What to Plant in July in Vancouver to Maximize Your Food Garden All Winter Long

Don’t let your garden plots or containers sit idle after harvesting spring veggies like peas and lettuce! One of the best ways to maximize a small-space food garden is by practicing winter gardening. Whether you opt for a winter food garden or give your soil a break with a cover crop, make your garden more productive by planning your garden’s next steps now. Here’s what to plant in July in Vancouver to ensure you maximize your harvests from fall through spring.

What is Winter Gardening?

Contrary to what you might expect, winter gardening doesn’t involve a lot of actual, hands-on gardening over the winter. Instead, winter gardening involves planting hardy and fast-maturing crops in summer or very early fall for harvesting from fall through spring. A related practice, overwintering, means planting in summer for a harvest the following spring.

For your best chance of winter gardening success, start planning and planting in July. Focus on quick-maturing, cool-season crops that can withstand frosts. Aim to have your plants nearly full-sized by Halloween, as this is when growth typically halts due to reduced daylight hours. Your crops will remain basically dormant until early spring (unless harvested earlier).

Ideal Winter Garden Crops to Plant from Seed this July

There are some great options for crops you can direct sow this summer for harvest later this year or early next spring. Here are our top picks for what to plant in July in Vancouver for a fall and winter harvest:

Annual Vegetables to Plant in July in Vancouver

These edibles complete their lifecycle in one year (i.e., are “annuals”):

1. Arugula: This peppery green adds a zesty kick to salads. Direct sow now through early September and use crop protection like cold frames or row covers for extended harvesting.

2. Asian and Mustard Greens: Versatile greens such as komatsuna, mibuna, and mizuna can be sown now until the end of September.

3. Broccoli Raab: Quick-maturing broccoli raab can be sown until late August.

4. Cilantro: This cold-tolerant herb can be direct sown until mid-September.

5. Corn Salad (Maché or Lamb’s Lettuce): Known as the hardiest salad green, it can be sown until mid-September.

6. Dill: Technically a biennial herb, dill rarely overwinters here in Vancouver. Direct sow this herb now through the end of August and enjoy its ferny foliage and beneficial-insect-attracting umbels all season long.

7. Endive or Radicchio: Hardy and perfect for salads, endive and its cousin, radicchio, can be sown as late as mid-September.

8. Green Onions (Scallions): Another cold-hardy crop, green onions can be planted until the end of August.

9. Kale and Collard Greens: These versatile and hardy greens can be direct sown now through mid-August.

10. Kohlrabi: This unique vegetable gets sweeter after a frost. Plant it by mid-August.

11. Lettuce: Many lettuce varieties can handle light frost. Plant hardy types like ‘Cimmaron’ and ‘Rouge d’Hiver’ for fall harvests, or use row covers for winter protection.

12. Pac Choi, Bok Choy, and Choi Sum: Direct sow these mild-tasting, cool-weather-loving brassicas now through the end of August. Direct sow in September under a layer of row-cover fabric or other protection.

13. Peas: Sow a few rows of peas in July and August and enjoy the flavour of spring well into fall!

Biennial Crops to Plant in July in Vancouver

Biennial plants do not produce flowers or seed in their first year. Instead, they store energy in their taproot during the first year’s growing season, then produce flower and seed the following year. When growing biennials over the winter, you must harvest their roots or leaves in late winter (unless you wish to save their seeds). Once days lengthen, they will put their energy into developing seed and the taste and quality of their roots and leaves diminishes.

1. Beets: Direct sow quick-maturing varieties like ‘Avalance or ‘Red Ace’ now through the end of August.

2. Carrots: While carrots are ideally sown no later than early July, a sowing in early August can still succeed with row covers or cold frames.

3. Parsley: With its preference for cool weather, parsley is a hardy biennial herb that can be direct sown now until the end of August.

Starting Seeds in the Heat

One of the major challenges with winter gardening actually occurs during the summer, when temperatures are high and rainfall is scarce. The crops suitable for winter gardening are all cool-season plants, meaning they prefer cool temperatures (rare, here in BC, in July) but timing demands that we start these seeds in the summer. Follow these techniques to start seeds in July:

1. Water the seedbed well before sowing.
2. Sow seed thickly, allowing for some casualties. You can always thin later.
3. Cover newly sown containers and garden beds with plastic, fabric (burlap, old towels or bedsheets) or cardboard. Check daily for signs of growth.
4. Once seeds begin to sprout, replace the opaque covering with something that allows light in: horticultural shade cloth or physical barriers (such as overturned plastic lattice-work seedling trays, or gauzy, lightweight fabric. Remove covers after the heat of the day subsides. If growing in containers, move them out of direct sun during the hottest part of the day.
5. Mulch seedlings to provide extra protection from the heat and to reduce evaporation.

Protecting Your Edibles from the Cold and Wet

To keep your winter garden thriving, it helps to protect your edibles from below-zero temperatures and Vancouver’s sometimes-relentless rain. Simple solutions like cold frames and mulching can work wonders by creating a warmer, drier microclimate for your plants.

Cold frames are like mini greenhouses, trapping heat and shielding your crops from frost, while row covers provide a breathable barrier against chill winds and heavy rains. Simply drape the latter over garden beds, or, for a neater look, secure over bent hoops or other structures. Peg or tie down row cover fabric to prevent it from flying away in winter wind storms.

Mulching with straw or fallen leaves is another effective way to insulate your soil. This ensures that the roots of your vegetables stay safe from freezing temperatures. You can even pile mulch on top of root crops, such as beets and carrots. Mulch insulates the roots even while the tops die back over winter. Come spring, they will re-sprout.

Maximize Your Garden’s Potential

Keep your garden planted all year round, and you can enjoy fresh produce even during the colder months. Start planning what to plant this July in Vancouver and make the most of your small-space food garden. Visit Figaro’s Garden for seeds, fall veggie transplants, row cover fabric, and much more.