IN THIS guidebook

When you think about veggie horticulture , you might think of this as something that you will do in the leaping and summer calendar month .

But with the right overture , you may seed and grow your own intellectual nourishment class - round .

hardy leeks growing in snow covered ground

There are even veggie you may sow in wintertime .

“ I think in the UK , there ’s too much emphasis on grow summer vegetable , ” shares Garden Writer Val Bourne .

“ I think that the most valuable vegetables I grow are the winter veg . This includes brassicas , sprout , cabbage , parsnip and leek because they do n’t all come at once – you may reap them throughout the yr . ”

a frosty vegetable garden with raised beds covered in snow and a shed and decking in the background

Gardening and growing yr - round is possible in the UK , but you do need to have certain thing in position .

At this time of the year , sowing will not be out of doors , but rather inside your base .

However , if you have planned and prepare correctly throughout the early seasons , you could have plenty of vegetables grow in your garden – even in the middle of winter .

a frost covered garden in winter with a large greenhouse with its door ajar

“ provision is central for winter veggie as sowing will often be in the anterior spring or summer for wintertime harvest , ” says Horticultural Consultant Colin Skelly .

“ In a glasshouse or polytunnel , some salad production can carry on but for the most part thinking in winter swings to sow for the next growing season . A nurseryman ’s body of work is never done ! ”

While there are certain crop that will come through the winter in the UK , often , some form of protection is used .

frost covered leafy kale in a raised vegetable plot

You might use cloches , row covers , cold frame of reference , polytunnels or greenhouse – but whichever form of auspices you employ , the construct is the same – to stave in off the bad of the wintertime low temperature and the wintertime slopped .

Even if you only have a windowsill to sow on , there are still vegetable you’re able to uprise in winter – both for a winter harvest , and to grow on for the calendar month to occur .

“ veg growing is one of the safe things the great unwashed can do , as it ’s like having a pantry in your garden that you may just go and shoot the breeze , ” share Val .

brussels sprouts seedlings growing from raised beds

Winter Growing That Requires Forward Planning

rise your own can be a yr - round pursuit , but gardeners who want to eat up from their gardens all year round need to be forward - mentation .

readying to have veg growing in your garden over the wintertime months can begin as ahead of time as the former outflow .

To grow vegetables to harvest in wintertime , you could sow sure crops in spring and early summertime , such as :

red Kohlrabi seedling growing from soil

These hardy wintertime vegetables take quite a long time to spring up , but can be valuable vegetables to harvest over the winter calendar month .

They can cope outdoors in wintertime , and even try well after having been exposed to frost .

In July , summer crops will be in full golf shot , but you should also plan forrader for harvest over the autumn and wintertime months .

chard seedlings growing from a black plastic tray

From around July , you might sow several other crop for an autumn to winter crop , though these will almost certainly need some form of protectiononce the first frost threaten .

You might sow , for exemplar :

You might even embed some second early potatoes in July for a harvest of new potatoes around Christmas , if you have a protected secret expanse to place them in when winter arrives .

lettuces growing in rows with heavily mulched ground covered in straw

You may also plan to overwinter crops in your wintertime garden for harvests in the spring . So you might sow in :

Each of these can allow a harvest home during the traditional ‘ athirst gap ’ .

After the end of summer , in other fall , there is still prison term to sow some fast crops ( with protective covering ) for a wintertime harvest .

magnified view of sunflower microgreens that have freshly germinated

For example , you might inseminate :

You mightalso sow pea , andbroad beans for overwinteringin September or October .

And you mightplant some onion sets , or garlic , in autumn for an earlier harvest of these craw next year .

microgreens growing in a plastic tray on a sunny windowsill

Growing Salad Crops & Microgreens Indoors

There are also options , however , which allow you to get started mightily away .

Even if you have not planned and develop , and do n’t already have vegetables growing in your garden , you do not inevitably have to waitress until spring to sow , grow and even get a small wintertime harvesting .

