This time of year, you hear the term ‘cold crops’ in your garden center. While everyone is anxious for tomatoes, if you try to plant them now you will likely have a frost that will kill the tender plant. You can successfully plant cold crops now to satisfy your garden ‘itch’ until the soil warms up enough to handle the tender crops.
What is a cold crop
A cold crop is a term used for vegetable starts/plants that can take a little bit of frost and can be planted in the ground before the soil warms up. For our zone, cold crops include:
- beets
- broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- cabbage
- cauliflower
- lettuce
- onions
These plants are also pre-hardened off for weeks before they are available for purchase; they have been out in a greenhouse exposed to cold temperatures for best performance in your garden.
So while you are waiting for the precious tomatoes, you can find these plants on the shelves in April. If you are really into gardening and can’t wait to start your garden this is a line of plants that will let you get a little fix till the rest can go into the ground.
Happy gardening!
The Plant Farm 