and a new one takes its place in any of several garden spaces on my property. That’s one advantage of living where winters normally are moderate, here in the Piedmont of North Carolina (USDA zone 7b).

In this article, I’ll describe how to get the most out of your garden as the main season comes to an end, and I’ll offer many tips on growing greens into the colder seasons.

Although an occasional cold blast might drop winter nighttime temperatures into the single digits F, those extremes don’t happen every year. Cool season gardening can be a very satisfying project, and I encourage you to discover the delights of keeping the garden productive. With careful planning, you can harvest something from the garden every day of the year!

While some gardeners lament the end of the growing season, I welcome autumn as the beginning of new crops of edibles. Pleasant fall weather and clear blue skies make outdoor activity an absolute joy as cool season gardens become established. As a bonus, these are the months without weeds and insect pests… or fewer of them.

 

 

Dealing with Frost

 

 

green tomatoes on the kitchen counter

These green tomatoes will ripen on the kitchen counter.

 

Weather is a constant consideration for us gardeners. Ordinarily, the first autumn frost arrives here around the third week in October. But it can occur weeks before that or not until weeks later, in November. With warm days and moderately cool nights, most of the tomatoes and peppers ripen in the gardens.

Sometimes, one or two more weeks of mild temperatures can follow the first fall frost. That’s a good reason for not removing summer vegetables right away, assuming they survived the first chill and retain some unpicked fruits. Covering the plants protects them from cold nights, as described in the next section.

Before an expected frost, I’ll pick green tomatoes that are mature or almost mature in size. They’ll ripen indoors on the kitchen counter. Any fruits remaining on the vine not protected by a canopy of foliage will be damaged by frost. Cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, and other tender crops also should be harvested before the first frost.

Consume cracked, bruised, or blemished vegetables first since they deteriorate quickly. In some years, the last tomato is eaten weeks after New Year’s Day. High humidity in my home—from two fish tanks and plants everywhere—helps keep the tomatoes in good condition.

 

Covering Crops with Plastic or Old Sheets

 

mini lights under plastic cover

Clear plastic and mini incandescent Christmas lights.

 

Few of us want to see garden production come to an end, especially with younger fruits still clinging to the stems. In the meantime, though, we can do a few things to maintain slightly warmer conditions while those last fruits ripen outdoors. And consider cool season gardening, after the tomatoes are removed, which opens up a whole world of possibilities!

Covering the plants at night with large sheets of plastic, a tarp, or old sheets holds in enough warmth to make a difference between losing the plants and not losing them. Some gardeners use heat cables, hot water bottles, or strings of incandescent miniature Christmas lights to raise the temperature.

The goal is not to create a tropical atmosphere, but rather to increase the temperature several degrees to prevent frost damage and to help ripen the last fruits. (Photo, above: plastic film, an old towel, and lights prevent cold from reaching these potted vegetables in Charlotte NC, several years ago.)

Avoid letting the plastic covering touch the plants. At night, the cold transfers directly to the leaves and can damage or freeze them. Prop the coverings on taller stakes or place a layer of cloth between the plastic and the plants. You could go a step further and place large containers of hot water near but not touching the plants. Weigh down the sides of the covering to confine the warmth and to prevent the whole thing from blowing away in the wind.

For all plants protected from frost, remove the coverings when morning sunlight warms the area. Heat builds up very quickly under clear plastic, roasting the plants.

On cold, overcast days in autumn, the protection can remain in place during the daytime if any summer crops are worth saving at that point. Vent the covering if the space overheats in the daytime. A wide footprint provides an opportunity to warm a larger area of ground, which releases that warmth to the plants at night. But don’t expect a significant turnaround in the summer vegetables’ vigor.

Next spring, I might use a large tarp and hot water bottles under the small peach tree. In April 2025, we had an unexpected freeze, which ruined several dozen peaches. That would have been the tree’s first harvest. The weather forecast predicted a low of 35-37°F, but only one fruit survived the 27° night.

