Only the biggest day of our year, Indie Farmers - The First Day of Spring!
And, just in case you haven't gotten your spring garden prep done yet (ahem! But also - no judging) you can find everything you need to prep for spring in the PREP FOR SPRING STAT section below.
PREP FOR SPRING STAT Guide
Cover crops
It's time to knock them down, cut them off at soil level, chop them up into tiny pieces and leave them to turn into organic matter for your summer garden.
Here's all the hows and whys and whens for you cover croppers (love you!).
Garden prep
Plan your garden, start a garden tracker (seriously! Then you'll know what really works!), plant companion plants, start your seeds just right, test and amend your soil - everything we do to prep for the growing season is right here.
Early Spring crops
Plant these guys now by direct sow (just put the seeds right into your soil, no starting indoors all high maintenance and such) and have something fresh and green (or red) to eat in no time at all.
Shelling peas - Plant by St Patrick's Day for a crop before the temperatures rise.
Snow peas - Sow these when you plant your shelling peas and then eat them straight from the vine.
Lettuce - Set aside a small area of your garden and sow a row every 2-3 weeks for a continuous harvest. Lettuce is also perfect for container gardening.
Radishes - Sow rows of radishes between your lettuce for a mini salad bar. Harvest in just a few weeks.
Cilantro - Sow cilantro early to get a harvest before it bolts in the heat.
It's time to knock them down, cut them off at soil level, chop them up into tiny pieces and leave them to turn into organic matter for your summer garden.
Here's all the hows and whys and whens for you cover croppers (love you!).
Garden prep
Plan your garden, start a garden tracker (seriously! Then you'll know what really works!), plant companion plants, start your seeds just right, test and amend your soil - everything we do to prep for the growing season is right here.
Early Spring crops
Plant these guys now by direct sow (just put the seeds right into your soil, no starting indoors all high maintenance and such) and have something fresh and green (or red) to eat in no time at all.
Shelling peas - Plant by St Patrick's Day for a crop before the temperatures rise.
Snow peas - Sow these when you plant your shelling peas and then eat them straight from the vine.
Lettuce - Set aside a small area of your garden and sow a row every 2-3 weeks for a continuous harvest. Lettuce is also perfect for container gardening.
Radishes - Sow rows of radishes between your lettuce for a mini salad bar. Harvest in just a few weeks.
Cilantro - Sow cilantro early to get a harvest before it bolts in the heat.
Carrots (Apiaceae) & Roots
Now: Sow your new crops
Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination
To do: Keep that soil mo-ist.
Carrots, especially, take FOREVER to germinate and they need to stay evenly mo-ist in the soil as they're getting ready FINALLY ALREADY to germinate. So, for the 20 or so days while they're lingering in the soil being big fat teases, make sure their soil doesn't dry out. Otherwise, they'll just never appear and you'll be all BOO.
Here are a few of our favorite varieties for NorCal's warming spring soil:
Tonda di Parigi - Little fat sweet round carrots sold at basically every Paris farmers' market. We like them here in the good ol' USofA, too.
Baby Little Finger - I'm not one for eating baby fingers, but these carrots could convert me. No. That's gross. Just grow these tasty little fingerling sized carrots and call it good.
Early spring greens (Asteraceae)
Now: Sow your new crops
Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination
To do: Keep that soil mo-ist.
Lettuce and other spring greens germinate SUPAH fast, so you don't have to be all stalker-y with your eyeballs on that soil 24/7 forever like you do with carrots.
Just sow your seed, keep it moist and wait a few days. You'll have sweet little sproutlings coming up in no time and then BOOM! salad.
Set aside a 4'x4' block in your garden and sow a new row every week for greens that go on and on until the heat sets in.
A few lettuces we really like:
Henderson's Black Seed: Sounds kinda weird and not like lettuce, but it's a bulletproof winner in the spring garden. Big lime green leaves with curly edges make spectacular salads and wraps. We always grow this. It's outstanding.
Lollo Rossa: If you're a sucker for red leaf lettuce, this is your gal. Another staple in the Test Garden, it's sweet, glossy and gorgeous for all lettuce-y dishes. You know, like salad.
Rocky Top Mix: If you can't decide between green, red, speckled, and oak leaf - this is your mix. It fills out a bed like nobody's business, so get ready to salad. We'll have a big block of this is the Test Garden, so check it out during the plant sale for a sneak peek.
Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination
To do: Keep that soil mo-ist.
Lettuce and other spring greens germinate SUPAH fast, so you don't have to be all stalker-y with your eyeballs on that soil 24/7 forever like you do with carrots.
Just sow your seed, keep it moist and wait a few days. You'll have sweet little sproutlings coming up in no time and then BOOM! salad.
Set aside a 4'x4' block in your garden and sow a new row every week for greens that go on and on until the heat sets in.
A few lettuces we really like:
Henderson's Black Seed: Sounds kinda weird and not like lettuce, but it's a bulletproof winner in the spring garden. Big lime green leaves with curly edges make spectacular salads and wraps. We always grow this. It's outstanding.
Lollo Rossa: If you're a sucker for red leaf lettuce, this is your gal. Another staple in the Test Garden, it's sweet, glossy and gorgeous for all lettuce-y dishes. You know, like salad.
