With careful planning, you can grow most or even all of the side dishes for your holiday feast from your own Thanksgiving garden. This garden plan involves multiple planting dates and some crop storage techniques. While all of these vegetables are pretty easy to grow, the challenge comes with the planning and timing of everything to make sure your veggies are ready when Thanksgiving rolls around.
To ensure success no matter your region, I’ve added a downloadable Thanksgiving garden planting plan with layout diagram, timeline and dates for frosty and frost-free zones at the end of this page.
Thanksgiving is a time of abundance. It is also about tradition. Recipes are often handed down from generation to generation, mimicking the first Thanksgiving meal. And occasionally we make tweaks by adding a new dish or a new ingredient to a favorite dish.
If you planted a late-season garden of frost hardy vegetables and greens, you’re no doubt planning on using some of that for your Thanksgiving dinner. If not, I’m here to tell you how incredibly rewarding using your own home-grown produce for Thanksgiving can be.
The concept behind a Thanksgiving garden is to grow things that are either frost tolerant – such as leafy greens and cole crops, or those that are easily stored – such as potatoes and other root vegetables.
Crops that Keep or Store Well
Potatoes
Potatoes are usually served mashed, Au gratin or roasted at Thanksgiving. For a fun variation, try purple potatoes which make very cool mashers. If you live in an earlier frost area, you should plant 1-2 inch chunks at least by late summer. Potatoes should be harvested prior to your first freeze and stored until the big day. Some people store them in well mulched soil after the first frost, as long as there is no freeze. In more temperate regions, you can dig up your potatoes as you need them as long as there is no frost.
In order to prepare them for indoor storage, restrict water for about two weeks prior to harvest to toughen the skins. Allow the leafy stalk to flop over and die back. Carefully dig up the potatoes, brush off the dirt and allow them to cure for 10 days. Put the spuds in paper bags, roll the top of the bag and place in a cool area. Do not store with apples, as apples give off a gas which promotes potatoes to start rooting.
Winter Squash
Nothing says fall to me like winter squash. Even during a warm fall season, roasted winter squash signals that summer is nearing an end. Butternut squash is a popular choice for Thanksgiving meals due to its very sweet flavor and orange color. However acorn is also a wonderful roasted squash. Or try scallop or delicata squash, both of which also work well as part of your Thanksgiving table centerpiece.
Different squashes have different maturity periods; however, plant seeds in the spring for a long growing season, or at least by mid-summer. Give each squash plant room to grow; trellising saves room as the plants get bigger. Squash will continue to produce until the leaves die at first frost. Harvest winter squash after the skin has hardened. Store at room temperature for up to 3 months.
Sweet Potatoes
Glazed sweet potatoes and sweet potato casserole are both popular Thanksgiving menu items. Since they are a longer season crop, they need to be planted in a Thanksgiving garden at least four months prior to the first frost in your region. In frost free areas, they need to be planted no later than mid July for Thanksgiving week harvest.
Restrict water for the last three weeks prior to harvest. In order to store them until Thanksgiving, cure in the sun for a few hours. Do not leave them out overnight. Do not wash them. Continue curing for 10-14 days in a warm, dark, ventilated spot. After this, store them in a cool, dry area.
Turnips
I grew up with mashed turnips as part of our Thanksgiving meal. We had them at no other time of the year except at Thanksgiving. And while they are not a common root vegetable, they are certainly making a comeback now on many high-end vegetarian menus.
Turnips should be harvested young, which means you can plant them as late as 40 days prior to frost, but as much as 80 for slow growers. Where winters are mild and the soil is well-drained, plant in early September and leave turnips in the ground until you need them. In colder areas, turnips can tolerate frost, but should not be left in the ground for a hard freeze. However once harvested, they can store in the refrigerator for several months.
Pumpkins – of course!
Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same without the pumpkin pie! Pumpkins are a fun and important part of any Thanksgiving garden. Making your own pumpkin purée is easy, once you have deconstructed your gourd. Pumpkins go a long way too. You can make a plethora of other pumpkin spice recipes for the season with just one pumpkin … including these Pumpkin Spice Cannolis. And don’t forget how great they look as decoration through the fall!
You can plant your pumpkins in the spring or as late as early summer. It is OK to leave your pumpkins on the vine until they have fully ripened to a rich color. Be sure to bring them in before really cold weather.