(***Update***: Happened again! A few April nights predicted to fall below freezing prompted me to affix some old sheets and a tent canopy to the lower part of the peach tree. The tree was just too large to protect all the fruits. No tiny peaches survived in the top half of the tree, but about 20 fruits that were protected will continue to grow. Fingers crossed. 4/12/2026)

Keep those materials handy, as they might be needed to protect cool season gardens as the temperature plummets. While many consider these procedures not worth the effort, let me remind you that only fairly flavorless store-bought tomatoes will be available after this point, if you choose to buy them at all. No thanks; I can wait until next year’s new crop. Each ripe tomato in autumn is treasure.

 

Potted Plants for Growing Indoors

 

pepper 'jimmy nardello' overwintered in enclosed porch

Heirloom ‘Jimmy Nardello’ pepper.

 

Because they’re tender perennials, peppers can be potted for indoor growing. (A “tender perennial” can live two years or more, but it can’t tolerate frost.) Keeping a few pepper plants potted through the summer makes the transition to the indoor environment easier than digging plants at the last minute. To increase your odds of success when digging up plants, prune off half of a large plant. Choose small to medium sized pepper plants, if you can, for keeping indoors over the winter. You’ll need to hand-pollinate the flowers to set fruits, and scout daily for aphids. Peppers need 6+ hours of direct sunlight to survive.

Potted herbs can grow indoors in a sunny window. Divide a clump of chives growing in the garden, take a small division of thyme, and prepare a pot of parsley a few weeks before frost. Or you can start seeds of your favorite herbs in mid to late summer, and keep some of them potted.

potted basil

Basil ‘Genovese Compact’, ready for the farmers’ market.

At the farmers’ market, you might find a vendor who sells potted herbs in late summer or autumn for indoor growing, as I do. For basil, starting with young basil plants ensures they will last all winter, if growing conditions favor growth. An older basil by late summer wants to flower, becoming “woody” and tired. As an annual, it won’t last much longer in good condition. (Annuals grow for one season, starting from seed, growing and maturing, flowering and setting seed, and then dying.) You can start seeds or purchase young plants in late summer. Basil must be protected from chilly temperatures, so start moving healthy plants indoors before nighttime temperatures drop below 50-55°F.

Moving Houseplants Indoors

Tropical houseplants also need to come indoors as temperatures decrease.

Pothos, philodendron, alocasia, aglaonema, African violet, orchids, and spathiphyllum are among those that are very sensitive to cool temperatures. They’re the first species to come indoors, at 60°, after inspecting them for insects, slugs, and spider mites.

Before nighttime temperatures drop below 50°, return ficus, palm, dracaena, schefflera, aralia, and other tropical plants indoors.

Houseplants that benefit from cool temperatures include cyclamen, Christmas cactus and other orchid cacti, many other succulents, and English ivy. Some develop new flower buds after being exposed to a few weeks of cool temperatures, in the high 40’s and 50’s. But they and all remaining tender houseplants should come indoors before they’re damaged by frost.

 

 

Shopping Your Local Farmers’ Market

 

I’ve been selling herbs, cool season greens, and vegetables—as transplants—at our county farmers’ markets since 2022. Lots of these vegetables are planted in my own gardens for cool season harvests, with some freshly cut produce sold at the markets.

A weekly visit to your local farmers’ market demonstrates what can be grown in your region at that time. Ask the grower if her produce was grown in the open or in a protected space, such as a greenhouse.

Try some new greens and vegetables to broaden your family’s exposure to different foods. This is a good way to determine which varieties of edibles you like and might try growing in your own garden. Most vendors are happy to spend a minute or two answering your questions about variety selection. And they might offer tips for successful growing and kitchen preparation.

Growers offer a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, greens, and fruits at busy farmers’ markets. You’ll likely see greens or varieties of basil not sold in grocery stores or garden centers. Thin-skinned vegetables that don’t ship well are often found at these markets. And you can’t beat the freshness of the produce—unless you grow it yourself, of course.

The number of choices offered by seed suppliers is phenomenal! Each year presents opportunities to sample new cultivars. I’ll reorder favorites for my horticultural business, and drop others that did not live up to the hype.

Consuming freshly picked greens and vegetables gives you the full complement of nutrients. Vitamin and phytonutrient content begins to decline within only 1-2 days after harvesting. Picking veggies from your own well-composted garden (or purchasing them from the farmers’ market) and using them the same day delivers the most nutrients. Their flavor, naturally, is superb.

