What to Plant in a Winter Garden

While some gardeners in snowy regions look forward to the dormant season as a break from the typical gardening routine, others keep tilling regardless of the weather. If you enjoy fresh vegetables in the summer and live in a climate with milder winter temperatures, consider adding another season of gardening to your routine -- and enjoy fresh-picked foods in the middle of winter.

Plant potatoes, onions and garlic in a winter garden. The trick to keeping these root vegetables alive and thriving is the use of raised beds. A raised bed allows the moisture level and ground temperature to be better managed than plants bedded directly in the dirt.

For those who love fresh broccoli and greens, but live where summers are too harsh for the plants, winter is a great chance to grow these cold-weather plants. Plant cold-weather vegetables in early October and care for them the same way you care for your summer vegetables. Your crop will be ready for harvest by April, when most gardeners are starting to sow their seeds.

If you simply want a garden that looks green year round, then evergreen plants are the answer. Trees such as pine and hedges like ferns produce green leaves year round and keep their green color in your otherwise desolate garden. Additionally, some bushes such as holly lose their leaves, but produce lovely red berries, adding another color to your winter garden.

If you live in a USDA hardiness zone of 9 or above, enjoy the delicious rewards of unlimited vitamin C through the winter. The secret: planting citrus trees. Everything from grapefruit to oranges and lemons grow in milder climates and produce fruit through the entire winter into early spring. Best of all, these trees fill your garden with fragrance in early summer with their blossoms.