In the Garden: Fast Growing Vegetables

This time of the year is busy for the gardener. We have seedlings to nurture indoors (or greenhouses), soil to prepare and direct sowing of cold hardy vegetables. Review 'In The Garden' post from last week to stay up on your gardening timetable, here.

Additionally:

• It is time to plant asparagus, horseradish and rhubarb crowns in the garden

• Remove about half of the mulch on strawberry beds once the foliage starts to grow

• Raspberry maintenance: remove dead canes

• Finish pruning fruit trees; pruning on sunny days is best for plant health

Fast Growing, Cold Hardy Vegetables.

Craving fresh greens mixes? Need to supplement your C.S.A. box with extra edibles? There are quite a few crops that you can seed now, directly in the ground. If you do not have much space then use containers or sneak seeds into nooks and crannies in your ornamental beds (most of these crops will be harvested by the time your perennials are coming back to life).

Lettuce, spinach, mustard, kale, radish, spring onion & spring turnips are crops that can be harvested within 50 days.

• Radishes can be harvested in 25 days, generally.

• Pea shoots are quite the delicacy, you can seed pea seeds in a flat or container. Here is a short how-to video. There are specialty pea varieties, but any pea seed will do!

• Lettuce and most greens can be seeded closely for a cut and come again method, or you can thin the lettuces as they grow (eat those thinnings), slowly making room for the remaining lettuces to form into conventional heads.

Direct seed any of these crops once you are able to work your soil. If you have a soil thermometer, look for temperatures between 35 - 40 F.

It has be relatively dry and you may need to water your garden beds through germination. Additionally, the wind can dry out soil quickly. Use your garden trowel to make furrows (about 1"-1.5"deep), sow your seed, lightly cover with soil and water with a light sprinkling of water (do not dislodge seeds). The furrows should be oriented away from prevailing wind, this will help keep soil moist. For example, if the wind generally comes from the west, the furrows should run north to south.

Need seed? Contact O'Hara Commons and make an appointment to access our seed library!