The Four Season Survival Garden

A practical year-round food plan using seasonal planting, an unheated greenhouse, row cover, and low-energy storage.

A four-season survival garden does not mean forcing tomatoes to grow in January. It means working with the seasons: growing fresh food when conditions allow, extending harvests with simple protection, and storing dependable crops for winter.

In most places in North America the 'eating season' is usually longer than the growing season; certainly this is true in my neck of the woods, near Ottawa Ontario latitude 45 north, zone 5. So, what's a survival gardener to do? Answer – plan a four season survival garden based on seasonal growing, storage and a small greenhouse.

At New Terra Farm, we combine an unheated hoophouse, an outdoor garden, row cover, succession planting, and a cold room. Together, they give us homegrown food during every month of the year.

My small unheated greenhouse (actually a 20' x 30' poly covered hoophouse that's movable on rails, a la Eliot Coleman) gives me abundant free energy (heat and light) that make growing season extension much more practical and cost-efficient.

Man I love my greenhouse!

And a basement cold room or a root cellar captures 'free cold' in the same way a greenhouse captures free heat. This combination makes providing your own food 12 months a year a much more practical option.

Our cold room keeps potatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots all winter. We also put our preserves on the upper shelves.

But what about canning, drying and otherwise preserving food? They certainly have a place in assuring your food supply and providing variety in your diet, and I'll write more about that in upcoming articles. But, these methods also require more work and more energy than simple season extension and natural storage. Less work and less energy is a good thing, especially in parlous times.

Let's look at how 12 Months of Eating works at New Terra Farm

Spring: Start Harvesting Before the Outdoor Garden Is Ready

Main goal: Bridge the gap between stored winter crops and outdoor harvests.

Most years I can start working the ground in my hoophouse around the end of February, and I can plant early in March. The first harvests – cold-hardy greens and salad makings are ready by mid-April. This is followed by turnips, beets and carrots.

What we grow:

• Cold-hardy greens
• Radishes and bunching onions
• Turnips and beets
• Early carrots
• Broccoli and cabbage transplants

What makes it work:

• Unheated greenhouse or hoophouse
• Row cover inside the protected structure
• Weekly or biweekly succession planting
• Cold-hardy outdoor crops planted as soon as the soil can be worked

Expected result: Fresh greens by mid-April in a Zone 5 climate.

Beet and turnip thinnings contribute to salads or braised greens. I also start cole crops in March that will be transplanted to the outdoor garden in mid-April, where they can survive late frosts under row cover.

The outdoor garden gets well underway in April, with both transplanted and direct-seeded cold-hardy crops. We replant greens, bunching onions, and radishes every week to 10 days or so. We replant turnips, carrots, broccoli and cabbage every two weeks.

At about the same time, we move the hoophouse to 'summer position', so we can put the first transplants of tomato and peppers out. We give these an extra layer of protection by covering them with row cover. The remaining crops that were in the 'spring position' of the greenhouse can now survive with just row cover (see the Eliot Coleman books below for more info).

This is the planting pan for my hoop house on rails (the one I'm tilling in the picture)

Summer: Grow Fresh Food and Plant for Winter

Main goal: Harvest plenty of fresh food while planting and tending the crops that will feed us through fall and winter.

What we grow:

• Tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and zucchini
• Lettuce, salad greens, radishes, and green onions in succession
• Carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips for storage
• Potatoes, onions, garlic, dry beans, and winter squash
• Cabbage, kale, broccoli, and other hardy crops for fall
• Spinach, Asian greens, and lettuce for protected late-season harvests

What makes it work:

• Succession planting to avoid one large harvest followed by an empty bed
• Regular irrigation during hot, dry weather
• Timely planting of fall crops while summer conditions still support fast growth
• Good weed, insect, and disease control
• Healthy, undamaged crops intended for winter storage
• Records of planting dates, varieties, and harvest results

Expected result: A steady supply of fresh summer vegetables, followed by dependable fall harvests and a useful reserve of storage crops for winter.

Warm weather direct-seeded crops like beans and corn begin in June. Beans for drying are usually long season - 100+ days to maturity - so we start them early in the month.

