VIENNA — As the temperatures drop and frost begins to settle across Missouri, many gardeners pack away their tools for the season. But according to Missouri University Extension Master Gardener Dhruba Dhakal, winter can still be a productive time, if you know where to look.

Inside his backyard greenhouse, Dhakal keeps life thriving even in the cold months. Herbs like cilantro, garlic and dill fill the space with color and scent. Beyond that, he has built a custom greenhouse that can support root crops such as carrots, radishes, turnips and beets: vegetables that take about 60 days to grow.

For those who aren’t master gardeners or don’t have a greenhouse setup that can handle full root crops, Dhakal said herbs are the way to go for the winter season. Seasonings like cilantro, dill and garlic are resilient, flavorful options that can be grown even in smaller home setups or indoor greenhouses.

While winter isn’t known as a main planting season, Dhakal said it’s one of the best times to prepare for the next.

“You can prepare your greenhouse during the winter months,” Dhakal said. “To create ceilings and then transplant those ceilings into the greenhouse to shield plants from the sun or to create a tunnel to control humidity.”

He explained that even a small setup can make a big difference.

“If I want to prepare a simple 10 ceiling greenhouse, I would buy a humidifier, a heater and something to maintain the temperature so that the seeds of my plants and vegetables can germinate,” Dhakal said.

Even for those with a small setup, winter greenhouses come with challenges. Sunlight can warm a structure by day, but temperatures often drop sharply at night, according to the University of Missouri’s Bond Life Sciences Center.

Gardeners have to balance heat gain and loss while keeping air moving so humidity doesn’t freeze or cause disease. Light is another limitation. With short days and a low sun angle, growth naturally slows and some growers turn to supplemental LEDs, but Dhakal prefers to let his herbs adjust to the season’s rhythm.

By using the winter months to set up and adjust temperature and humidity levels, Dhakal said gardeners can be ready to plant as early as late February.

“It is best to wait until the end of February to plant vegetables, that’s when soil temperature is around 50 degrees overnight,” he said. “That is when I go out and plant my turnips, radishes, beets and leafy greens.”

For those wanting to experiment without much space, Dhakal suggested growing microgreens: small, nutrient-packed plants that can thrive indoors with proper light.

He also offered one more tip for the patient gardener: garlic. It’s the only vegetable that survives winter cold and reemerges in the spring, ready to grow again.

As Dhakal sees it, winter doesn’t have to mean the end of gardening. It’s a season to prepare, experiment and rely on what endures: the flavor of herbs, the roots beneath the soil and the steady work that carries through to spring.

Background information was provided by the MU Extension.