 

Supporting Your Local Economy

My small company, Wellspring Gardens, has participated in farmers’ markets and garden shows for decades in Maryland, around Washington, D.C., and now in northwestern North Carolina. I love the concept of supporting our local economy. Growers, artists, and crafters offer unique home-grown and hand-crafted items; these are our friends, neighbors, and fellow townsfolk!

A few vendors, through grit and determination, have realized their dream and succeeded in marketing their products throughout the country. Joe’s hot sauce and a popular coffee company both got their start at the local farmers’ markets in Montgomery County MD, where I lived before moving to Charlotte in 2013. (I moved here, to Wilkes County NC, in 2021.)

Farming has become a particularly difficult endeavor in recent decades, with hundreds of thousands of farms across America shutting down. Local growers getting retail prices for their crops at farmers’ markets, however, might eliminate the agonizing decision to sell valuable farmland for development. Small-scale farms can adopt organic and sustainable methods that would not be feasible for large corporate farming. As a result, supporting your local farmers’ markets keeps farmland producing nutritious crops on well-tended land.

As mentioned earlier, you’ll find a huge assortment of plants and produce to try. When I suggest certain cultivars for customers to grow in their home gardens, it’s especially rewarding to see them come back the next year, asking for those same cultivars.

I encourage year-round gardening, when allowed by a favorable climate. But, there are ways of getting around frigid temperatures! If this is your first attempt at cool season gardening, read through all the related posts and links here at The Farm In My Yard. In the search bar, enter the particular crops that interest you, or check the tag cloud.

For crops grown at this time of the year, continue to Page 2.

 

 

Headings

Page 1: Today, In the Garden (Dealing with Frost, Covering Crops with Plastic or Old Sheets, Potted Plants for Growing Indoors, Moving Houseplants Indoors), Shopping Your Local Farmers’ Market (Supporting Your Local Economy)

Page 2: What can we grow in a cool season garden? (Herbs and Vegetables, Herbs That Tolerate Cool to Cold Weather, Basil, Cool Season Gardening in the Enclosed Porch, More Herbs, Potted Vegetables, Succulents and Young Tomatoes, The Brassicas for Cool Season Gardening, Broccoli, Variety or Cultivar?, Green Onions and Bunching Onions, For Sustainable Bunching Onions, Spinach)

Page 3: More Greens for Cool Season Gardening (The Lettuces, My Lettuce Favorites, Swiss Chard, What else can we expect from cool season gardening?, Soil Prep, Caterpillars and Aphids), Structures for Cool Season Gardening (The Greenhouse), A Note About Brassicas and Their Antioxidants

 

Return to the top

Pages: 1 2 3

Enclosing the Porch For Winter Growing

Dec7

2022

Updated 12/15/2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enclosing the Porch for Growing Plants in Winter

 

Average Temperatures

Winter weather is in a rush to make its presence known here in northern North Carolina. Average nighttime low temperatures in October are in the 50’s F, falling to the 40’s by the end of the month. In 2022, though, many nights were frosty. In this article, I’ll describe how enclosing the porch can add more growing space for sun-loving tender plants—those killed by freezing temperatures.

I moved to this beautiful acre outside Elkin NC in USDA plant hardiness zone 7b, in October 2021. The average lowest extreme temperatures in winter are 5-10° F, with January the coldest month. But that won’t stop most gardeners from finding ways to extend the growing season, and, in fact, encourages us to do so.

Abnormally cold weather prompted me to gather all plants that would have been damaged or killed by frost. Both daytime and nighttime temperatures have fallen 10-20° below average on many days in October and November. On the other hand, we’ve also enjoyed a few shorts-and-tee-shirt days hovering well above average.

 

Priority: Plants

 

succulent dish garden

Succulents in this dish garden can begin stretching toward the light after less than a week in insufficient sunlight.

 

Priority went to succulents and tropical plants intolerant of cooling temperatures. Some I’ve had for decades and don’t want to lose. A collection that started in spring as 12 flats of tender plants blossomed to 40 flats by autumn. You see my problem?

Miniature succulents, succulent gardens in bonsai trays (photo, above), bromeliads, aroids (Alocasia, pothos, philodendron), amaryllis, leopard lilies (Drimiopsis, Ledebouria), tradescantias, ferns, ficus, begonias… I propagated all these houseplants for the Surry County farmers’ markets, where I’ve been a vendor (“Wellspring Gardens”) since April 2022.