On your windowsill , indoors , you cangrow a cooking stove of salad crops and micro greensthroughout the year .

pea shoot micro greens covered in water droplets with timber bench in background

you could even get started in the depth of winter – and you could harvest minuscule leafy greens in as little as a month after seed – even less for microgreens .

All of the leafy crops listed above for sow out of doors in autumn ( with protective cover for wintertime ) can also be sown and grown on a windowsill indoors from a winter sowing .

reduce and come again crop will allow you to reap leaf petty and often as required .

tomato seedlings in large blue pots placed in rows on a windowsill

Even if there are other vegetables in your garden , and vegetables in computer memory , it can still be worthwhile raise a few leafy craw on a sunny windowsill for fresh salad even during the coldest part of the twelvemonth .

I have an unwarmed polytunnel where I grow a range of crops over the winter months , some overwintering for later harvesting , some that I can harvest in the depths of winter – but I also like to grow a few salad crop on a windowsill over winter .

My favourites are a cut - and - come - again oriental salad mix , and pea plant shoots , which I can easily just harvest a little from as and when required without even give to step out of doors .

sprouting pepper seedlings growing from trays filled with compost

I also often grow some micro jet for a quick and very levelheaded windowsill harvest .

I liketo develop cress , and brassicas of a orbit of types .

Microgreens are not grow to maturity but are eat as petite sprout – these micro - greens , and sprouted seeds , can help sustain you over the wintertime month .

pepper seedlings growing in a greenhouse with window pane visible in background

Sowing Early For Next Year’s Vegetable Garden

As well as sow speedy crop for winter harvests , winter is also the time to think about plan ahead for the next horticulture year .

One of the first jobs of the new year is chitting ejaculate potatoes .

This is the operation of leaving the potatoes in a undimmed , coolheaded spot for green shoots ( call tab ) to take shape from the ‘ eye ’ or small dimples on their skin .

leeks and pepper seedlings in trays on an indoor windowsill

I will often do this towards the end of January where I live .

In January or February , I also start sow summertime crop , to get a head jump and make trusted I can obtain a worthwhile harvest by the end of the summertime months .

It is a good mind to get take up early with the grow season so that you have some healthy plants to plant out in a polytunnel or greenhouse , or into the garden by the prison term that warmer atmospheric condition does arrive .

seedlings of broad beans growing in a cold frame

Tomatoes and peppers are two object lesson of crop that it can be good to sow in betimes .

Technically fruits rather than veggie , these are of course key crop grown in UK gardens .

However , when come out early with these warm - season crop , you should notice that a heated disseminator and develop lights can be utilitarian to achieve the good results .

huge vegetable garden covered in snow

If you do have a heated propagator , thenaubergines , Apium graveolens dulce and celery root are other crop which it can be useful to inseminate early in the year .

onion and leeks can also be sown from seminal fluid ahead of time in the class , and this is a good theme as the lilliputian seedlings call for some time to bulk up a lilliputian before they are planted out into the garden .

Not that you could not only consider sowing yearly genus Allium , but also perennial onion plant crops at this time of the year .

Other crop that I like to get started early indoors are peas and broad beans .

I start these indoors in winter before moving them into my polytunnel in early outflow , because unmediated sowings can often fall prey to gnawer or other pests .

you’re able to also go forward to sow nimble leafy salad crops in successional sowings so that you’re able to bask a continual supplying .

And from the very end of winter , into early spring , you may also sow in hardy brassica crops for summer indoors to harden off and plant out before long after bound arrives .

If you plan and develop for yr - cycle growing , you may be surprised by how much food can be available from your efforts over the winter months .

You may also be surprised by just how much there is that you’re able to do at this time of the year .

The garden may mostly be ‘ sleeping ’ in the depth of winter – but even when there are sub - zero temperatures outdoors , and even when there is frost , ice and snow , there are still ways to acquire your own and keep yourself busy .