Cold Hardy Plants: Grow Edible Fresh Greens Year-Round

Don’t give up on your garden during the winter by using cold-hardy plants and these season-extending gardening techniques.

By Patryk Battle
Published on August 1, 2006
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by Adobestock/Cecila Di Dio

Don’t give up on your garden during the winter by using cold-hardy plants and these season-extending gardening techniques.

Fresh greens of all kinds are a year-round staple in my family’s kitchen. We have learned to transform the traditional “lean time” of the coldest months into a time of abundance by growing hardy and semihardy greens adapted to each season and using season-extending techniques in winter and early spring. Try these techniques and you’ll be thrilled the first time you pick a fresh, crisp salad right from your back yard — in the middle of January.

Our most reliable cold-hardy plants are those that have had at least one season to develop extensive root systems. Regardless of your location, these “naturals” — cooking greens and salad plants that naturally overwinter — will always be your best performers. The naturals usually can survive winter on their own with no protection in our Zone 6 region in the mountains of North Carolina, and they are vigorous early producers. In colder zones, you can use the protection techniques described below and enjoy cooked greens and fresh salads prepared from a variety of tasty and nutritious greens all winter long.

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