Winter is rough for gardeners. While many of us have seeds starting in the windowsills and under lights, we’re anxious for something substantial. While I might pluck a few tiny basil leaves when I’m desperate, it’s never enough.

The answer is a winter garden. That’s right, actually planting and harvesting when there’s snow on the ground.

A friend of ours seeded spinach and lettuce a few days after Christmas, and honestly, I didn’t think it would do so well because of the short winter days. Boy, was I wrong on that one. He started harvesting fresh baby greens a month ago.

Besides not having to purchase salad ingredients from Mexico (which experienced a freeze a month ago causing a serious loss to many crops), the absolute beauty of a winter garden is no bugs. Anything that would consider eating your greens is months out of sync from its lifecycle.

Build an Insulated Cold Frame

You don’t need a greenhouse for a winter garden; an insulated cold frame heated with a single halogen bulb will do the trick.

Of course, I had my husband Grant build one for me last weekend so I could test the possibilities. He used 2×2 lumber for the frame and sandwiched 1 inch insulation in between the plywood interior and exterior walls.

The lid is a Plexiglas, primarily because our boys climb all over everything and have a habit of throwing heavy objects, so it is the safest option. Just like a normal cold frame, you could use an old window if thats what you have available.

Grant is going to paint it black to help retain every bit of solar heat possible. Then we’ll keep it toasty with a light bulb, although I think I’ll experiment with a slow cooker, as well. (I saw that somewhere and I’d like to see if it works.)

Winter Garden

Whats so impressive with our friend’s winter garden is how well it withstood this brutal winter. We’ve had multiple days when the nighttime temps hung at -20 degrees (or colder), and the days never reached zero. In February, we had 37 inches of snow versus our normal 7.5 inches, which resulted in lots of cloudy days, another anomaly to this area. Even with these conditions, the winter garden did well. He experienced a touch of frost damage on the tips of the larger lettuce after -23 degrees one night, but there was nothing extreme.

Although I hope we won’t have such severe temperatures from here until our last snow (maybe in July at the rate we’re going lately) we will have temperatures far below conducive levels to grow even greens. So, I’m hoping to have lettuce even earlier than I normally do, and better yet, be able to enjoy it without looking for earwigs!