Zone 8 - What to Plant in January

Zone 8 - What to Plant in January

January is the time to start your garden in zone 8. To be ready for the last frost you should start all transplants inside in January so you're ready to go. January is your first window to start your indoor sowings and order your seeds for the spring season. The next two months are the most important for starting your vegetables on time. Start your tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables to be ready for spring transplant!

The Green Towers Lettuce is an easy to grow, tasty green leaf lettuce. This lettuce variety offers a mild flavor with an attractive semi-savoyed texture. The Green Towers is a favorite for its adaptability and dense habit! This lettuce will grow great in any climate!

De Cicco broccoli, known for its exceptional taste, is a popular heirloom variety of broccoli (Brassica oleracea) that hails from Italy. This Italian heirloom has been cultivated for generations, making it a favorite among gardeners and chefs alike. De Cicco broccoli is classified as a compact, semi-dwarf type of broccoli, and it is highly prized for its versatility in the kitchen and its relatively quick maturity. De Cicco broccoli boasts a mild, slightly sweet flavor with a hint of nuttiness. Its tender, dark green florets are surrounded by a profusion of lush leaves. The compact plant typically reaches a height of 18-24 inches, making it suitable for smaller gardens or container growing. De Cicco is known for its relatively short days to maturity, typically taking around 48-65 days from seed sowing to harvest. This broccoli variety is characterized by its vibrant, dark green color, which is indicative of its high nutrient content. De Cicco broccoli exhibits strong disease resistance, particularly against common broccoli ailments like downy mildew and clubroot, which can be a relief for growers. When properly cared for, De Cicco broccoli can yield a bountiful harvest of small to medium-sized heads, often producing side shoots after the main head is harvested. For optimal growth, it's recommended to sow De Cicco broccoli seeds in well-drained soil with full sun exposure. Plant the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, spacing them about 18-24 inches apart to provide enough room for the plants to mature and thrive. Additionally, consistent watering and adequate fertilization can help ensure a successful De Cicco broccoli crop.  

Snowball Y Improved cauliflower is a popular open pollinated variety! This cauliflower is known for its vigorous, rapid growth and long harvest. Its head is snow-white and measures 7-8" inches across. Give this cauliflower fertile soil, full sun and steady moisture and you'll be rewarded with large, delicious heads that are high in vitamin C.

Mortgage Lifter tomatoes are a legendary heirloom variety with a rich history and exceptional qualities. Originating from the 1930s, this tomato was famously developed by M.C. "Radiator Charlie" Byles, a farmer who sold the plants to pay off his mortgage, hence the name. These large, beefsteak-style tomatoes are known for their deep pink to reddish color and meaty texture, with fruits often reaching up to a pound or more. The flavor is renowned for its sweet, rich taste with a balanced acidity, making it ideal for slicing, sandwiches, and sauces. Mortgage Lifter tomatoes typically take about 80 to 85 days to mature and feature an indeterminate growth habit, meaning they continue to produce fruit throughout the growing season. The plants are vigorous and sprawling, requiring staking or caging to support the heavy, abundant fruit. Their historical significance, combined with their impressive size, flavor, and productivity, makes Mortgage Lifter tomatoes a prized addition to any garden.

The Early Purple Sprouting broccoli is an heirloom broccoli bred for overwintering! This variety produces lots of beautiful purple broccoli sprouts in the spring. The Early Purple Sprouting grows slowly through the winter; very frost hardy.

The Jersey Devil Tomato is an extremely prolific old heirloom paste-type variety that is shaped like a little banana pepper! These juicy tomatoes have a very meaty texture that is great for making into sauces and salsas. This old favorite produces very little seeds! The Jersey Devil grows to be about 5-6 inches.

The Rainbow Blend Bell is an assorted mixture of 7 colorful bell pepper varieties. This blend of bells contains a full range of colors with 7 varieties of top-quality, vigorous hybrids of red to green, orange, yellow, chocolate, lilac, ivory and purple! Enjoy your peppers together in a colorful dish with this excellent sweet bell pepper blend!

The Sweet Million has a delicious flavor with outstanding yields that keeps coming back! This hybrid produces large clusters of smooth, bright red fruits that come early and will produce all summer long. This variety is one of the most popular home garden tomatoes that always pleases. The disease resistant Sweet Million tomatoes are 1-1.5" long and produces high yields until the first frost if picked regularly.

The Sun Gold is a very sweet, tangerine-orange cherry tomato. Once you try this sugary treat, you will want to grow it for years and years! This variety produces beautiful little tomatoes early, often and throughout the entire season. The Sun Gold is the best tasting cherry tomato around that is great for home gardens.

The Green Globe is America's most popular artichoke! Large flower buds, harvest when plump, ornamental with bold blue 6" flowers. Artichokes are a very tender plant. With thick, fleshy scales and solid center, the flower heads should be harvested when they're young. Native to the Mediterranean, globe artichokes have been grown in the US since Colonial times. Provided with a protective cover, the artichokes will successfully overwinter in colder areas.

The Dazzling Blue Kale is a beautiful, cold-tolerant lacinato-type that produces large blue-green leaves with deep purple veins. This kale is sure to add a delicious pop of color to any salad! This variety will survive freezing temperatures better than other lacinato types and will even intensify with cool temperatures.

Alexandria is a delicious alpine strawberry that produces delicious fruit. Deep scarlet and fragrant aromatics, these strawberries are the size of wild berries. Alexandria is an everbearing strawberry that can produce the first year if planted early. These day-neutral plants stay compact and produce few runners. Excellent for pots and window boxes.

The Giant Caesar Lettuce is an amazing bright green looseleaf romaine type that has a buttery sweet flavor similar to a butterhead. This variety's large leaves are easy to pick without any tearing or bruising. The Giant Caesar is heat resistant and will hold its color and flavor well.

Iceberg Lettuce is the tried and true lettuce that is an easy to grow, slow bolting crisphead. This variety has proven to be one of the most popular crispheads for years! Iceberg is a great lettuce that performs exceptionally well under warm weather conditions. This compact lettuce plant features better leaf texture and quality than other varieties. This variety resists rib discoloration and tip burn.

All The Year Round Lettuce is a medium-sized green headed lettuce that is just like its name, good for all the year round! This slow bolt variety is solid even in hot weather, and good for far northern areas as it is very hardy. Sow All The Year Round in spring or late summer!

The Peter, aka Willy, Pepper gets it's name, well because of what it resembles! This variety is an old heirloom that is grown as much for its shock value as it is for for its culinary value. Peter is an excellent pepper for chili powder! Its pods are 4-6 inches long with blunt ends that resemble a mans private area, no joke!

The Emerald Giant Pepper's sweet, juicy taste and crisp texture is a favorite among chefs and home growers! This organic bell pepper's thick flesh ranges dark-green to red. This pepper has been improved and selected for its heavy yields and disease resistance. Vigorous and prolific, the Emerald Giant's pepper plants will bear over a long season and is a wonderful choice for growing in the South. Certified Organic. Learn more about our organic seeds.

Seaside produces very uniform and great tasting baby leaf spinach. Stays baby size for extended period of time extending the season. Seaside has a nice, smooth, thick, very dark green, spade-shaped leaf making it a perfect choice for baby leaf growers. Seaside has great downy mildew resistance.