Plants requiring warm temperatures fill every sunny window indoors. In the basement, more plants snuggle close to the 4′ fluorescent shop lights.

From autumn to spring, I carried many flats of houseplants outdoors to the sunny porch when it was warm enough, above 50° or 60°F. And later in the day, I brought them back indoors again. Almost every day. That first winter here, in ’21-’22, was quite mild.

That’s in addition to the dozens of flats of herbs and cool season greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, broccoli, kale, etc.) started for the farmers’ markets and my own gardens. After 3-4 weeks of growth, they could safely be hardened off outdoors, exposed to colder temperatures—even frost—before planting or selling them.

The Best Option

I need an easier way to accommodate all these plants. The greenhouse kit I purchased remains in its box, in the back yard (will be built “soon”). Another option is to keep the plants in the porch, after enclosing it. In winter, this south-southwest-facing porch receives full sun from morning until sunset. Perfect!

How hard could it be to tack a big sheet of clear plastic to the structure? That will work in the daytime, when the sun’s out. But during cold overcast weather and at night, supplemental heat will be needed. Later in this article, you’ll see what I did to keep the tender plants comfortable.

 

 

Preliminary Plans

 

The goal was to create an inexpensive makeshift greenhouse environment from readily available materials, employing rudimentary carpentry skills. Winter winds, primarily from the west, can be fierce at times. This necessitated strong bracing for the structure to prevent the plastic from breaking loose.

At the hardware store, I bought a 12 x 100′ roll of clear 4-mil plastic for enclosing the porch and creating low tunnels in the garden for winter greens. You can find sheets and rolls of clear plastic in the paint department. Although it won’t last as long as greenhouse film, it is less expensive. A more attractive alternative is clear acrylic film or sheets—or real windows—but I’m looking for the most economical solution for now.

Plastic degrades in sunlight, and faster in hot sunlight. So, if used on the porch only during the cold months, it should last a few years. That’s based on many years’ experience using plastic to protect plants from cold winter weather.

The plan is to leave the wooden support grid in place all year. After weather warms up in spring, I’ll remove the plastic panels, still stapled to their 1 x 2″ x 8′ posts, clean them, and store them in the basement. In the future, enclosing the porch in permanent materials (floor-to-ceiling operable windows) is a strong possibility.

 

***Updates***:

***Plastic used in the garden lasts longer than the plastic used to enclose the porch. After 2 full seasons, the porch plastic is showing signs of weakening in the hottest spots because the enclosed space heats up significantly, shortening the life of the plastic. If I don’t vent the plastic or open the front door and use a fan to blow the heat into the house, the porch heats up to 90-105° F on a sunny winter day. The air under plastic in the garden doesn’t get that hot because the plastic is removed or vented to prevent overheating the greens. 1/14/2024

***Recently, I bought a large roll of 6-mil greenhouse film on sale. It should last 3-4 years, and there’s plenty to cover other structures (in the planning stage). I used the staple gun and 1″ x 2″ x 8′ posts for the new plastic. Because this product is clearer than the hardware store’s plastic, it transfers more of the sun’s energy to the inside of the porch…so it gets hotter in the sun. That’s probably okay in the dead of winter when it gets very cold, but in autumn, some plants showed a bit of sunscald. If it stays unusually warm over the next month as it did in October, I’ll tack up another layer of plastic on the inside to filter the sun. 11/5/2024

***I added another layer of greenhouse film inside the existing layer, anticipating a very cold week in December 2024. I used small pieces of styrofoam stuck on the protruding screws to keep the layers separated. Simply stapled to the posts, this kept the porch significantly warmer on cold nights (10-18° warmer than outside temperatures). It also filtered some of the sun’s energy, so temperatures are more moderate on sunny days. We’ve had a few bouts of unusually prolonged cold, windy weather, so it was worth the effort. 12/2024

 

 

Enclosing the Porch: First, the Support System

 

Before cutting the plastic, I had to figure out how to put this whole thing together, preferably without piercing the aluminum siding. Where to start? How to seal it from drafts? What about a door?

