Make an early start with vegetables to get ahead in 2026

Lee Senior takes a look at why its great to be early and how to work round the weather

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Throughout my gardening life I've always tried to produce as many early crops as possible! There is tremendous personal satisfaction from producing food out of season plus potential monetary benefits too, as food out of season often commands a premium in the shops, though production costs can be not insignificant.

For me it’s purely and simply about making the cropping season as long as possible at both ends of the season for as many different crops as possible. This shortens waiting time in spring and it means my itchy gardening fingers get a nice scratch! Perhaps it’s a little bit of showing off too, a little bit of one-upmanship, competing with myself, the climate and others, whoever they may be.

Christmas time fires a starting gun for me with regards to one eye on early crops. However, with some crops it can start even earlier than that. As ever patience remains a virtue and sometimes it is true that fools rush in where angels fear to tread!

ESSENTIALS FOR EARLY CROPS

If you want to try growing early crops there needs to be certain things in place. The first obstacle to overcome is providing enough sustained warmth for seed germination in the darker out of season months between November and February.