Seeds by Season

The modern culture of convenience delivers many seasonal varieties year round. Strawberries, tomatoes, avocados, and many others are always available in stores. But each of these foods has a season, a specific set of conditions that they can grow in. Artificially controlling those variables like temperature, moisture, and light is not a bad thing but it’s really hard to beat a perfectly vine ripened tomato that spent its days basking in natural sunlight and the evenings in the cool crisp air of the night sky.

Eating the seasons is a way of life. Plants have their season – some are considered warm-season and others cool-season crops – and isn’t it more rewarding to long for a juicy tomato all winter only to gorge on them in late summer and fall. We certainly think so!

Mother Nature forces plants into a season. If cool-season crops like broccoli or lettuce are exposed to temperatures that are too high they will bolt (produce their seed) rather than set flowers that can be pollinated. Warm-season crops that are grown in cool temperatures will fail to set fruit at all. Plant them the wrong time of year and they may not germinate, and if they do they probably won’t survive. But get the timing right and you just might be setting the stage for a bumper crop.

Vegetable Seeds by Season

The following is a general categorization of vegetables by season. It’s important to understand when to sow or transplant specific varieties in order to provide them with the conditions they need to reach full majority. Of course, where you live will determine when your season begins and ends for each variety. For example, Dave will see bolting for some of his Spring greens in April because of the higher temperatures in Scottsdale, AZ. We may not see bolting greens until July here in Buffalo, WY.

Spring Vegetable Varieties

• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Chives
• Collard Greens
• Corn
• Fava Beans
• Fennel
• Fiddlehead Ferns
• Green Beans
• Mushrooms
• Mustard Greens
• Onions
• Peas
• Radicchio
• Ramps
• Rhubarb
• Salad Greens
• Snow Peas
• Sorrel
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Watercress

Summer Vegetable Varieties

• Beets
• Bell Peppers
• Butter Lettuce
• Carrot
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Edamame
• Eggplant
• Endive
• Garlic
• Green Beans
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Lima Beans
• Okra
• Peas
• Potatoes
• Radishes
• Shallots
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Summer Squash
• Tomato
• Tomatillo
• Zucchini

Fall Vegetable Varieties

• Acorn Squash
• Butternut Squash
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cauliflower
• Diakon Radish
• Endive
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Kohlrabi
• Mushrooms
• Pumpkin
• Radicchio
• Salad Greens
• Sweet Potatoes
• Swiss Chard
• Turnips

Winter Vegetable Varieties

• Brussels Sprout
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Chestnuts
• Collard Greens
• Kale
• Leeks
• Sweet Potatoes
• Turnips