• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • Plant Based Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Vegetarian Meals
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Indoor Herb Gardening
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Top 5 Cool Weather Vegetables

April 7, 2009 by Jeanne

Cool weather vegetable choices for Virginia are similar to what I grew in New York. My top 5 cool weather vegetables shared here.


The blustery winds and sudden drop in temperatures today remind me that it’s spring, despite the 80-degree day on Sunday. I did a quick check on the vegetable beds.

The cabbage seedlings continue to lose their outer leaves, with the newer growth coming in strong. I’m not sure if that’s normal or due to the compost-infused soil being too rich for them. The broccoli seedlings look awful, but they did in the house too; the strongest is already lifting their little leaves high to the sun. The Brussels sprouts took to their new home in the great outdoors quite well and are already looking much happier than they did in days. The spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce, and broccoli rabe continue to thrive.

And the radishes? They’ve gone wild, quickly adding a second set of leaves and working on a third.

My Top 5 Cool Weather Vegetable Choices

Here’s what’s thriving in the garden at Seven Oaks (zone 7 most of the time, full sun, rich compost-infused soil in raised beds)

  1. Swiss Chard Bright Lights: This is my all-time favorite green, leafy vegetable, both for its color and how easy it is to grow in the garden. Have you ever eaten Swiss Chard? It’s like spinach, but a little milder. You cook it just the same way or saute it in olive oil with a little garlic. You can also eat it raw, like lettuce. Bright Lights comes in a rainbow of colors. There’s the usual green Swiss Chard, but dark orange, pink and yellow too. I grew this in the worst conditions (my former garden in Huntington, Long Island; heavy shade from a neighbor’s trees, clay soil that was hard to amend, zone 6) and it did well. It’s doing great here in zone 7, full sun, fully enriched soil. Can’t wait for the harvest!
  2. Broccoli Rabe: I’m growing an heirloom variety this year from Burpee. In New York, we always bought Broccoli rabe at the grocery store. It’s like little broccoli crossed with chard. It’s delicious. And this heirloom variety seems strong…it’s sprouting like mad. I hope you can see something of it in the pictures!
  3. Radish – French Breakfast: Do the French really eat them for breakfast? I have no idea, but the Burpee catalog promised me radishes so sweet I’d want to eat them for breakfast, so that’s a start. They’re supposed to grow well in hot, dry areas, which is what the garden will become in a few short weeks. I’ve also got traditional Red Glow Radishes.
  4. Brussels Sprouts: I love Long Island Sweet, and they thrive anywhere. I grew them in containers on my deck on Long Island because we had such shady conditions in the garden, and they produced nice sprouts too.
  5. Spinach: I’ve got two varieties going and my favorite is by far the Teton hybrid. It’s tough, fast growing, and economical. We’ve got a little science experiment going between the Teton hybrid and a cheap packet I grabbed at Wal-Mart. So far, the Teton hybrid is outdoing the other.

Let’s hope the weather warms up a bit in the next few days. Rain forecast for the end of the week, which will be great – especially since the tripod irrigator isn’t hooked up yet!

Excuse me while I head out to the garden….

 

Pin
Share
Tweet
0 Shares

Filed Under: Vegetable Gardening

Previous Post: « Perennial Combinations
Next Post: How Seven Oaks Got Its Name »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Darren (Green Change)

    April 7, 2009 at

    We’re just coming into Autumn here in Australia, so this post is well timed! I’m starting to plan out the garden beds.

    I love swiss chard (also rainbow chard), and also peas, snow peas, beetroot, and broad beans.

  2. Jeanne

    April 13, 2009 at

    Well thank you Darren! Will you be gardening in the states? If so, which area? The gardening climate can be very different across the USA. If you know the zip code, you can type it into the calculator on my blog and find out what USA gardening zone you’ll be working in. This can help you determine whether your cool weather veggies will do well in spring, fall, or both.

    Hope to see you again soon at Seven Oaks!

  3. Nannette Ranzini

    June 26, 2016 at

    Love this blog!! Can’t wait to read more……..

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Explore All Gardening Articles

Seed Starting Basics

Easy Ways to Save Cantaloupe Seeds

plants and tools in a wheelbarrow

Starting Peppers from Seeds

tomato seedlings

Seed Starting Resources

tomatoes on the vine

When Should You Start Tomato Seeds Indoors?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Disclosure

Home Garden Joyo participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy.

Footer

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

If you’re thinking about building a vegetable garden this year, raised beds are one of the best ways I know of to start a vegetable garden. Instead of renting a rototiller or hand-digging the soil, adding amendments and turning it all under to create a good garden bed, you start with the best soil mixture…

Read More

henbit close up

Henbit: Plant Profile

I’ve put together this henbit plant profile to spotlight a lovely plant – which many gardeners consider a weed. Weed or flower? To me, it’s a matter of perspective. Every spring, at least one of my raised beds is covered in a thick mat of henbit. Henbit is both lovely and practical despite being labeled…

Read More

fresh beets from the garden on the lawn after being washed

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Organic Beets

I wrote this Ultime Guide to Growing Beets to share my techniques for growing tasty, organic beets. Beets are a powerhouse of nutrition. Both the beetroot and the leaves and stems are edible. You can also can beets and beet greens to store them for year-round use. Here, I share with you a full guide…

Read More

a blue wheelbarrow and a red wheelbarrow filled with pine branches

Winter Homesteading Projects

Even though it’s cold and snowy out, winter homesteading projects beckon. As I write this, snow is falling in sheets outside my office windows, covering the orchard trees with a blanket of white. Last week, an ice storm knocked power out for 36 hours – and knocked pines down every which way. We had poles…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme