Reading the climate record for this place…
Reading the climate record for this place…
Unique and lesser-known vegetables, fruit, asian greens and herbs with serious flavor ranked by how well recent average temperatures match each crop.
Using climate forColumbus, OH, US39.96, -83.00
Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Location is estimated from your network. Search to change it.
Typical October: nights 9°C · days 19°C. Last 10 years; the most recent 3 count more.
55 varieties are in range for recent temperatures this month, sorted by whether a sowing today can finish before the good months run out.
Wasabi Arugula · Vegetable
A mustard green that hits the sinuses like real wasabi — green, volatile heat that fades to sweetness. Not arugula, despite the nickname.
31 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Mustard · Vegetable
Burgundy-blushed leaves with a wasabi-like heat that cools into grape-mustard sweetness after frost.
33 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Methi · Herb
Young fenugreek greens: maple-bitter, celery-fresh, and the backbone of aloo methi. The dried leaf is kasuri; this is the garden version, loud and green.
33 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Tokyo Bekana · Vegetable
Lime-green ruffled leaves that eat like a tender lettuce with a hint of napa sweetness. The rare green that satisfies salad and stir-fry people.
33 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Komatsuna · Vegetable
Glossy spinach-mustard hybrid flavor: sweet, spinachy, with a quiet mustard undertone. One of the most versatile cooking greens in Japan.
35 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Mizuna · Vegetable
Feathery leaves with a peppery, almost arugula brightness and a clean finish — the salad green chefs reach for when lettuce tastes like water.
40 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Sarson · Vegetable
The mustard of sarson da saag: broad, succulent leaves with a round heat that cooks down to sweetness with makki and ghee. Not an ornamental purple mustard.
40 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Rucola · Herb
Wild rocket: thinner leaves, longer heat, a peppery, nutty, almost sesame bitterness that supermarket salad rocket never reaches. The rucola of a Roman pizzeria.
43 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Cima di Rapa · Vegetable
Classic Pugliese rapini: bitter-sweet shoots and buds with a mustard edge that olive oil and garlic were made to tame.
43 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Mibuna · Vegetable
Narrow strap leaves, milder than mizuna, with a juicy green-cabbage sweetness that stands up to soup and pickling.
45 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Tatsoi · Vegetable
Spoon-shaped leaves with a sweet mustard snap and a lingering mineral finish — richer than bok choy, never bitter when grown in cold.
45 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Claytonia · Vegetable
Succulent, mild, and slightly sweet discs — the winter salad green that does not sulk in cold the way lettuce does.
45 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Senposai · Vegetable
A cabbage–komatsuna cross: large, tender leaves with sweet cabbage depth and none of the sulfur bite of collards.
48 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Turnip · Vegetable
A slender Kyoto turnip, white with a magenta shoulder. Tender, sweet, and the traditional pickle for senmaizuke.
48 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Agretti · Vegetable
Monk’s beard: saline, mineral, and snappy, like samphire crossed with young spinach. The Ligurian and Lazio spring green you eat with lemon and oil, not a background salad leaf.
50 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Yukina Savoy · Vegetable
Deeply blistered, dark leaves with a buttery texture and a mild, sweet brassica flavor — like tatsoi crossed with savoy cabbage.
50 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Beet · Vegetable
Candy-stripe rings of rose and ivory. Sweeter and milder than a grocery beet, with a clean earthiness that does not stain the whole kitchen.
55 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Gai Choy · Vegetable
A wrapped mustard head with serious heat that mellows to a round, pickled-cabbage richness when cooked. Essential for suan cai.
55 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Kohlrabi · Vegetable
Superschmelz-type bulbs that stay crisp and apple-sweet even at softball size. Milder than cabbage, juicier than a turnip — the kohlrabi that converts skeptics.
60 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Salad Burnet · Herb
Young leaves taste exactly like cucumber water — cooling, green, and clean. A medieval salad herb that still earns a bed.
60 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Spigarello · Vegetable
Leaf broccoli from southern Italy: sweet, mineral, and more interesting than calabrese, with tender stems like rapini without the bitterness.
60 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Mâche · Vegetable
Nutty, buttery rosettes. The French winter salad that makes greenhouse lettuce look like a compromise.
60 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Garlic · Vegetable
Aglio Rosso di Sulmona: rich, lasting heat with a sweet roasted finish. The red-skinned garlic of Abruzzo, not a mild supermarket bulb.
245 days seed to harvest
in range this month
Bok Choy · Vegetable
Baby heads with celadon stems and a sweet, almost corn-like juice. More refined than full-size white-stem pak choi.
35 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Shungiku · Vegetable
Aromatic greens with a resinous, herbal bitterness — like chrysanthemum tea crossed with spinach. The flavor of sukiyaki.
38 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Bok Choy · Vegetable
Violet leaves over green stems; milder than red mustards, with a sweet pak-choi crunch and a faint berry-brassica aroma.
38 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Yu Choy Sum · Vegetable
Tender stems and buds with a sweet, green-pea brassica flavor — the Cantonese standard for high-heat wok cooking.
