Planting a Spring Garden

I do not particularly have a green thumb, nor do I have any land to plant on. I am interested in container gardening though. Interested is the key word there! I don’t know when I’ll actually get around to realizing my dreams of growing our own veggies, but until then a girl can dream, right? For now I’m keeping our local farmer’s markets in business!

If I had the time, land, and motivation to plant a garden this spring, here is what I would plant. These are crops that are great for starters and easier to take care of than many others. If you actually do it, please, please do share! If you could even link to your own blog post about a spring garden, I’m all ears (and eyes)! I’m just sharing the basics on how long till you eat them and how we like to eat these.

Green Onions: These take about 45 to 70 days to reach full harvest size. No salad is complete in this house without green onions! Perfect chopped on top of your baked potato with sour cream, in your grilled cheese avocado sandwich, really in almost any savory dish. Great as garnish for decorating any creation from your kitchen.

Beets: About two months until they are ready to eat. They are best cooked with the skin on to retain nutrients and then peeled. We love the sweetness of beets in our salads! They are delicious paired with contrasting flavors like pickles, avocados, and olives.

Lettuce: Some varieties are ready to eat in 45 days. Heat tolerant varieties are best if you want a longer harvest. It needs moist, well drained soil. Of course lettuce in salad is a given (though some of the best salads I have tried do not always have lettuce). But beyond the salad, consider it a great snack topped with your desired craving (uhm, caviar please!), as is on the side of any meal, and a perfect mess free toddler snack.

Radishes: Ready to eat in about 21 to 35 days. My favorite thing ever is the spring radish and cucumber salad. Just slice some cukes and radishes raw, mix with sour cream and dill. Amazing! This is the taste of my childhood, always brings me back to my summers spent in the Ural mountains, grazing on my grandparents’ garden.

Herbs: You can buy already sprouted ones and eat nearly right away, wink. You could plant your own and they may be ready to eat in a few weeks. If I ever start growing anything, it will be some herbs, the easiest thing to grow with little upkeep. Maybe even on my window sill, oh wait, I don’t have any window sills in this 1969 house, sheesh! Anything you may want to know about growing herbs (and everything else) can be found at Savvy Gardener. Of course fresh herbs are wonderful in all your cooking, add some aroma to any dish and go from ‘blah!’ to ‘wow!’ in no time.

It’s mid March already, so you better get started soon. The weather is warming up nicely! Make sure to get your seeds from a local farmer or grower who has already done the work for picking out what works best growing in your area.