Vegetables That Are Sweeter Grown in Winter
Easy
Summer carrots are like winter tomatoes -- they don't taste sweet because they're grown in the wrong season. Come learn which plants to grow in fall and winter for enhanced sweetness and flavor.
Winter Root Vegetables
Root crops like carrots, rutabagas, turnips, beets, parsnips, and winter radishes are remarkably cold-hardy, accumulating sugars that act as natural antifreeze when freezing temperatures arrive.
Winter-sweetened carrots.
Once you taste a chill-sweetened carrot, you may never harvest them in summer again. The difference is so profound, I no longer grow carrots for summer harvest (although they must be sown by summer's end to be of harvestable-size in fall and winter). The same is true for other root crops, like turnips and rutabagas (but careful... this isn't true for tubers, like Irish potatoes, or tuberous roots, like sweet potatoes, which are damaged by cold weather).
Despite their cold hardiness, root crops and other freeze-tolerant vegetables still require some protection in my plant hardiness zone (6b), as winter temperatures can easily dip below 0F (-18C) here in the eastern Kentucky mountains. Inexpensive low tunnels, covered with fabric frost blankets or clear plastic, help protect plants from these extreme freezes. They also make winter harvests easier, as vegetables aren't buried in snow, and the ground is less likely to freeze.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Great looking carrots! Thanks for the tips!
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Our zone is 4, could I plant here?
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