11 Delicious Cold-Season Vegetables That Are Easy to Grow

Packed with nutrients, broccoli is tasty and easy to grow. It'll also survive frost; in the spring, you can plant it about a month before your area's average last frost date. Because broccoli loves cool weather, you can also plant it in late summer for fall harvests.

Test Garden Tip: If you keep the leaves on the plant after harvesting your broccoli florets, the plants should produce sideshoots that'll give you a second or even third crop.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 2 feet tall

Zones: 2-11

Standout Variety: 'Packman', which bears uniform heads and matures in about 55 days

Buy It: 'Packman' Broccoli Seeds, ($2, Anderson's Seed and Garden)

Cabbages can pull double-duty as ornamentals and edibles. There are many different types; pick varieties called early cabbage (such as 'Earliana') for spring harvests. Late cabbage varieties (such as 'Vantage Point') are better for planting in midsummer and harvesting in fall.

Test Garden Tip: Add color to your vegetable garden with red-leaf cabbage varieties such as 'Ruby Ball' or 'Super Red'.

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 2-9

Standout Variety: 'Gonzales', which produces softball-size heads in about 60 days

Buy It: 'Gonzales' Hybrid Cabbage Seeds, ($2, We Seeds)

Add a touch of beauty to spring and fall vegetable gardens with edible flowers. Calendula is a favorite for its cheery cream, yellow, or orange daisy-like blooms. Use the petals, which have a zingy, peppery flavor, to add color and interest to salads and cream-based soups.

Test Garden Tip: Calendula also dries well, making it a good pick for garden craft projects.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 2 feet tall

Zones: 2-11

Standout Variety: 'Porcupine', which bears orange blooms with distinct, quill-like petals

Buy It: Mixed Calendula Seeds, ($3, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Enjoy tasty carrots spring, summer, and fall. While you won't have big, long roots in spring, smaller selections such as 'Thumbelina' are perfect for early planting. Harvest carrots as soon as the roots are large enough to eat.

Test Garden Tip: Carrots get sweeter as the temperature cools. Pile mulch over the roots to keep the soil from freezing and harvest them through late fall and early winter.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 3-10

Standout Variety: 'Thumbelina', an award-winning variety that matures about in 65 days

Buy It: 'Thumbelina' Carrot Seeds, ($3, Reimer Seeds)

Begin harvesting this perennial herb as soon as its new leaves appear in spring. The foliage has the classic chives flavor, but the late-spring blooms are edible, too, and taste more like onion.

Test Garden Tip: Pick off faded blooms if you don't harvest them. Chives can self-seed prolifically in the garden.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 3-10

Buy It: Organic Chive Seeds, ($6, Burpee)

One of the vegetable garden's most versatile plants, lettuce comes in an amazing array of colors, shapes, and flavors. Plant a few seeds every week and you'll have a constant crop for fresh salads.

Test Garden Tip: Planting lettuce in a shady spot in the summer months keeps the plant cool, so you can harvest into the hot months.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 4-9

Standout Variety: 'Red Sails', an award-winning variety with reddish-bronze leaves; ready for harvest in 45 days

Buy It: 'Red Sails' Lettuce Seeds, ($5, Johnny's Selected Seeds)

Pansies grace spring and fall gardens with their cheery, edible blooms. The flowers appear in virtually every shade of the rainbow and make wonderful decorations when used on desserts.

Test Garden Tip: Fall-planted pansies in cold-winter areas will often overwinter and bloom the following spring.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 2-11

Standout Variety: The Matrix series, which bears large flowers in a wide color range on strong stems

Buy It: Matrix Pansy Seeds, ($4, Park Seed)

Peas are perfect to grow on a fence or small trellis to give structure to the cool-season garden. They're pretty, too: The plants often bear variegated foliage and white flowers.

Test Garden Tip: If you don't have a spot to put up a fence or trellis, look for upright pea varieties that don't need a support to climb on.

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 3 feet tall

Zones: 2-10

Standout Variety: 'Maestro', an extra-sweet variety that's ready for harvest in about 60 days

Buy It: 'Maestro' Pea Seeds, ($5, Burpee)

Radishes win the prize for being one of the fastest vegetables; they're often ready for harvest less than a month after you plant the seeds. Radishes come in a variety of flesh colors, from white to red to pink and lavender.

Test Garden Tip: Because of their fast growth and small size, round-root radish varieties are good picks for growing in containers. After you harvest the radishes, grow summer vegetables or flowers in their place.

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: Up to 18 inches tall

Zones: 2-11

Standout Variety: 'Easter Egg', which is ready for harvest in about 30 days and comes in shades of red, white, and purple

Buy It: 'Easter Egg' Radish Seeds, ($5, Johnny's Selected Seeds)

This may be the prettiest vegetable you can grow. Swiss chard offers glossy green heart- or arrow-shape leaves carried on colorful purple, pink, red, gold, orange, or white stalks. The leaves taste a bit like spinach.

Test Garden Tip: Some varieties of Swiss chard are more tolerant of frost than others. Take care not to plant this vegetable too early in spring.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 3-10

Standout Variety: 'Bright Lights', an award-winning series with brightly colored stalks; harvest in about 60 days.

Buy It: 'Bright Lights' Swiss Chard, ($5, Burpee)

Equally tasty cooked or in a fresh salad, spinach is a cinch to grow. Like other leafy greens, plant some in a shaded spot to keep harvests going into the summer months.

Test Garden Tip: In mild-winter areas, you can sow spinach in late fall for early spring harvests.

Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: Up to 12 inches tall

Zones: 2-10

Standout Variety: 'Melody', which is heavy bearing and disease resistant; ready for harvest in about 45 days

Buy It: 'Melody' Spinach Seeds, ($4, Seed Ranch)