The front porch measures approximately 20′ x 8′, so the 1 x 2″ x 8′ wood posts from the hardware store fit well. I used a hand saw for a few cuts. Posts with large knots, not visible when purchased in bundles, were returned to the store. Those are weak spots that could break in high winds. These posts have a smoother side—the side in contact with the plastic.

enclosing the porch

6 x 6″ timbers with 1 x 2″ x 8′ posts across the front of the porch.

Four 6 x 6″ timbers support the roof along the front edge of the porch, and the attic above is insulated. The timbers are secured 3″ inside the outer edge of the decking. Because the 1 x 2’s are attached at the top of the timbers and extend 8′ down, past the edge of the decking, the posts are slightly off vertical when viewed from the side.

I didn’t attach plastic directly to the bottom of the timbers because I wanted it to fall all the way to the ground on the 3 sides. That would help warm up the concrete block foundation and the ground underneath the decking. The goal was to retain the maximum amount of heat in the enclosed porch.

The porch is elevated 2 steps up from the ground. That made my time on the ladder somewhat less daunting (bad knee). I took my time and was very careful. Safety first.

 

Brace Yourselves

Hardware included:

  • Hillman Red Exterior 8 x 1 5/8″ deck screws, with a special drill bit in the package
  • 3″ galvanized corner braces with smaller screws
  • a few nails
  • plenty of 3/8″ heavy duty staples for the staple gun; they’re cheap, so buy an extra box

Although the deck screws are supposed to require “no pre-drilling”, a few of the 1 x 2’s split. I used a couple of nails to hold them together.

 

corner brace screwed to decking and post

Brace was placed with the front edge of the post flush with the front edge of the floor.

 

Holding a 1 x 2 post firmly against the house and the edge of the floor, I positioned a brace, then marked where the first screw would go. The west and east sides would have five 1 x 2’s each.

I used a reversible drill to screw braces to the floor. For each of the east and west sides, one brace went next to the house, one on the outside corner, and one in the middle. The other 2 posts on each side were screwed to the edge of the decking without braces.

I used 2 longer deck screws—instead of the smaller screws in the package—for the horizontal half of the brace attached to the floor. This made a stronger attachment. Because the long screws would have gone through the 1 x 2’s and pierced the plastic, I used shorter screws on the vertical part of the brace (photo, above).

 

Next Up: The Vertical Posts

Once the braces had been secured on the west and east sides, the vertical 1 x 2″ posts were next. I attached five 1 x 2″ posts to the decking—about every 2′—on the west side and 5 more on the east side. Each post was screwed on at the bottom securely enough for it to stand straight. A carpenter’s level established true vertical and horizontal before I tightened any screws.

Then I fastened the middle horizontal post, and the top horizontal post as close to the ceiling (overhang) as possible. I can add more supports at any time, if necessary.

Where the ground level was higher near the house, I cut the posts so they stopped right above the soil. In other areas, the 8′ length doesn’t extend that close to the soil, but that’s okay. The excess plastic made a flange over the ground, on which I placed heavy pots and cinder blocks to block air infiltration. I haven’t trimmed any of the 12′ wide plastic, but I can play with that later. Incidentally, the flange helped keep the basement drier during a recent rainstorm. For now, it stays.

 

enclosing the porch, west side wood supports

The west side with 5 vertical and 2 horizontal 1 x 2″ x 8′ posts.

 

The braces and posts were sturdy, but there was too much play in the sides. So, I drilled another 3″ brace inside each of the upper 2 corners adjacent to the house, through the siding in the ceiling and into the vertical 1 x 2 (photo, below). A wooden beam hides inside the ceiling. First, I hammered a nail through the aluminum, then replaced it with a deck screw, stabilizing the sides.

 

brace between ceiling and 1 x 2" post

Brace secures vertical post to the ceiling, near house. Clear tape, barely visible on the right, seals plastic to siding.

 

On the South Face

 

enclosing the porch, south side

Posts:            1        2        3        4       door      5        6       7        8

 

Here’s the finished 20′ south face of the porch. Imagine the vertical posts are numbered, from #1 at the left (west) corner to #8 at the right corner, with a larger gap in the middle for the “door”. The numbers might not exactly correlate with the posts, but you get the idea. The door has not been finalized. Posts #1 and 8 were added previously to the corner timbers, when I worked on the east and west sides.

