Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have the luxury of being able to grow and harvest vegetables nine months of the year, with a little planning and some gardening aids. In early spring, I'm able to pick the over-wintered and perennial vegetables. By starting seeds indoors under lights, and by using row covers in the garden, I will have the winter-sown veggies to harvest later in April and into May.
The over-wintered plantings
In late summer to early fall, I can plant several vegetables which, most years, will survive through winter, and give us an early spring harvest.
Although we had some severe cold spells this winter for our region, the kale survived quite well. I've been picking this over-wintered kale for meals on a daily basis.
In the same bed as the kale, the shallots and garlic are all looking good. Both were planted in October. The greens can be cut and used to add flavor to soups and salads.
Some of the Swiss chard also over-wintered. The plants are still small, but will be harvest-size in about 2-3 weeks.
Only 2 parsley plants made it through the winter. But this should be enough for spring cutting. Parsley is biennial. It will grow for a couple more months, then go to seed.
The perennial plantings
Nothing could be easier than perennials in the garden. Plant them once and they return reliably with no effort on my part.
The chives are growing vigorously. I added a handful to some homemade tomato soup (from canned tomato paste) that went with last night's dinner.
The sorrel looks good. Young sorrel is mild and tender. I make cream of sorrel soup a few times each spring.
Technically these are not perennials, but they self-seed every year. So still effortless for me. It's hard to tell, but all these little sprouts are watercress, which sows freely in parts of my garden each year. I'll thin the plants as the season progresses, and have watercress leaves to add to sandwiches and salads in about 2-3 weeks.
Spring-planted veggies
Daytime highs are around 53-54 F and overnight lows hovering right around the 40 degree F mark in my garden. These temps are just barely warm enough for seeds and plants to grow, here.
I've got my transplanted lettuce seedlings under a row cover for protection from the cold. I'll begin harvesting for salads in about 4 weeks. I started these plants under lights indoors, in February.
The peas are up. Pea tendrils can be added to stir-fries and salads in the early season. Then in summer, we'll have snow and snap peas to enjoy.
Beneath the soil surface, I seeded a bed full of spinach, a patch of beets and a patch of mustard greens. The spinach and mustard greens will be done in time for later spring plantings of warm weather veggies.
Strawberries and rhubarb
We added another strawberry bed two weeks ago. My son built the bed, and he and my husband positioned it. Later that day, my husband and daughters filled it with soil and transplanted wayward strawberry plants into the bed. At this point, we have 5 strawberry beds. We plan to add 1 more bed next spring.
The rhubarb is looking good. I should be able to cut rhubarb near the end of April.
By combining over-wintering, perennials and early spring sown plants, our garden can provide us with fresh vegetables as early as March each year. Such as blessing to have garden-fresh veggies after a winter of frozen, canned and long-storage ones.
Larger gardens, and those which receive more sunlight than ours, can support even more over-wintered vegetables, such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts (my neighbor down the street has a patch of Brussels sprouts that are still harvestable). There's even a variety of carrots than can over-winter and provide spring harvests.
Although it's still quite rainy and cool, spring is my favorite time of year for gardening. Everything just coming up, new sprouts to be discovered -- it all feels like something of a treasure hunt when I venture into the spring garden.