Rocky Top Mix: If you can't decide between green, red, speckled, and oak leaf - this is your mix. It fills out a bed like nobody's business, so get ready to salad. We'll have a big block of this is the Test Garden, so check it out during the plant sale for a sneak peek.
Herbs & Flowers
Cilantro (Apiaceae)
Start a new crop of cilantro somewhere that it or another Apiaceae crop wasn't growing before.
If you want cilantro all spring and summer long, be ready to sow a new row of cilantro every week so that you can get some of the tender young leaves before it bolts (goes to flower).
Try setting aside a 2'x2' block and sowing one 2' row every week for 4 weeks. By the time you get to the 4th week, the first week will have produced its best leaves and you can pull the bolting plants and start a new row of cilantro there. Keep this up and you'll have cilantro all summer long.
Nasturtium (Tropaeolaceae)
You can grow the easiest starting, fastest growing, best cut flower making, best cucumber beetle repelling crop of all time (in NorCal anyway) in your garden this year.
Just get your hands on some nasturtium seed and go nuts. Plant it around your cucurbitaceae crops (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins) to keep the stupid cucumber beetles (don't be fooled - these are NOT green ladybugs) away and you're set.
Marigolds (Tagetes patula)
These guys are your best defense against vegetable loving pests. Sow seed anywhere and everywhere and then, if you're not a big fan of their flowers like yours truly, just appreciate the fact that they're keeping your garden safe all summer long with very little (aka NONE) attention. You can also eat the petals and the longer you keep marigolds planted in your garden, the stronger their pest repelling powers become.
Kale (Brassicaceae)
Now: Bolting!
Next: Resow this in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.
To do: Cut it back and move on with your life OR re sow in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.
We really like:
Red Russian: Red ribbed and gorgeous tasty kale that's great for cooking
Lacinato (Dinosaur): Our favorite for kale salad by far. Plus, aphids can't hide as easily in the broad leaves as they can in the super curly kale, which is nice.
Onions (Amaryllidaceae)
Now: Harvesting as bunching onions
Next: Harvesting as bulb onions or donezo
To do: If you can't possibly wait until your onions form full bulbs, you can harvest now as bunching onions. Just pull, rinse and enjoy. Or don't rinse - be a daredevil like that, you hippie.
Fertilize with a nitrogen fertilizer or worm casting tea every couple weeks until you see the actual onion-y looking bulb start to push its way through the surface of the soil.
Peas
Now: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
Next: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
To do: If you haven't sown your peas yet - get to it! We clearly have a limited period of cool weather before summer sidles up and takes over, so pre-germinate those pea seeds indoors between wet paper towels and then plant the seeds that germinate. 2 months later - peas!
If you're late to the game, try Dakota peas that can take the heat and grow FAST.
Cilantro (Apiaceae)
Start a new crop of cilantro somewhere that it or another Apiaceae crop wasn't growing before.
If you want cilantro all spring and summer long, be ready to sow a new row of cilantro every week so that you can get some of the tender young leaves before it bolts (goes to flower).
Try setting aside a 2'x2' block and sowing one 2' row every week for 4 weeks. By the time you get to the 4th week, the first week will have produced its best leaves and you can pull the bolting plants and start a new row of cilantro there. Keep this up and you'll have cilantro all summer long.
Nasturtium (Tropaeolaceae)
You can grow the easiest starting, fastest growing, best cut flower making, best cucumber beetle repelling crop of all time (in NorCal anyway) in your garden this year.
Just get your hands on some nasturtium seed and go nuts. Plant it around your cucurbitaceae crops (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins) to keep the stupid cucumber beetles (don't be fooled - these are NOT green ladybugs) away and you're set.
Marigolds (Tagetes patula)
These guys are your best defense against vegetable loving pests. Sow seed anywhere and everywhere and then, if you're not a big fan of their flowers like yours truly, just appreciate the fact that they're keeping your garden safe all summer long with very little (aka NONE) attention. You can also eat the petals and the longer you keep marigolds planted in your garden, the stronger their pest repelling powers become.
Kale (Brassicaceae)
Now: Bolting!
Next: Resow this in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.
To do: Cut it back and move on with your life OR re sow in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.
We really like:
Red Russian: Red ribbed and gorgeous tasty kale that's great for cooking
Lacinato (Dinosaur): Our favorite for kale salad by far. Plus, aphids can't hide as easily in the broad leaves as they can in the super curly kale, which is nice.
Onions (Amaryllidaceae)
Now: Harvesting as bunching onions
Next: Harvesting as bulb onions or donezo
To do: If you can't possibly wait until your onions form full bulbs, you can harvest now as bunching onions. Just pull, rinse and enjoy. Or don't rinse - be a daredevil like that, you hippie.
Fertilize with a nitrogen fertilizer or worm casting tea every couple weeks until you see the actual onion-y looking bulb start to push its way through the surface of the soil.
Peas
Now: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
Next: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
To do: If you haven't sown your peas yet - get to it! We clearly have a limited period of cool weather before summer sidles up and takes over, so pre-germinate those pea seeds indoors between wet paper towels and then plant the seeds that germinate. 2 months later - peas!
If you're late to the game, try Dakota peas that can take the heat and grow FAST.
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