In this post, we will go over 5 cold-weather crops that are super easy to grow. They are easy to plant, easy to care for, and are useful in the kitchen if it’s for cooking or fresh eating. If you are a beginning gardener, these are great crops to start with. If you are an experienced gardener, these are a go-to for starting your garden early.
Pssst… Come closer. I have a secret to tell you… I don’t like gardening in the Summer.
Here, I said it. Here in the South, Summers are wet as the ocean, humid as a sauna, hot as a furnace and don’t even start me on the bugs… Especially the mosquitos!
I still garden in the Summer, of course, but I much prefer the fall garden or the early spring garden. There are much fewer bugs, I don’t need to water almost at all, it’s nice and cool so working outside is easier, and it’s not as wet and humid as in the summer. Thankfully, there is a ton of cold-weather crops to grow in the spring and fall garden.
So, every year, in the fall or early spring, I plant a bunch of cold-weather crops in my raised garden beds. Some of them are not easy to grow, for example, cabbage or broccoli. Others are as simple as can be.
5 Easiest Cold Weather Crops to Grow in Your Spring or Fall Garden…
When I say “easy crops to grow”, I mean…
1. Easy to plant (can be direct seeded).
2. Can be started early (as soon as the soil can be worked).
3. No special soil requirements.
4. No pests (or almost no pests problems).
5. Useful in the kitchen and easy to handle.
6. Fast growing (less than 60 days).
Before I start down the list, let me remind you that I am gardening in the south, zone 7b. I believe those five crops will grow well and easy everywhere, but you might need to adjust planting times and care according to your climate.
Lettuce – who doesn’t like lettuce? The crisp, sweet leaves are the perfect base for every good salad and a must ingredient in most sandwiches.
lettuce seeds can be direct seeded as early as the soil can be worked (soil temperature around 40F) in the Spring, or when temperatures cool down a bit at the end of Summer.
Plant 8-10 inches apart. Yes, lettuce seeds are tiny, and it might be hard to space them correctly, but if to be honest, I don’t try too hard. I spread the seeds and pick young lettuces as they grow, making sure to leave a few spaced correctly so they can reach full size. I eat the young lettuces that I thin and they are delicious!
So in other words, I thin as the lettuce grow and enjoy the young harvest leaving a few lettuces to reach full size. It’s a great way to get more from a small garden.
Lettuce grows best at 60-65F and will be ready for harvest around 56 days. I plant lettuce in the middle of March and harvest the full-size lettuces in May, right when summer crops need to be planted.
I never had problems with pests when it comes to lettuce, and as long as you have decent soil you’ll get a great harvest. Of course, compost makes everything better so don’t hesitate to mix it into your soil before planting or add it around the plants later (I use worm castings).
Green Onion – sweet oniony flavor, thick shafts, no bulbs. Like lettuce, green onion is great in salads and sandwiches. It’s also used a lot in the Asian kitchen.
Green onion can be direct seeded in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked in early Spring or in late Summer when the air cools down slightly.
Those seeds are very small, but even though it says on the back of the seed packet to plant 1/4-1/2 inch apart, I never space green onion. I dig a trench about half an inch deep, sprinkle the seeds and cover them. They always grow great even if they touch each other.
Green onion takes 60 days to reach maturity. If you don’t have much space consider growing green onions in pots. You can even grow them inside the house during the winter (if you have good light). If you still have green onions in your garden at the end of Fall, make sure to cover them before the frost comes. They can last in the garden all Winter if covered.
I’ve never tried it but I’ve heard that you can place the bottom end (roots) of the green onions back in your garden and you’ll have a fresh batch of onions a few weeks later. Anyone has tried this?
Swiss Chard – this is one of my favorite crops to grow. You can’t find it in the grocery stores around here, once in a while I’ll see it at the farmer’s market. I am not sure why not many people eat chard, it may be the easiest of all crops to grow, and there are so many things you can do with those thick, mild, delicious leaves.
You can add them to salads, soups, pasta sauce, or make chard patties. You can read about how I preserve them and make ground turkey and chard patties here.
Chard can be planted as soon as you can work the soil in the spring, or at the end of Summer for Fall and Winter.
The seeds are pretty big, therefore, easy to handle. If you want very big leaves, plant the seeds 4-6 inches apart.