38 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Hon Tsai Tai · Vegetable
Purple flower stems with a sweet, asparagus-broccoli taste. The buds are the prize — delicate, nutty, and completely unlike heading brassicas.
45 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Ethiopian Kale · Vegetable
Gomenzer in a heat-proof suit: kale-mustard leaves with a clean, cabbage-sweet bite and none of the sulfur funk of tired collards. Ethiopia’s brassica, selected in Texas for greens.
50 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
African Nightshade · Vegetable
Mnavu / managu: tender nightshade greens with a deep, spinach-bitter richness that milk or cream tames. The everyday pot herb of Kenya and Uganda.
50 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Daikon · Vegetable
Long white roots that are juicy, mildly sweet, and only gently pungent — the daikon you grate over soba and pickle into takuan.
60 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Mitsuba · Herb
A wild, aromatic parsley-celery-chervil hybrid. Fresh, slightly bitter, and unmistakably Japanese in soups and chawanmushi.
60 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Watermelon Radish · Vegetable
Pale green skin, shocking magenta heart. Sweet, crisp, and only mildly peppery — the radish that converts radish skeptics.
60 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Borragine · Herb
Cucumber-bright leaves and flowers: the Ligurian herb of pansoti and ravioli di borragine, and a cool, honeyed edible flower. More kitchen than cottage garden.
60 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Winter Radish · Vegetable
Magenta-and-white flesh with a sweet, juicy bite and a tamed heat. Beautiful raw; keeps its color in quick pickles.
63 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Green Meat Radish · Vegetable
Jade flesh that is sweeter and juicier than red radishes, with a fresh-apple quality and almost no bite.
63 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Gai Lan · Vegetable
Thick succulent stems with a sweet, faintly bitter broccoli intensity. Oyster sauce exists for this vegetable.
63 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Carrot · Vegetable
Kyoto’s red carrot: deep scarlet to the core, dense and sweet, with a resinous, almost mango perfume that orange supermarket carrots never reach.
68 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Cavolo Nero · Vegetable
Tuscan kale: blistered, blue-black leaves with a deep, almost nutty cabbage sweetness and none of the ruffly wateriness of supermarket curly kale. The green of ribollita.
68 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Collard · Vegetable
East Africa’s weekly green: broad, sweet collard leaves that stay tender in soup with tomato and onion. The name means ‘to stretch the week’ — flavor that feeds.
68 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Napa Cabbage · Vegetable
Crisp, juicy midribs with a clean sweetness that kimchi was invented to celebrate. 'Bilko' heads are dense and resist bursting.
68 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Finocchio · Vegetable
Florence fennel: crisp anise-sweet bulbs that taste like licorice and celery had a well-dressed child. Shaved raw or braised, it is a proper secondo, not a garnish.
80 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Anise Hyssop · Herb
Leaves and flowers taste like licorice-mint tea. A North American native that makes fruit, salads, and cold drinks more interesting.
80 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Celtuce · Vegetable
Grown for the thick stem: crisp as jicama, with a mild lettuce-cucumber taste and a toasted-nut aftertaste when sliced thin.
83 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Puntarelle · Vegetable
Roman chicory grown for the hollow, crunchy shoots: bitter, juicy, and the reason puntarelle alla romana with anchovy dressing exists. Not a leaf chicory in disguise.
85 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Romanesco · Vegetable
The fractal Roman cauliflower: nuttier and sweeter than white cauliflower, with a precise, almost hazelnut crunch. A Lazio and Roman-campagna classic, not a novelty print.
88 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Radicchio · Vegetable
The variegated radicchio that looks like a cream-and-wine rose: milder than Chioggia, with a nutty bitterness that takes olive oil and something sweet. A Veneto winter luxury.
90 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Bunching Onion · Vegetable
Long scarlet shanks with a sweet, round onion flavor and none of the harshness of storage onions. Stunning sliced raw.
95 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Garlic Chives · Herb
Flat leaves with a true garlic perfume and a green-onion juiciness. The flavor of dumplings, jiaozi, and Korean buchimgae.
100 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Lovage · Herb
Celery turned up to eleven: leaf, stem, and seed all carry a deep, savory, Maggi-like intensity. A little goes a long way in broth.
105 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Alpine Strawberry · Fruit
Tiny berries that taste like wild woodland strawberries — intense perfume, rose, and honey. Flavor density supermarket berries forgot.
105 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Negi · Vegetable
A fat, leek-like Japanese onion with a melting sweetness when braised. Famous from Shimonita, Gunma — one of Japan’s great vegetables.
150 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Oca · Vegetable
Andean tubers with a lemon-bright, slightly acidic crunch that mellows to squash-like sweetness after sun-curing.
165 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Cardoon · Vegetable
Artichoke’s wild cousin, grown for blanched leaf stalks: bittersweet, nutty, and deeply Mediterranean. A slow luxury vegetable.
165 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month
Yacon · Fruit
Crisp, juicy storage roots that taste like pear, apple, and jicama. Eaten raw. A dessert vegetable from the Andes.
200 days seed to harvest · tight window
in range this month