Herbs
Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and Sweet Marjoram are all good herbs often used on the bird, stuffing, or the sides. Herbs are easy to grow and can be grown successively throughout the summer and into the fall. With the exception of Rosemary and Thyme, and sometimes oregano, they are not frost tolerant. However, they are super easy to save and dry for an exceptionally robust dried herb.
Choose your shoots for drying before flowers start opening for best flavor. Generally herbs become more bitter once the flowers are fully open. Bundle the cuttings and hang upside down in a dry and ventilated area.
Crops that are Frost Tolerant
Leeks
Leaks are a wonderful addition to Thanksgiving stuffing, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, or to Brussels sprouts with pancetta. Not only are they versatile in recipes, but also in your garden. They can be pulled young and used right away, or left in the garden for longer and stored. When you leave them in the garden through the fall, they tend to be quite frost tolerant. Leaks can also be planted successively if you have the space and time.
Pearl Onions
Pearl Onions are a tradition in some families – usually they appear in peas and pearls, but many families have creamed pearl onion or pearl au gratin recipes which are favorites. More closely related to the leek than the onion, they are an adorable dash of fun for the Thanksgiving table.
Because pearl onions need to be harvested when they are young and small, it is best to plant them in late July or early August for mid-November harvest. When left in the ground longer they will become bigger. While frost tolerant, they can stand even freezing temperatures when a thick layer of mulch is applied.
Leafy Greens
If you like salads on your holiday table, you are in luck! Leafy greens love the cooler weather and do very well in light frosts. Creamed spinach is an alternative holiday favorite for many families. Spinach and kale are extremely frost resistant, and both also make great garnish beds upon which to style your turkey, cranberry sauce or other dishes.
You can plant leafy greens every 2-4 weeks through the fall months, ensuring continuous harvest. When the weather gets colder, harvest outer leaves first.
Carrots
Carrots are versatile and can be prepared alone (glazed carrots) or with other vegetables. They also add a nice color to a roasted potato dish. They are cold hardy and love to be planted in the cool of the fall weather. Plan to grow them from seed about 70-80 days from the first frost in your area. In frost free zones plant by September 15 (eight weeks prior to Thanksgiving).
Once mature, they can stay in the soil for a few extra weeks through frosty weather with good mulching to keep them fresh.
Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts has become one of our favorite holiday side dishes. I love roasting or sautéing them with pancetta and garlic. And apparently I’m not alone – most holiday menu meal plans these days include a Brussel sprouts recipe. I’ve seen quite a few this year with pearl onions.
They are one of the frost-hardiest vegetables out there. In fact, harvesting Brussel sprouts after the first frost will trigger the plant to generate extra sugar and give you the very best flavor. Days to maturity varies, but is generally 90 – 110 days depending upon the variety. Aim to plant your seeds between July 15 and August 15 for a Thanksgiving harvest.
Broccoli and Cauliflower
Both of these are very good winter vegetable which taste even better when harvested after the first frost. At Thanksgiving, broccoli is often sauteed and served with a sauce (try a hollandaise). Cauliflower can be roasted whole for a gorgeous presentation with garlic and Parmesan cheese.
Growing times differ quite a bit for different varieties of broccoli, so it can be hard to predict when to plant in your Thanksgiving garden. However, even in New England broccoli will continue to produce enough for many dinners from summer through December. The key to continual broccoli harvest from a summer plant is the smaller, side shoots that are formed after the main head is cut. If these smaller heads are repeatedly cut and not allowed to open into the yellow flowers, you can pick enough broccoli for six people one or two times a week all season. And because this plant is so frost tolerant, those smaller side heads can be cut through Thanksgiving and beyond.
Cauliflower is a bit more predictable – plan to plant your seeds sometime between August 5 and August 20.
Thanksgiving Garden Plan for Download
As promised, see below for a full-blown garden plan for your Thanksgiving garden. The plan includes a layout design, timeline, planting dates for frosty and frost-free regions, as well as storage techniques.
The layout design pays attention to both four square and square foot garden plans by making sure those vegetables with similar nutritional needs are companion planted together. And all of the high touch or succession vegetables are on the outside so that they are easy to get to!
