Seek, and ye shall find...
Ten great vegetables for your winter kitchen garden in India
Winter is the easiest season we get, so make the most of it. Ten cool-weather crops that reward beginners, and where each one likes to trip people up.
If you only grow for one season in India, make it winter. The weather does most of the work, the pests take a holiday and almost everything germinates as if it actually wants to. These ten are our favourites to sow once the heat breaks, drawn from years of growing them ourselves and a long-running list put together with Miguel Braganza of the Botanical Society of Goa. Start most of them now and you will be eating within weeks.
1. Tomatoes
The whole reason most people start a garden, and winter is when they finally behave. Cooler nights mean fewer pests and far less cracking. Give them sun, a stake to lean on and a deep drink every couple of days, and skip the daily splash that invites fungus.
2. Carrots
Loose, stone-free soil is the entire secret. Sow the seed thinly straight where it will grow, because carrots hate being moved, then thin the seedlings hard so each one has room to swell. Pull your first one early just to feel smug.
3. Lettuce
The fastest win on this list and perfect for a pot on a sill. Pick the outer leaves and leave the middle to keep going, so one plant feeds you for weeks. It bolts the moment it gets hot, which in winter is exactly the point.
4. Red radish
If you need proof you can grow something, sow radish. It goes from seed to plate in about a month and asks for almost nothing. Keep the soil evenly moist or they turn woody and fierce, and harvest them young while they are crisp.
5. Cauliflower
A proper winter crop that loves the cold. It is a hungry plant, so feed the bed well with compost before you start. When the white head appears, fold a few of the outer leaves over it to keep it pale and tender. Patience here pays.
6. Cabbage
Slow, steady and very hard to kill once it gets going. Give each plant proper space, because a crowded cabbage never hearts up. Watch for caterpillars on the undersides of leaves and pick them off by hand before they throw a party.
7. Broccoli
Cut the main head while the buds are still tight and the plant rewards you with a run of smaller side shoots for weeks afterwards. It wants sun, rich soil and steady water. One of the most generous things you can grow in a cool season.
8. Spring onions
Quietly brilliant for small spaces and very forgiving. Snip what you need and they simply keep growing back. Tuck them along the edges of other beds or pots, where they earn their keep without asking for a patch of their own.
9. Knol khol (kohlrabi)
The odd one out, and a brilliant talking point. You eat the swollen stem, not the root, and it is crunchy and mild like a sweeter cabbage. Quick, cool-loving and pest-light, it is the crop that makes visitors ask what on earth it is.
10. Parsley
The herb that earns its place all winter. It is slow to germinate, so soak the seed overnight and be patient, then snip it for months once it settles. A handful, fresh from a pot by the kitchen door, lifts almost anything you cook.
Winter is the season that makes you look like you know what you are doing. Use it.
Where to start
You do not need all ten. Pick three or four you actually like to eat, get them in while the nights are cool and let the season carry them. For exactly what to sow in your city and space this month, our planting calendar has you covered, and Green Essentials has the seeds.