• Endive. About 90 days to maturity, but you can harvest earlier. Plant endive late summer for a fall and winter harvest, early spring for a summer harvest. Escarole is hardier but both will do well through winter with cold frame protection. Endive: 'Full Heart Batavian' (85 days), 'Large Green Curled'; Escarole: 'Nuvol' (50 days).

• Garlic. Plant cloves in fall to establish good root growth, not top growth. Garlic will mature in 7 to 8 months. In late fall cover the growing bed with straw and top dress with compost. Garlic matures in summer when the tops fall over.

• Kale. The inside leaves are generally tastier than the outer leaves. Kale can be harvested from under the snow. Low-growing varieties are best for cold frames; taller varieties are not as cold hardy. 'Vates Dwarf' (65 days) low growing; 'Winterbor' (65 days), 'Blue Curled' (65 days); 'Red Russian' (25 days) tender heirloom; 'Toscano' also called 'Luciano' (30 days) heat-tolerant savoy heirloom; 'White Russian' (50 days) frilled, dissected heirloom,

• Kohlrabi. Best grown in fall and winter; grow kohlrabi outdoors until a hard freeze then harvest and store; grow in coldframe or plastic tunnel for longer harvest. 'Grand Duke' (48 days) hybrid; 'Early White Vienna' (55 days) open-pollinated; 'Purple Vienna' (60 days) open-pollinated. 

• Leeks. Start leeks for winter harvest in early spring, a long season crop. Bunching leeks will grow to pencil size in 8 weeks or so; they can be harvested as the spring planted leeks grow on to maturity. Fastest maturing varieties are ready in about 80 days. 'Electra' (145 days), 'Titian' (90 days); 'Varna' (70 days).

• Lettuce.  Lettuce season is spring, summer and fall in cold regions; fall, winter, and spring in very warm regions. Choose varieties that mature in 60 days or less. Lettuce can take only so much freezing and thawing, even in a cold frame or tunnel; plants should reach harvestable size by early winter; winter varieties can survive through winter in a cold frame if protected from multiple freezes. Choose leafy varieties rather than heading varieties for earliest harvest. Looseleaf varieties are fast growing, less than 50 days. Butterhead varieties form a head and require about 75 days. Romaines require about 70 days. Choices: 'Winter Density', 'Green Wave'; Butterhead: 'Dear Tongue' (46 days" heirloom buttercrunch; 'Dark Green Boston', 'Summer Bibb'; Romaine: 'Cinnamon' (65 days), red romaine heirloom; 'Parris Island', 'Valmaine'; Looseleaf: 'Lolla Rosa' (53 days) looseleaf heirloom; 'Salad Bowl', 'Oak Leaf', 'Green Ice', 'Red Sails', 'Ruby'; 'Simpson Elite' (53 days) heirloom.

• Mesclun. Grow mesclun like lettuce but ready in half the time, about 25 days.

• Mustard Greens. Sow mustard greens in fall for harvest throughout winter. 'Tatsoi' (45 days); 'Mizuna' (40-60 days).

• Onions. Bulb onions are planted in winter for late spring or summer harvest, usually 90 to 120 days. Bulb onion thinnings can be used as green onions. Bunching onions and green onions can be harvested in about 70 days. Bulb onions: 'Fiesta', 'Yellow Sweet Spanish', 'White Sweet Spanish', 'Southport Globe', 'Stockton Yellow Globe'. Small bulb and bunching: 'Red Beard' (85 days) bunching, grow through winter, harvest summer; 'Red Long Tropea' (90 days) red bulbs, harvest mid-, late summer; 'Rosa di Milano' (110 days) barrel shaped;

'White Spear' (65 days) late bunching.

• Parsley. Varieties all mature in about 80 days, but parsley takes at least 21 days to germinate. 'Darki', 'Drausa', 'Italian Dark Green'.

• Parsnips. Hardiest of root crops, plant parsnips early summer for next spring harvest maturing in about 120 days; winter over with no protection even in coldest regions. Dig parsnips when soil has thawed. Parnsips can store for 4 to 6 months.

• Peas. Sow peas for autumn harvest at least 60 days before first light frost; leaves and vines are hardy, not the pods; freezing will damage the pods. Use an A-frame plastic cover to extend the season by 3 to 4 weeks. Low-growing varieties come to harvest earlier. China, snow or sugar peas: 'Dwarf Grey Sugar' (65 days); 'Mammoth Melting Sugar' (75 days). Garden peas: 'Freezonian' (63 days); 'Green Arrow' (65 days); 'Maestro'. Snap peas: 'Sugar Ann' (56 days); 'Sweet Snap' (60 days), 'Sugar Rae' (70 days), 'Sugar Daddy' (75 days); 'Super Sugar Snap' (60 days).

• Radicchio. Radicchio matures in about 60 days. Heads will survive for all winter harvest in the protection of a cold frame but it is best to get up to size before weather gets too cold.

• Radish. Can be one of the last crops sown in fall (and one of the first in spring); radishes grow best in cool, moist conditions. Radishes can be harvested in as early as 25 days and will keep in cool soil up to 60 days. 'China Rose' (52 days); 'Tama' (65 days); 'Cherry Belle' (25 days), 'Champion' (24 days), 'April Cross' (45 days), 'Icicle' (30 days); 'Snowbelle' (26 days).

• Spinach. Spinach will germinate and grow at temperatures just slightly above freezing and continue growing until freezing. 'Indian Summer (39 days); 'Winter Bloomsdale' (45 days); 'Olympia' (45 days); 'Tyree' (45 days).

• Turnips. Turnips are best tasting when young adn tender. Choose varieties that mature in 40 days or less. 'Market Express' (38 days); 'Tokyo Cross' (35 days).

This is Part III of a four-part series. The other posts in this series are:

Part I: Cool-Season and Warm-Season Crops: the basics.

Part II: Planting the Autumn, Winter, and Spring Garden.

Part IV: Extending the Season: how to get more time out of your garden

Posted by Stephen Albert on August 29, 2008 under: In The Garden , Tagged as: in the garden
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