What a wonderful notion, to be able to eat from the garden throughout the year. And as more gardeners become interested in eating locally and seasonally – not to mention saving money on grocery bills – growing edibles in the garden year-round just makes sense.

Lettuce
After your early lettuce, beet, carrot and cabbage crops are harvested in spring, beans, tomatoes and other summer crops can be grown in their place.
Photo Credit: Mark A. Miller
Potatoes
Plant potatoes in spring, and a few months later they’ll be ready to be dug and enjoyed (or stored for later use).
Photo Credit: Stocksnapper/Fotolia.com
Squashes
Squash are incredibly easy to grow and can be eaten in late summer or stored in your kitchen for months to enjoy with holiday meals.
Photo Credit: Waldemar/Fotolia.com
Picking apples
Stored correctly, apples are just one of the dozens of different types of fruits you can grow in your garden and still enjoy months after harvest.
Photo Credit: Dendron/Fotolia.com

With surprisingly little space, you can have something to eat out of your garden every month of the year. Here’s a general listing of what you can be harvesting from your garden each season:

Harvests From Cool-Season Gardens
(USDA hardiness zones 3-7)

Early Spring

Late Spring

Early to Midsummer

  • All the perennial herbs listed for spring
  • Basil, planted from seedlings after all danger of frost has passed
  • Beets, planted from seed in spring
  • Blueberries, bush fruit
  • Cantaloupe, watermelon and other melons, planted from seed or seedlings in spring two weeks after all danger of frost has passed
  • Cherries, tree fruit
  • Cucumber, planted from seed two weeks after all danger of frost has passed
  • Eggplant, planted from seedlings after all danger of frost has passed
  • Green beans, planted from seed two weeks after all danger of frost has passed
  • Hot peppers, planted from seedlings after all danger of frost has passed
  • Peaches, tree fruit
  • Peppers, planted from seedlings after all danger of frost has passed
  • Plums, tree fruit
  • Potatoes, planted from potato pieces in early spring
  • Strawberries, a perennial
  • Summer squash, planted from seed two weeks after all danger of frost has passed
  • Tomatoes, planted from seedlings after all danger of frost has passed
  • Zucchini, planted from seed two weeks after all danger of frost has passed

Late Summer

  • All produce listed for early to midsummer, except for strawberries and some of the tree fruits, depending on the cultivar
  • Acorn and butternut squash, planted from seed after all danger of frost has passed
  • Apples, tree fruit
  • Corn, started from seed after all danger of frost has passed
  • Grapes, vine fruit
  • Pears, tree fruit
  • Raspberries and blackberries, bramble fruit

Fall

  • All previous produce listed for late summer and early to midsummer, except for the strawberries, cherries and plums
  • Broccoli, planted from seedlings in late summer
  • Brussels sprouts, planted from seedlings in spring
  • Cabbage, planted from seedlings in late summer
  • Cauliflower, planted from seedlings in late summer
  • Second crop lettuces, spinach and greens, planted from seed in late summer

Winter

Harvests From Warm-Climate Gardens
(USDA hardiness Zone 8 and warmer)

Spring Through Summer

Fall

What you can harvest in the hot, dry fall depends partly on your climate, partly on how much you’re able and willing to water in the heat of summer and partly on how much afternoon shade you can provide for smaller-growing produce. As long as it’s not too hot and dry, you can harvest most of the produce listed for spring through summer, plus acorn and butternut squash, planted from seed in spring.

Winter