To plant, dig a trench 3/4 inch deep, space the seeds and cover them. They grow great even if they are close to each other.
You can harvest baby leaves at 28 days or let them grow bigger and harvest at 55 days. At harvest, don’t pull the plant out, just cut the big leaves, and others will keep growing (like with kale). It’s the plant that keeps giving. Chard will easily grow in pots as well.
Radish – there are so many kinds of radishes; small, round, long, white, red, both or in between. Some of them are mild and some sharp. I prefer the mild kind. I mainly add radish to salads, I think that you can also cook the radish leaves, and of course make pickles and such.
Seeds are small and round. Planting one inch apart for the small round verity in the picture is enough, but every verity is different so look at the back of your seed packet. Spacing is important with radishes!
Radishes sprout very fast and reach maturity within 30 days. It’s important not to leave them in the ground for too long, or the round root will split and they will become woody and bitter.
Radish will last forever in the refrigerator. If you grow enough in early Spring, you can store them in the fridge and enjoy them all Summer long. Then, plant some more at the end of Summer, harvest and store in the refrigerator or keep them covered in the garden and you can have radish all Winter long.
You might want to let some of your radish flower. The flowers are not only beautiful but also edible. You can add them to salads, soups, pasta or fish dishes.
Spinach – last but not least. There are so many ways to use those small, dark green leaves; add them to salads, soups, dough, pastries, sauces, pasta, and many other dishes. Or make those to-die-for spinach patties in cilantro and lemon sauce.
Spinach can be direct seeded in early spring or late summer. Plant half an inch deep. No special spacing or soil requirements.
Seeds are relatively large and easy to handle. You can harvest baby leaves between 3 to 5 weeks or let the leaves grow bigger for a couple more weeks. When harvesting, cut 1/2 inch above the soil line, the plant will keep growing and within a couple of weeks you’ll have fresh, new spinach.
These are regular plants in my garden. I plant them every year, in the spring and fall, and they never disappoint me. It’s very nice to start the growing season with easy crops, just to get things going. The benefit of growing them in the Fall is that they grow fast and reach maturity before the frost. If covered (here in the south) they last forever in the ground so you can eat from the garden all winter long.
Do you grow any of these? Do you find them easy?
Andrea says
Wonderful article, thank you!!!
Barbara Mc says
I don’t know where you get all your energy from. So glad I caught this post. Have missed you. Glad you’re home and can’t wait to see and hear about the rest of your trip….I cheated and skipped from this post over to the Israel post and then came back here….beautiful.
Lee says
Thanks Barbara! You can cheat all you want, no rules here 🙂
janetpesaturo says
Thanks for sharing on Think Tank Thursday. Nice list and summary of easy spring crops. I agree with you on chard. I always grow it because it is so easy and no pests bother it. Also, it grows well over a much longer season than spinach (bolts here), so with chard in the garden, we always have something spinach-like over the whole growing season.
To extend the season for lettuces, I direct seed and plant transplants. We have a nice long season of greens.
Lee says
Chard is great! I also use it just like spinach, many things to do with it. Thanks for stopping by.
Anna @ NorthernHomestead says
Welcome back! I wish I could plant at least one of this in my garden on this first day of spring, instead we got a snow storm – sigh. But on the bride side of things, we can grow most of them all through the summer ;). Pinning it!
Lee says
Oh my! It is in the upper 60’s here today and I wish it will stay like this from now on. Take a deep breath, Spring will get there eventually.
Easy Life Meal & Party Planning says
I cannot wait to start digging in the garden but it seems like we can’t break free of winter here in Iowa. Great post it made me feel good to think about what I will be planting soon. Pinning to my Garden board. Stopping by from Real Food Friday party.
Lee says
Thanks so much for sharing and for stopping by. You’ll be digging soon 🙂
Sharon @ Farm Fresh Family says
Great tips! We’ve been growing TONS of lettuce in our commercial aquaponics system!
Monica says
What great tips! I’m going to save this to read again later. For now, our garden space is still covered with snow. I can’t wait to start our garden this year!
Taylor-Made Ranch Homestead says
Hey gal – I love reading your blog so I’ve nominated you for the Liebster Award! Check it out –> http://taylormaderanch.com/blog/ive-been-nominated-for-a-liebster-award/
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
Lee says
Oh wow! Thanks so much!
Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow says
I don’t have a big garden but I plant lettuce in the spring ( too early here though…it’s about 22 degrees right now! 🙂 and then later on tomatoes and cukes, some pepper plants.
Lee says
The nice thing is that chard, spinach, green onion maybe even lettuce can be planted in pots too. So even if you don’t have a big garden there is still a lot you can grow. We have crazy weather here… one day it’s 70F and the next it’s 40F and icy. I am really ready for Spring! I bet you are too. Thanks for visiting!
Amanda Smith says
I want to plant so bad! But it is too wet. I think I am going to have to start out gardening in pots this year.
Summers Acres says
We have been thinking about adding chard to our garden veggies. Thanks for sharing with us at The HomeAcre Hop!
Please join us again Thursday at:
http://summers-acres.com
~Ann
Carrie says
I’m so looking forward to getting some plants in the ground. But the temperatures in the teens and the several inches of snow we got this week are not helping matters! Soon enough, I guess.
Thanks for linking this up at Think Tank Thursday. I have featured you today. http://saving4six.com/2014/03/welcome-to-think-tank-thursday-74.html
Lee says
Thank you so much for featuring my post! Even though I got some things starting to sprout outside it is still very cold here too. Much colder than last year. I am so ready for Spring! I bet you are too.
Matt says
We throw a handful of spinach into smoothies. It’s a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies.
Lee says
Ha, never thought of doing that. Great tip, thanks.
Sally at Garden Valley Homestead says
I plan to grow a lot of lettuce…because we eat it everyday. But, I won’t seed until September. It’s just too hot until then. Thanks for the post! (Welcome back from Israel!)
Andrea says
Thanks for the list! I will be sure to pin it, so I have access to it come next spring 🙂
Thanks for linking up to Natural Living Monday. We’ll be featuring your link this week!
Lee says
Thanks! You can also use it for a Fall garden if you grow one.
Caitlin | belong with wildflowers says
Stopping by from Green Thumb Thursday // I never thought of starting spinach for a fall garden… thanks for these great tips!
Cynthia Banessa says
Thanks for the gardening advice…now I have an idea of what I will be planting!
Jennifer A says
I’m in the same zone and am the same way! I love gardening in the fall and spring, but the weeds and heat in the summer kill me every time. I’m looking forward to these fall crops, I need to go through out some seeds! Thanks!
Lee says
I am taking care of the weeds by mulching. I love hay mulch. My garden is not big so a couple of bales last me the whole Summer and Winter. I also have a watering system so I don’t need to stand outside in the heat to water. Those two things cut my Summer garden chores probably in half. Thanks for visiting.
lisa lynn says
Great post…I featured you today on The HomeAcre Hop!
Lee says
Thanks!
LoveyO says
You’re just great! I’m putting in a watering system next spring for sure. Meanwhile my little veggies are lovin’ the cool snap we’re having here in the mid-atlantic region!
domain says
Good info. Lucky me I came across your blog by accident (stumbleupon).
I’ve book-marked it for later!
lisa M says
I really wish we liked radishes. They seem like such an easy cool weather crop. Hopefully the snow will melt so I can get some spinach in soon. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for linking up with Green Thumb Thursday. I hope you’ll link up again this week!
~Lisa
Lee says
Lisa, I just wrote about Mache. https://ladyleeshome.com/growing-mache-corn-salad/
If you like spinach, you’ll love Mache.
Linda Ursin says
My crops are mainly herbs, and I’m about to decide which seeds to plant this year. The soil is far from workable here in the Norwegian mountains. Summer plants can’t be put outside until Midsummer. I have grown things like lettuce and carrots before, but my earliest that is already showing signs of growth, is a spring onion I put in the ground as food scraps three years ago, just to see if it would grow. It’s amazing that it’s still alive.
Lee says
Definitely amazing. There are crops that love the chill of winter. Onions and garlic are some. You can plant them in the fall before the first frost come, they will rest in the ground during the winter and will start growing in the spring. Another one you might want to try if you can get seeds is mache. Here is a post I did about it a while ago: https://ladyleeshome.com/growing-mache-corn-salad/
I bet you have a beautiful view there in the mountains!
Linda Ursin says
Thanks. I’ll check it out. We definitely do have a great view here 🙂