Across the front, I fastened braces to the floor and then added 2 middle posts on each side of the door (#2, 3, 6, 7). The other 2 new posts were fastened to the top of the central 6 x 6″ timbers (#4, 5), screwed directly to the edge of the decking. All 1 x 2″ x 8′ posts angled out slightly, below the edge of the floor.

Then the horizontal members went up: top and middle. Later, I had to remember to leave some extra plastic at the top of the outside corners to accommodate the slightly angled vertical posts (and longer dimension at the floor). Some of the posts were a bit bowed, so I’ll tape the gaps at the top from inside the porch.

At this point, all braces and support posts are in place. Progress!

 

Headings

Page 1: Enclosing the Porch for the Winter (Average Temperatures, Priority: Plants, The Best Option), Preliminary Plans, ***Updates***, Enclosing the Porch: First, The Support System (Brace Yourselves, Next Up: The Vertical Posts, On the South Face)

Page 2: Enclosing the Porch: Second, Wrapping It Up (The West Side, The East and South Sides, How?), Warming Up to This, Enclosing the Porch: A Winter Retreat for Succulents (An Arctic Blast, and I Don’t Mean Fun Times with Santa, Blown Away Or Not?, Why Not LED’s?, Enclosing the Porch for Edible Plants, Potted Herbs and Tender Plants, Enclosing the Porch for Me, Too!)

Return to the top

Pages: 1 2

10 Tips for Protecting Cool Season Vegetables

Dec16

2019

Updated 9/27/2026

 

 

Here are 10 Tips for protecting cool season vegetables from freezing temperatures…and other useful information:

 

 

cool season vegetables in the garden

Cool season vegetables: from the top, broccoli, leeks, ‘Red Russian’ kale, light green mustard greens, and collards.

 

 

Ready For Fall?

 

Throughout parts of the United States, and in chilly climates everywhere, gardeners are scrambling to save their tender plants. Most of us have brought in all the houseplants. Others do nothing special to extend the season after harvesting the last of the cherry tomatoes and clearing out the frosted vines.

Some of us strive to keep cool season vegetables growing even in the winter months. And we’ll plant more of them! Soon I’ll transplant ‘Monstrueux de Viroflay’ spinach seedlings into pots to grow on the deck through the winter. This French heirloom spinach has huge leaves with a milder flavor. It has lower levels of oxalates, so those who have been advised to avoid eating spinach might be able to eat this variety. Ask your doctor.

In early October, I planted 2 dozen onion sets (for green onions) in a 12″ pot on the deck. Green onions are ready for harvest, in mild weather, only a few weeks after planting the sets. To preserve them in severe cold, I’ll cover them with plastic sheeting (Tip #2). Green and bunching onions grow more slowly in cold weather.

I planted more sets every couple of weeks and will soon plant the remaining bulbs before they dry up. A favorite bunching onion called ‘Nabechan’ has straight sides. Not having a bulb at the bottom makes it easier to harvest. Sets are not available for bunching onions, though, so they must be started from seeds.

 

 

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way

 

2023 USDA plant hardiness zone map

 

 

Potted cool season vegetables can grow under a plastic covering in cold weather. To extend the season, strings of miniature incandescent Christmas lights (Tip #6) help raise the temperature to more comfortable levels. Later in this article, I will list all 10 Tips for protecting crops in winter.

Starting with the simplest ideas and progressing to the more advanced methods, find the level you’re most comfortable with this season. Your budget, your USDA plant hardiness zone (photo, above), and the types of crops themselves must factor into your decision.

As you gain confidence and become more motivated to keep the garden producing, you might decide to try the next level. Cost savings realized by growing your own fresh food might justify the expense of new materials.

It’s only through experimentation, by taking a chance, that you might discover all the opportunities—and the limits—of gardening challenges. This is how green thumbs are cultivated.

If you’ve never grown cool season vegetables, several articles at The Farm In My Yard provide detailed information to get you started. For a greater understanding of any issue, enter the term in the search bar or click it in the tag cloud.

 

The Advantage of This Latitude

I’ve been growing greens in winter for decades for my customers and for my family. Fortunately for us, living in the southeast doesn’t present as difficult a winter hardship as would living in Montreal, Montana, or Scotland. But there are options for just about every climate.

