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The first sign of edible spring: asparagus!

I've never had much luck growing it, it bolts so easily! But I keep trying... just have to pull it while it's still in baby form.

My old go-to nursery closed so we had a nice enough day today to visit a new one. Still a wee bit early in the season for planting anything but I got a replacement rosemary for the one that died, and a 2nd Peach Sorbet blueberry as I quite enjoy the fruit I get from my 1st plant. Sprouts in...

Yeah it took me a bit of experimenting to figure out when was a good time for what. I do keep a close eye on the forecasts as we get near the planting times I've written down from the last few years, and I adjust as needed.

Yeah I start my peppers in January (was late this year, and started in Feb) and tomatoes as late as March. Generally tomatoes go out in early May for me, so that's plenty of time to get them big enough to plant outside, whereas peppers need to stay in longer as they generally want warmer temps.

Sungolds are one variety pretty infamous for cracking. There's an improved variety (Sungold II) but turns out the thin skin version is far tastier (to me), so I put up with the cracking and grow it regardless. Any Sungold tomatoes that crack I simply eat on the spot, I eat about half the...

They are delicious! Hubby knows I love them (and he's not a pickles guy) so they always end up on my plate.

Forgot I had this on my camera. Here's the raised beds prepped and ready for spring planting (I usually start mid-March). Turns out I had a lot more chicken run compost than I thought, I ended up putting 8-9 buckets into each bed and there's still a bit leftover for potted plants or flower...

Spent my morning starting to prep the garden beds for spring. Took off the layer of dried leaves blanketing the beds, added 2 buckets of compost and 2 scoops of soil nutrient mix to each bed and raked all that in. The dried leaves went into the now empty compost bin. I also have a cubic...

Make sure they're firm and not dry looking... I'm spoiled and can't buy beets, turnips or parsnips from the grocery store anymore, they're always old and dry and sad. If you can get them with the greens, you'll likely find the greens eat similar to chard.

Variety matters a lot. The traditional red beets have the most earthy taste (which hubby prefers, I don't, but for him I mostly grow Cylindra beets). I much prefer Golden beets, much milder overall (and not as staining!), to the point that hubby says they don't taste like beets. I also grow...

I wouldn't eat beets at all if it wasn't for hubby. It's one of his favorite veggies (to the point that I had to learn to cook them, as I never ate them before he came along), and for a man who doesn't like pickled anything, amazingly enough, he enjoys pickled beets too.

Good reminder about marigolds, I bought a pack of seeds last year and put them in the "flower" section of my seed holder and forgot all about them. I'll try a few in my vegetable garden this year and see how they do. Nasturtium grows well here and reseeds easily, and I like adding some of the...

I tried that but felt like I was disturbing/pulling out too many carrots while harvesting radishes.

I've done a version of that by planting and growing a few spinach behind trellised squash in mid summer. The spinach grew super fast and was ready to pull in no time (and ready to start bolting too). I've tried that, it might work for very short term, but the bitterness will already be seeping...

I have to say Slo-Bolt cilantro seems to bolt just as fast as regular cilantro... :oops: As much as I enjoy cilantro I find myself simply buying it rather than growing it, it grows quickly but it's just too bolt happy to have a reliable amount when I need it.

Increase in temperature causes some plants to shoot upward (hence bolting) and set flowers. Generally causes the greens to become bitter, like it's quite noticeable in lettuce, as the plant puts its energy in producing flowers and seed.

I have no idea what was just perfect about the one monster spinach I managed to grow (it bolted and got a few feet tall, but leaves were still perfectly edible so I just cut what I needed, and we really did have spinach on and off for weeks). Never had another one like that! Last year's...

I feel the same, but once in a while I get a really big, vigorous plant going and then it's spinach for days...

Yeah you might find it a bit of a face puncher. Maybe try buying a small radicchio and see how you tolerate that - I enjoy it as a Caesar salad, or roasted with pancetta, shallots and balsamic? Or dandelion greens... Or super dark chocolate (90% or higher).