Last year, spring was five to six weeks slow. Spring 2016 seems to be coming more quickly than last.
As you may recall from earlier posts, I plant by soil temperature, not length of day. This spring the soil is already warm enough for planting.
So I planted this week. I put in seeds for all the early spring vegetables: lettuces in abundance, spinach, French arugula, microgreens galore, kale, Swiss chard, pac choi, radishes, peas.
As I pull back the blanket of leaf mulch from herbs and other perennials, I am finding nubby spring sprouts everywhere. Here is the first asparagus. Since this is the third year for my asparagus plants, it will be the first year for eating these delicacies.
I also harvested brussel sprouts which I overwintered. Somehow the cold enriches and intensifies the flavors. Most of them made it through the winter without rotting or dying. I learned too that the best sprouts come from survivors who were more deeply buried in leaf mulch.
I also wintered over a crop of parsnips that are now pushing up new green plumage. I will harvest these when the plants are fully leafed out, perhaps for Passover next month. For parsnips too, winter concentrates the flavors of an already flavorful parsnip.
Happy Spring!