If you, like me, are worried about the cost of living in the future, here are some tips to help you plan your growing space and keep yourself well-fed all winter long.
The best and cheapest time to buy food at the market is when it’s in season. But—and this might sound outrageous—this is also when your own garden is thriving. So, I’m going to suggest something radical…
Don’t eat the food you grow in the summer.
Save it. Instead, buy the summer bounty cheaply at the market, and then savor your homegrown harvest in the winter.
What?!? I can already hear the cries from Comox, but hear me out.
The most flavor and nutrition a crop will ever have is the moment it’s picked. After that, it starts to degrade—even the fresh produce I bring to market (and believe me, that’s hard to admit).
That’s why I’m telling you—if you want the best, tastiest and most cost effective food in winter, save what you grow
The Game Plan:
✅ Freeze or process your homegrown crops for peak winter flavor.
✅ Buy and eat your summer produce from local farmers—it’s abundant, affordable, and still packed with flavor.
✅ Come winter, eat like royalty from your own freezer—delicious, nutritious, and a fraction of the cost.
Plan now, and by the time the cold sets in, you’ll have the best-tasting meals, the lowest grocery bills, and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve outsmarted the system.
Here are some of the ways we suggest you outsmart your grocery bill this winter
Grow Tomatoes for Fresh Eating but Mostly Freezing 🍅
I suggest to focus on determinate tomatoes—they produce all at once, making them perfect for preserving.
👉 Best Varieties for Success:
🌱 Defiant, Celebrity, Manitoba – These reliable, hard-working tomatoes thrive in Canadian growing conditions.
How to Make the Most of Your Tomatoes:
✅ Harvest and freeze immediately – Pick, remove the stem, wipe clean, and toss them whole into the freezer (or can them if you’re feeling ambitious, I’m not gonna stop ya, but I never do, summer is too short for that much work). You’ll never get anything fresher from a store bought tin, and no store-bought tomato will taste better in the winter.
✅ Buy & eat fresh tomatoes at the farmers’ market – Enjoy unique varieties on fresh toast, salads, and summer recipes while the season is strong—save yours for winter.
✅ Enjoy the best of both worlds – Eat fresh during peak season and enjoy homegrown flavor all winter long.
Always Grow a Cherry Tomato (Trust Me) 🍒🍅
You might think cherry tomatoes are just for snacking, but they’re also a winter food game-changer.
👉 Our Favorite Varieties:
🌞 Sungold – Insanely sweet, like little bursts of sunshine.
🌸 Sakura – Classic cherry tomato perfection, juicy and productive.
Why You Need Them:
✅ Unmatched flavor straight off the vine – A warm cherry tomato from your garden is like nothing you’ve ever tasted.
✅ Harvest hard and freeze the extras – Every few days, maybe twice a week gather what you don’t eat and freeze them whole.
✅ Cherry Tomato Soup in January? Yes. – Blend those frozen gems into soup, and suddenly, you’re eating a bowl of summer in the dead of winter.
Grow Sweet Peppers for Fresh & Frozen Eating 🌶️
Sweet peppers take time to ripen, but they reward you with steady, flavorful harvests once they get going.
✅ Grow at least two sweet pepper plants. We love the Carmen Bullshorn
✅ Harvest as they ripen & freeze the extras – Simply wash, dry, chop to size and freeze—no blanching needed.
✅ Buy & eat unique sweet pepper & hot pepper varieties from the farmers’ market – Grow what will work in the winter but treat yourself to specialty peppers from local growers.
Frozen peppers go straight into stir-fries, stews, fajitas, omelets, soups—you name it. An easy way to keep fresh flavors in your winter meals!
Grow Peas & Beans for Your Freezer 🫛
Nothing beats fresh peas and beans in the summer—but planning for freezer storage means you can keep eating them long after summer ends.
👉 Smart Strategy:
✅ Grow shelling peas for freezing – Buy & eat snap peas fresh at the market, but grow shelling peas for freezing to use in soups, stews, and side dishes all winter. The extra starch in them make them perfect for freezing. I don’t blanch, I shell, bag and freeze.
✅ Plant bush beans – Beans freeze well and are one of the easiest crops to grow. A few plants can provide you with months of easy-to-use vegetables. I rinse, trim, chop to size and then blanch and straight into an ice bath, dry and freeze on a cookie sheet, then bag
Winter Wonders: The Crops That Thrive When the Cold Sets In ❄️
Some plants don’t just survive the cold—they thrive in it. If you want to harvest nutrient-dense, homegrown food well into fall and winter, these crops are your best bet.
✅ Kale – Plant 4–6 kale plants now. Harvest leaves as they mature (prune from the bottom and let the top grow up—they’ll look like mini palm trees). These plants will feed you all winter, handling frost like a champ.
✅ Brussels Sprouts – A winter staple that only gets better after a frost. These nutty, sweet little wonders love the cold and will be at their best in October. Reach out if you’re trying these—we’ll give you our best pruning tips!
💡 Food security when grocery prices soar: These Winter Wonders will keep you well-fed long after summer is over. A little planning now means you’ll be harvesting fresh, homegrown food while others are relying on expensive, imported produce.
Storage Crop Stars: Your Secret Weapon for Winter Meals 🎃
✅ Winter Squash (Butternut & Hubbards) – These squash are built for long storage and incredible flavor. Harvest in fall and let them cure for a few months while markets are still full of fresh food.
💡 Pro Tip: If you’ve ever had a tasteless, bland butternut squash, it’s because it wasn’t cured properly! A well-cured squash transforms into a nutty, creamy, flavor-packed ingredient.
These storage crop stars will keep your meals gourmet and your pantry stocked—all with food you grew yourself!
Let Farmers Do the High-Rotation Work 🚜
Some crops are worth growing yourself because they store well or can be preserved. Others? Leave them to the pros!
👉 Skip the High-Rotation Crops:
❌ Lettuces, rotational greens & salad mix – Farmers have the infrastructure to keep these growing all season—buy them fresh instead.
❌ Carrots, beets, turnips, and radishes – Getting them germinated properly is tough. We’ve got the system for that—plus the pests. Let us do that work for you. ❌ Potatoes and onions – the pest pressure in this area is a challenge for potatoes, so if you have no wire worm, definitely go for it. As for onions, this is such a weed prone product that buying from your local farmers seems like a better bet to me… but if you can’t help yourself, I completely understand!!
The Best Garden is One That Feeds You Year-Round
By combining smart planting with seasonal eating, you can have the best of both worlds: fresh, in-season food now and a freezer full of homegrown goodness for later.
✨ Plan now, plant smart, and enjoy the rewards all winter long.
Check out our plant sale for all the varieties we have for you in spring!
