"Leaves in the November Dusk"...

What Seeds to Sow in November: Keep Growing Through the Chill

As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, it might feel like the gardening season is over, but not so fast! November still offers plenty of opportunities to sow seeds. Many hardy vegetables, herbs, and flowers thrive when started in the cold, rewarding us with stronger plants and earlier harvests come spring.

Let’s dig into what we could sow outside and inside this month.

Hardy Vegetables & Herbs That Love the Cold

These tough varieties don’t mind winter and, in fact, they thrive on it!

My top picks for November sowing:

I’d choose hardy Spring onion varieties like ‘White Lisbon – Winter Hardy’ for a reliable early crop. Land cress is a spicy cold hardy stand-in for watercress.

Claytonia (Winter purslane) thrives in damp, cool weather. Sweet, tender, and frost-proof Lamb’s lettuce (Corn salad), one of the tastiest and easiest winter salad greens.

For lush green leaves pick Perpetual spinach ‘Giant Winter’. For quick crops of Turnips & radishes sow early in the month.

Not forgetting Broad beans. I grow ‘The Sutton’, a compact, heavy-yielding dwarf variety that stands up to exposed conditions suitable for my small garden.
Other reliable choices include ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ or ‘Super Aquadulce’ for early spring picking.

My Favourite Herbs:

Autumn sowing Chervil avoids bolting, as it prefers cooler temperatures. A perennial that grows well from autumn sowing with a refreshing lemony taste is Sorrel. Parsley is slow to germinate but survives frost once established.

Don’t leave empty soil — sow green manures like winter rye or vetch to protect and enrich your beds.

Flower Seeds That Need a Winter Chill

Some flowers germinate best after a cold spell. Sow now and let nature do the work.

Try: Delphinium, Californian poppy, Forget-me-nots, Honesty, Foxgloves, Primula, Violas, and Larkspur.

Indoor Sowing for Fresh Winter Greens

Even when it’s frosty outside, you can keep growing indoors. My windowsills are already crammed with tender cuttings and houseplants that can’t handle frost, so there’s not much space left for winter sowings indoors.

If you have space indoors, you can keep things growing on a sunny windowsill or under lights for a steady supply of fresh greens. Typically grown as salad leaves or microgreens, you could try spinach, chard, pak choi, mizuna, rocket, mustard, or a selection of herbs such as coriander, parsley, and chives.

Final Tip:
November’s also the perfect time to plant tulip bulbs for a stunning spring display.