What to Plant in December Canada

Home Vegetable Growing Guides for Canada Vegetable Planting Calendar Canada What to Plant in December Canada

What to plant in December in Canada depends entirely on your zone — this page answers it for every band. December is entirely a planning month in Canada. Review the season, order seed before short-season cultivars sell out, and rebuild next year's rotation from your own records rather than from a catalogue.

SoilCommander Editorial Team

Canada vegetable growing guides · Checked against Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada plant hardiness data

Every Canadian growing guide is written and maintained by our editorial team for real Canadian growing conditions, and checked against Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada hardiness and frost-date data and provincial agriculture guidance before publication.

Order now

Short-season cultivars sell out first

Rotation

Plan before you buy seed

Review

Turn notes into next year's plan

December planting by region

Band	Sow outdoors	Start indoors	Plant out	Harvest now
Long season Zones 7-9	Nothing outdoors.	Nothing yet.	Nothing.	Kale, leeks and winter salad under cover.
Medium season Zones 4-6	Nothing.	Nothing.	Nothing.	Stored crops.
Short season Zones 2-3	Nothing.	Nothing.	Nothing.	Stored crops.

December garden jobs

Plan next season's rotation before ordering any seed.
Order early — Canadian short-season cultivars are routinely sold out by February.
Check stored crops and remove anything spoiling.
Service tools and equipment.
Pick three specific things to change next season, based on your notes.

Common December mistakes

Ordering seed before planning rotation.
Choosing cultivars by photograph rather than by days to maturity.
Leaving stored produce unchecked.
Planning from catalogues instead of from what actually happened in your garden.

Turn December's jobs into a written plan. The Canada Vegetable Garden Planner (printable PDF) has frost-date planning pages, bed layouts, crop rotation, a sowing log and a harvest tracker — 70 printable pages.

More Canada planting guides

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do in the garden in December in Canada?

Plan. Build next season's rotation, review what worked, and order seed before short-season cultivars sell out.

When should I order seed in Canada?

December or early January. The short-season and cold-tolerant cultivars Canadian gardens depend on are the first to sell out.

How do I choose the right cultivar for a short season?

Work out your frost-free days, then choose cultivars whose days to maturity are at least two to three weeks shorter than that number.

Last updated 25 August 2026

Relevant next steps

Turn This Month's Jobs Into A Plan

Month-by-month advice works best when it becomes a written sowing list, bed plan, and follow-up task list.

Printable garden plannerRecord this month's sowing dates, crop rotation, and bed tasks. Seed starting setupChoose trays, labels, compost, and indoor sowing tools before you start. Full planting calendarCompare this month with the rest of the UK growing year.

Plan the next step

Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.

Get Planner

What to Plant in December Canada