Few things are more satisfying to me than stepping outside and collecting a green onion, a mild mustard leaf, kale, and spinach for our Sunday morning omelet. We pick what we need when we need it. Freshly harvested greens and vegetables contain higher levels of nutrients than those cut a few days ago.

 

 

Succession Planting: Warm, Then Cool Season Vegetables

 

Because our favorite greens love cool weather, they grow in the garden after the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers have finished production. With some planning, you can schedule a succession of crops. When one crop finishes up, new transplants or seeds are ready to take its place. Now, that’s an efficient use of space!

 

 

cool season vegetables

Cool season vegetables and greens replace summer tomatoes and peppers. Plastic protects plants on very cold nights and the netting deters deer.

 

Radishes, peas, beets, spinach, and other fast-growing plants can be sown directly into the garden in late summer to early autumn. After they’ve been harvested, there might be time for another quick fall crop.

Certain greens and root vegetables have a shorter window of time during which they retain the best quality. So don’t let them linger in the garden. On the other hand, many cool season vegetables can be harvested over several months of growing! That’s at a time when there are fewer weeds, fewer bugs, and less drought to worry about.

If the weather is still warm for the first round of seeds, look for varieties of cool season vegetables that are more heat tolerant. Some catalogs indicate the preferred soil temperature for each crop, or you can get that information from your agricultural extension office. Soil temperature can be lowered by irrigating during hot weather. Additionally, frames covered with knitted shade cloth, made from black polyethylene, provide consistent shade until the weather cools. That bit of shade can make the difference between seeds germinating in August or having to wait until late September to sow them.

Here in zone 7b (average lowest extreme winter temperatures 5° to 10°F), we enjoy productive edible crops and herbs in the garden year-round…with some protection on the coldest nights, of course. But we’ve also grown them in colder Maryland winters.

Because I’ve been “advised” by the HOA to stop growing vegetables in the garden (photo, above), they’re now in pots (photo, below) on the fenced deck. (Note to self: next move, no HOA!) Young ‘Aspabroc’ miniature broccoli plants grow in a 20″ pot, where a tomato grew during in the summer. Italian parsley lasts all winter, and sharp-tipped pine cones discourage squirrels.

***Update***: In October, 2021, I moved to a small town in northwestern North Carolina. More property, more nature, woods in the back (where a bobcat and I came face-to-face!), no traffic, gorgeous topography, great friends, just a couple of degrees cooler than Charlotte, and no HOA to tell me what I must or cannot do on my property. 3/1/2024

 

 

potted broccoli

‘Aspabroc’ miniature broccoli and parsley.

 

Peas…Yummy!

Peas grow best in the garden’s “shoulder seasons”. That’s when temperatures can be cool to warm, and when frost is no surprise. So, before the end of tomato and pepper season, you can sow a pack of pea seeds next to a trellis and begin harvesting two months later.

Edible podded snap peas and snow peas are absolutely delicious. Many are eaten on the spot. And because they grow vertically, the vines take up little square footage. During the shoulder seasons, in moderate climates, they don’t normally require a protective covering.

pea vine

Peas growing next to the house, a warmer microclimate, in the Charlotte garden.

If you have facilities that can accommodate pea vines, such as a lean-to or a cool greenhouse (Tips #9, #10), this crop can be grown as the temperatures dip lower during the winter months. But there is a point below which the vines will be killed in unheated structures.

Last autumn’s loosely covered pea vines made it just fine through Charlotte’s mild winter and started bearing pods in late winter. (***Update***: Now, at the new property and in the enclosed porch over the winter months, 2 10″ pots of ‘Sugar Snap’ peas can produce about 20 pods each week. 9/27/2026)

Look for disease resistant varieties when growing vegetables or greens under cover. Plants are more susceptible to diseases when grown in humid conditions.

