If you went through this past weekend’s polar vortex storm on the East Coast, you might be feeling cabin fever. Dreaming of a spring garden that isn’t buried under a sheet of snow and ice.
We are still quite a bit away from spring, but that doesn’t need to stop your dreaming, however!
Quick-growing vegetables give the satisfaction needed to get one into growing food. These are non-fussy crops that almost anyone can start – and successfully harvest.
You don’t need a massive garden to grow many of these, if not all of them, as long as you grow dwarf varieties (which grow faster as a bonus).
Yes, you can grow dwarf peas in containers! They also do well in early spring, when the long-season vegetables are still 1 to 2 months from being seeded.
Often, just getting going makes the winter seem shorter. Now is the time to get seeds if you haven’t yet, and to make sure you have 4″ seedling pots and trays. Pick up or make potting soil.
Then, when it is the right time weather-wise, you can get going!
And a positive thought as we approach spring. You do not have to be rich to garden. You don’t need acres of land. Or even a dedicated garden. Work with what you have, or can get (be it free or affordable). Work to a bigger garden as you plan for the year, but realize as long as you grow something, you are doing laps around most people out there.
To grow:
Arugula: It is often used in salads, pizzas, and vegetable sautes. It isn’t lettuce; it is in the brassica family. Harvest as soon as leaves are big enough for you, snip with scissors, and let them continue to grow.
Beet Greens: Harvest early for the greens. Thickly seed your beet seeds, and thin them to get the leaves. The now thinned beets can then grow, taking around 60 days to mature.
Bok Choy: I prefer dwarf varieties, as you can beat the heat of late spring, so they do not bolt. Cut as needed. It can be treated like lettuce and cut across the bottom. It may or may not regrow. Or seed new plants every few weeks, and transplant. Either way, it’s easy to grow.
Carrots (tiny varieties): As with beets, seed heavier, and enjoy the thinned carrots in various stages. Carrot leaves can be used to make pesto instead of basil.
Chives: As soon as the plant is established and is sending up shoots, you can snip away. After the first year, it is often one of the first herbs to shoot back forth. In mild climates, it rarely dies back and stays green year-round, only flowering in summer.
Green Onions: Plant early; they are hardy. Seed thicker than normal, as you thin them, use the baby onions first.
Kale: Once kale is established, it will quite often grow till first frost – and even make it through winter. Take leaves as needed, gently breaking them off. If the plant goes to flower in late summer, you may want to start a new row.
Lettuce: Look for quick-growing and dwarf varieties. Pick leaves as desired; most lettuce will come back if you do not disturb the roots.
Peas, Dwarf: Plant early. I find that more dense seeding protects the plants. If your area still has a risk of frost, frost fabric will protect. Plant in the sunniest area in your garden.
Radishes: As soon as your soil can be worked, seed. Pick as desired, smaller can be milder, before the heat of spring shows up. 3 weeks later, you may be snacking happily!
Raddicho: A fast-growing plant, which, if you harvest leaves as needed, will continue to grow.
Sorrel: Not a common choice, but I have grown it for years. Harvest as needed, similar to kale and Swiss chard.
Spinach: Look for cold-hardy varieties. Pick often, before it heats up.
Swiss Chard: It is very hardy, growing from very early spring to the first deep freezes. It tolerates frosts. Harvest leaves as needed, breaking off at the base.
~Sarah