20+ Winter Gardening Ideas for the Vegetable Garden

These twenty winter gardening ideas will keep you busy in the colder months and prepare the garden for the year ahead. Ideas include creating more growing space, DIY plant pots, planting hedgerows and bare-root plants, and much more

We’re deep into winter, but that doesn’t mean we must stay inside, twiddling our green thumbs. There’s plenty to do to prepare for the vegetable gardening year ahead. Building hardscaping, planning what to grow and where, and getting organized. There are even seeds that benefit from being sown now under the warmth of grow lights. Use this list of winter gardening ideas to get a head start on this year’s garden and prepare for the harvests ahead.

1. Build raised beds, paths, and hardscaping

Winter is the perfect time to build projects for the garden. Create raised garden beds, garden paths, rose arbors, sheds, or plant supports like berry trellises. Trust me, it’s stressful to get these types of projects done when you’re trying to grow crops at the same time. Build them as a winter gardening project, and you’ll be ready for spring growth.

2. Make Newspaper Plant Pots

If one of your goals is to recycle more and use less plastic, make newspaper plant pots. The paper and ink are safe for growing plants, and the pots last just long enough before they begin breaking down. It works out well because, by that time, you can plant, newspaper pot and all.

3. Weave Garden Edging With Sticks

Winter is when we prune raspberry canes. Mine are autumn fruiting varieties, so I cut them all down to about two inches from the ground. With summer fruiting, you only cut the old wood. Regardless, you’re left with a bundle of canes that are usually burned or composted. Instead of disposing of them, use them to make raspberry cane wattle edging. My first one lasted three years before I took it down. During that time, it helped keep the compost contained in the raspberry bed. Since the canes are hollow, they also provide homes for insect life. This is one winter gardening idea that I make time for each year.

4. Plant Bare-root Strawberries

Winter gardening ideas wouldn’t be complete without some planting! Most people who plant strawberries will have purchased them in pots in spring. Those in the know are wise enough to think ahead and order them bare-root. Bare-root strawberries arrive in the winter and need planting then too. If it’s mild enough, you can plant them directly in the soil, but it’s sometimes better to plant them in pots and grow on in the greenhouse first. Bare-root strawberry plants are far cheaper than potted plants, and you’ll have a lot more choice in variety too.

5. Plant a Hedgerow, an Edible Hedge

If you have enough land, you cannot go wrong with planting an edible hedge. They’re great boundary plantings, provide habitat for wildlife, and with very little work on your part, will produce crops of nuts, berries, and fruit. It’s a win-win situation. We have a ‘Gin Makers Hedge‘ planted at our allotment, kindly donated by Hopes Grow Nurseries.

It arrived two years ago as bare-root shrubs, and I dug them in late February. Two years on, it’s beginning to fill in with various types of wild roses, sloes, elderberries, wild cherries, wild pears, and more. I loved it so much that I planted another one at home! Other nurseries can supply bare-root edible hedge plants too, but you’ll need to order and plant them in winter.

6. Build a Grow-light System

This winter gardening idea will kickstart your growing year! A dedicated grow-light system gives you far more space to start seeds in winter, and you can even use it to grow salad crops in the cold months. All you need to build one is a little space, shelves, and the right lights. You can even use it to start seeds indoors for planting out after the last frost. I recently invested in a metal shelving rack, and two suspended grow lights. They weren’t cheap, but I did start many seedlings early this spring.

If you’re on a budget, all you have is a window sill, I recommend you get this clip-on grow light. I’ve used it for two years and love how it makes that space a better-growing place for seedlings. With it, you don’t have to worry about them becoming leggy as they reach for the light. The seedlings benefit from both natural daylight and supplemental light from above.

7. Deep Clean the Greenhouse

Before spring sowing and growth begins, deep clean the greenhouse. It gives you a chance to clean the glass, improve light, remove pests, and sanitize growing spaces. If you have problems with slugs, spider mites, or fungal infestations (plants, not your toes!), then that’s even more reason to tackle this as early as possible.

8. Begin Forcing Rhubarb

Forcing rhubarb creates very early, tender stems of bright pink rhubarb. It’s much more of a thing in Britain, but I hope those in the USA and abroad give it a go too. Though you can use a traditional terracotta rhubarb forcing pot, placing a clean rubbish bin (garbage can) over your plant does the same thing. It warms the air and ground around the rhubarb and encourages it to grow up to a month earlier.

9. Chit Early Potatoes

Although you can plant potatoes that are not chitted, some people swear by giving them this head start. Especially early varieties. Chitting means setting your seed potatoes in a bright place for about four-to-six weeks before planting them out. Setting them in egg cartons seems to be a popular method to keep them from rolling off the table. Just like in your kitchen cupboard, the potatoes will begin to form sprouts. Plant them with the sprouts orientated the right way, and you’ll see green shoots earlier than if you hadn’t chitted them first.

