Spring Crops: You Win a Few, You Lose a Few

Seed stalks on spinach 

Spring gardening is so weather-dependent I try not to expect too much. 

So I'm trying not to be too disappointed that my spring spinach has gone to seed already. Last year, we were eating spinach salads well into June. But this spring…sigh. After a two-week very warm spell in April and only a minimal harvest, every last plant in the bed has bolted--which also means the leaves have stopped growing.

The slugs have gotten to many of my newly sown seedlings too. We’re in the middle of an unseasonable cool spell—it felt a bit wintry yesterday evening, at 42 degrees—so maybe the remaining seedlings won’t bolt too soon.

John, ever the optimist, just transplanted 4 zucchini starts into a bed. We generally don't plant zucchini until June, and they're sure to shiver with the current chill. But after the slugs ate all our seedlings last summer, at least these 4 zuchs have a head start!

On the winning side, our asparagus is up and running…no, it's sprinting! For John and me, every dinner is a feast these days—we pile our plates high with sautéed or roasted spears, with enough to share with my sister and our wonderful neighbors. Which makes up for our paltry spinach!

Strawberries are thriving

Last year’s strawberries were kind of a bust. A very small harvest, possibly due to some kind of fungus. Luckily, I planted new strawberry crowns in all new beds, and these plants are super-vigorous and now setting fruit. So if this cool weather doesn’t last long, we should be seeing our first ripe berries in 3 weeks or so...that is, if the mice and voles don't eat them first.

It’s harvest time for rhubarb—which happily, produces in cool weather, hot spells, and everything in between. For breakfast, I’m enjoying rhubarb stewed with last summer’s marionberries and a spoonful of honey. I just picked an armful of rosy, red spears, and envision a strawberry- rhubarb crisp in the not too distant future. 

Rhubarb is so easy to grow and very resilient, and organic rhubarb is about $4 or $5/lb. in the store. So if you are a fan and have a few square feet of extra space in your yard, why not plant a crown?

Free ebook!

You’ll find tips for growing these crops and many more in my free gardening guide, Little Farm in the Garden… Available at your favorite online retailer or at susancolleenbrowne.com!