 

Gather Information

Get to know each crop, and how much cold it can tolerate with or without protection from freezing weather. I’ve researched calendars for scheduling vegetables in this zone and have found some of them to be overly conservative compared to my own experience. They restrict sowing and transplanting to a narrower window of opportunity than necessary. This is when informed variety selection can yield longer harvests. Go ahead—fling that window wide open and compare different cultivars! (***Update***: An example is ‘Arcadia’ broccoli, typically planted in early to mid-autumn. It’s very cold hardy, producing a head and many rounds of side shoots through winter and spring. After tolerating our hot early summer in northwestern NC, I removed the last plants in July of this year. 9/27/2026)

Gardening in a warmer microclimate offers more protection than growing plants out in the open. Planting against a sunny south-facing wall (northern hemisphere) or in a protected corner out of the wind provides opportunities to extend the season.

 

bees and butterflies feed on nectar in winter

‘Red Russian’ kale with flower bud.

 

Kale, collards, spinach, Brussels sprouts, mustard spinach, arugula, leeks, and green onions can tolerate the coldest conditions, within reason. I cover the crops when temperatures dip below the high teens. Even if they’re not covered, they will survive. But I want the plants to continue providing premium quality greens. If not stressed by very low temperatures all day and night, these crops will grow if daytime temperatures rise into the mid 40’s.

Cauliflower and ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard need to be covered earlier than other greens. Frost normally won’t kill the plants. Repeated freezes damage the foliage, though, halting growth unless warmer temperatures (or the protective coverings) return.

These crops and other cool season vegetables won’t need protection if grown farther south. Again, cold tolerance is variety specific, so try new cultivars now and then and see which ones work best for you. For example, ‘Green Magic’ broccoli does well when planted in early spring and again in early autumn. This variety needs a warmer temperature when forming its head. On the other hand, ‘Arcadia’ broccoli can mature in very cold weather, so this is the one I plant later in autumn. Another benefit is ‘Arcadia’s bumper crop of side shoots; in Charlotte, they produced for months.

For More Information

There is so much information online and in catalogs, books, and magazines. For perspectives and information about local growing conditions, however, check with your agricultural extension office. And speak with helpful vendors at the neighborhood farmers’ market.

Garden clubs, botanical gardens, and garden centers selling seeds, supplies, and transplants sometimes offer classes covering various subjects. My “Cool Season Vegetables and Greens” presentations drew the most attendees. Many of my customers started with just one crop and then returned for more. A healthy addiction!

Keep Records

As you begin new garden projects, place labels with the plants, photograph progress, and take notes for future reference. Add some varieties you’ve never grown before to discover delightful new flavors. Observation of the varieties you’re growing in your garden is invaluable when planning future garden projects. There is no substitute for hands-on experience…and records of successes and failures!

Detailed drawings of crop placement in the garden helps when considering crop rotation. Not growing plants from the same family in the same place every year helps decrease concentrations of pathogens and insects. Because so many of the cool season vegetables are in the Brassicaceae family, it’s difficult to rotate these crops in small gardens. This is when optimal soil conditions—decreasing the stressors—ensure the healthiest growth when space is limited.

Succession planting calls for sequential use of space, maximizing the amount of produce harvested through the seasons. It is especially important to prepare the soil before the fall or spring season, adding fresh compost, aged manure, and/or planting mixes.

For abundant harvests, you’ll need to fertilize regularly as the plants grow. Instead of relying on memory, record the names of the products and when you applied them.

Have all underground utilities marked by your municipality before proceeding and draw a map to record their locations. Call 8-1-1 to schedule an appointment.

 

Headings:

Page 1: Ready For Fall?, Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (The Advantage Of This Latitude), and Succession Planting: Warm, Then Cool Season Vegetables (Peas, Yummy!, Gather Information)

Page 2: Seed or Transplant? (Seeds, Temperature, Transplants, More Favorites), Crops With Ornamental Edible Leaves (Tender Leaf Kales), Crops That Form Heads, Soil Fertility (The Importance of Microbes), Nutritional Benefits, and Ready For the 10 Tips?

Page 3: Tip #1: Move Tender Plants Indoors, Tip #2: “Quick! Cover Up!”, Tip #3: The Hot Water Bottle, Tip #4: Low Tunnels, Tip #5: Deal with the Wind, Tip #6: Add Christmas Lights, Tip #7: I’ll Have a Double

Page 4: Tip #8: A Simple Cold Frame For Cool Season Vegetables, Tip #9: A Lean-To, Tip #10: The Greenhouse, Finally!

Return to the top of Page 1

Pages: 1 2 3 4