10. Build Birdhouses

Spring is around the corner, and with it will be garden birds. You’re likely feeding them right now since many garden birds rely on our help for the winter. You can help them even more by building boxes for them to nest in. The video below shows how to make a simple wooden birdhouse, but there are many different designs that you can choose. It’s a great activity for a rainy or snowy afternoon, and you could even paint them before installing them in the garden in March.

11. Garden Planning

Plan your garden: what you’d like to grow, where you’d like to put it, and when you need to sow seeds. Browse seed catalogs and Instagram for ideas. Use a garden journal or online planner if you’d like, but organizing now will keep you on track in the summer. It’s armchair gardening at its best and the perfect winter gardening task for days when it’s just too cold, windy, or snowy to want to venture outdoors. This is one of those winter gardening ideas that you’ll truly enjoy! I go through how I plan my garden each year in this video if you want to see my system.

12. Harvest Winter Veg

Many kitchen gardeners focus on growing summer and autumn crops. If you plan ahead, you can have leeks, brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflowers, beets, parsnips, and other vegetables to harvest through the winter. An unusual and delicious winter vegetable that I’ve been growing for some years is the New Zealand Yam (oca).

One of my other favorites is purple sprouting broccoli. The earliest variety begins cropping in December, with others following from January to May. They’re part of the brassica (or cole) family and are fairly winter-hardy. The family also includes many varieties of cabbage and kale grown to be harvested in winter. Many root vegetables are hardy down to 25 °F (-2.2 °C) too, so if you’re in zones 8-11, you can leave them in the ground until needed.

13. Sow the First Seeds

Though you’ll need to hold off for most veg, some seeds benefit from a very early start. Three include onions, chilis, and eggplant (aubergines). That’s because each needs a long growing season, and if you’re in a mild or cold climate, your plants might not have enough time to produce if you sow in spring. You can also grow salad greens and loose-leaf lettuce right through the winter. Indoors, they’ll grow with a grow-light set-up, and plants started at the end of summer will continue growing slowly in greenhouses and polytunnels. Here’s more guidance on the earliest seeds to sow.

14. Order bare-root fruit bushes and trees

It’s not just strawberries that you can order bare-root. Add more perennial fruit bushes and trees to the garden in winter too. You can get apples, pears, currants, gooseberries, and more for a much better price if you order bare-root. They’ll arrive looking like dead sticks, but don’t worry, the plants are dormant and just waiting to break into buds and leaves. In winter, you can also plant bare-root roses and other bare-root shrubs.

15. No greenhouse or polytunnel? Get one

Gardening without a greenhouse is possible, but growing with one is a joy! My current greenhouse is a vintage model and came with our house, and I’ve had a heavy-duty plastic Palmram model before too. I sold it when we bought the new house, and the new owner took it away on the back of a trailer. You can get a greenhouse from a specialist company, and I’ve seen many for sale on Facebook, eBay, and other places. Greenhouses, and polytunnels for that matter, come in various sizes and price ranges, but another option is to build one. My friend Barb and her husband built theirs from recycled windows, and she shares how they did it in the video below.

16. Attend a Seed Swap

Think of all the seed packets you’ve purchased in your life. Have you used all the seeds, or have had to throw some away? Seed swaps are a fabulous way to give them away and take other seeds home that you actually need. That way, seeds don’t get wasted, and you save money. These community garden events are popping up regularly these days, and the one I organize has been going strong since 2011. If you can’t find a seed swap in your area, use my tips to start your own. It’s fun, and I guarantee you’ll have more than a few people interested in coming.

17. Clean your Pots

If you think your greenhouse gets mucky after a gardening season, think about your pots, modules, and trays. It’s not “dirt” that you should be worried about, but bacteria, viruses, fungi, and pests. Give them a good scrub using these tips from Garden Therapy.

18. Clean your tools

Most of us keep our tools in reasonably good condition but aren’t disinfecting and oiling them throughout the year. Winter is a great time to wipe them down with alcohol, buff any rust off, and oil them with good oil. Some people use WD-40, but to keep it more natural, use natural vegetable oil. Olive oil works, and boiled linseed oil is a favorite since it dries quickly. Winter gardening ideas can be fun, and some are just necessary. This is one of them!

19. Tidy the Shed

While you’re cleaning your pots and tools, empty the shed and give it a full clean too. I recommend using the Marie Kondo method to clean the garden and have an entire piece dedicated to how you can use its principles in the garden. It’s so satisfying getting all of your materials organized and prepared for spring.

20. Sprout Seeds

Homegrown greens can be sparse unless you have a grow-light system or warm greenhouse, or polytunnel. There’s another way to get your greens, though — by sprouting seeds. All you need is a large glass jar with a lid, water, seeds suitable for sprouting, and a little time to have fresh salad sprouts any time of the year. You can also sprout seeds in other containers, but jars are the easiest way.

More Winter Gardening Ideas

Winter isn’t just a time to plan for next year’s garden, it’s time to get a head start! I hope that these winter gardening ideas have given you inspiration for projects both in the garden and indoors. If you’re looking for even more to do, check out the Lovely Greens YouTube Channel and browse through these gardening ideas.