Harvesting from the outdoor gardens starts around end-May and continues through to October. The last plantings of storage crops from the outdoor garden are usually in July e.g. we plant potatoes for our winter supply around July 1. Obviously you want to delay the harvest as long as possible for your winter storage, without letting the crops get past peak maturity in the ground.

Fall: Protect the Crops That Feed You Longest

Main goal: Extend the fresh harvest, gather storage crops at the right time, and protect hardy vegetables as colder weather arrives.

What we grow:

• Carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips
• Cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and other hardy brassicas
• Spinach, lettuce, mâche, and Asian greens
• Potatoes, onions, garlic, and dry beans for storage
• Winter squash and pumpkins
• Late radishes and green onions
• Cover crops in beds that will not be planted again

What makes it work:

• Row cover, low tunnels, cold frames, or a hoophouse to protect crops from frost
• Timely harvesting before hard freezes damage tender or exposed crops
• Leaving cold-hardy crops in the ground until they are needed
• Harvesting storage crops during dry weather whenever possible
• Proper curing of onions, garlic, potatoes, and winter squash
• Sorting out bruised, split, diseased, or damaged produce before storage
• Regular checks of stored crops so one spoiled vegetable does not ruin the rest

Expected result: Fresh vegetables well beyond the first frost, properly cured storage crops, and a dependable supply of food ready for the winter months.

We replant the open ground that was the 'spring position' of the greenhouse through July and August. These are the last plantings that we will eat fresh.

Once the tomatoes, peppers, and cukes are finished (end-September or so) we move the greenhouse back to protect the carrots, turnips, beets, broccoli and cabbage and greens in the 'fall position'. We add a layer of row cover as the weather gets colder. We can keep eating fresh from this store until at least Christmas.

Winter: Feast on Storage Crops Until Spring Returns

Main goal: Rely on stored food, protect any remaining hardy crops, and prepare for the first spring plantings.

What we eat:

• Potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips
• Winter squash, pumpkins, onions, and garlic
• Dry beans, canned tomatoes, preserves, and other stored foods
• Cabbage and other hardy vegetables kept in suitable storage
• Spinach, kale, mâche, and other cold-hardy greens where protected growing is practical
• Frozen, dried, fermented, or canned garden produce

What makes it work:

• A cold room, root cellar, cool basement, or other suitable storage area
• Separate storage conditions for crops that prefer different temperatures and humidity levels
• Regular checks for softening, mould, sprouting, or decay
• Using damaged or shorter-keeping crops first
• Keeping stored produce protected from freezing
• Row cover inside a greenhouse, cold frame, or low tunnel for hardy winter greens
• Seed orders, planting records, and a simple plan for the coming season

Expected result: A steady supply of stored garden food through winter, occasional fresh harvests from protected crops, and a smooth transition into early spring planting.

For the winter months, we will have a cold room full of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, onions, and garlic that will last until the first crops are ready again.  We store winter squash and sweet potatoes in warmer conditions in the house. If you have dried and stored beans and corn, you have a pretty substantial stock of survival food, even without considering canned food or small livestock (the topic of an upcoming article).

Turn Your Grocery List Into a Complete 90-Day Pantry Plan

Get the free fill-in-the-blank planner that shows you what to buy, how much you need, and how to build your pantry without wasting money.

Building a three-month food supply sounds simple... until we try to answer the questions that really matter.

How much food do we actually need? What should we buy first? How do we avoid wasting money on things nobody eats? And how do we keep it all organized so it is still useful six months from now?

The 90-Day Survival Pantry Master Planner gives you a practical, fill-in-the-blank system for building a dependable food reserve one step at a time.

Inside, you will learn how to:

• Calculate what your household really needs
• Build complete meals instead of collecting random cans
• Spread purchases over several weeks
• Identify the foods worth stocking deeply
• Store and rotate everything properly
• Find gaps before they become problems

Stop guessing what to buy next. Enter your email below and get the complete planning system, including a printable version of the three-month shopping list.

Next Steps

1. Home Page
›
2. Farm Survival Plan
›
3. Four Season Survival Garden