The Winter Garden

Use the dormant winter months to plan for the next growing season. Plan your spring, summer, and autumn crops so you have a crop of winter vegetables to fuel your cold winter soups!

Winter gardens are all about leaves, stems, and roots, which mature slowly as the weather cools and the days shorten. Better still, winter vegetables sweeten with the cold. Taste a winter-pulled parsnip or winter-cut spinach, you're familiar with the culinary deliciousness winter gardening can bring.

Seasoned parsnip growers will share their secret: parsnips are tastiest only after the frost. The freezing temperatures cause the starches in parsnip roots to turn into sugar, resulting in a carrot-like root vegetable with a naturally sweet, nutty flavor.