THE SPRING
VEGETABLE GARDEN
by Chuck Wiley
It's nearly springtime when a person’s thoughts should hopefully turn to ....... vegetables! That's right it's time to start our vegetable gardens. Even though our frost free date is technically May 1st, this is a great time of year to start our cool loving vegetables.
There are many vegetables that can handle the light frosts we get this time of year. If a colder night were to be predicted, in the high 20s, you can cover your freshly planted vegetables with Reemay, plastic or an old sheet to protect them from the frost. At this point, most greens can be planted and some, like spinach, do much better in cooler weather than in the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are known as cole crops, which sounds like cold crops, all do very well planted at this time a year too. While kids don't always like the spicy taste of radishes, they are a great vegetable for them to plant as they come up in a matter of days and are ready to pick in a few short weeks.
There are a few perennial vegetables which actually are some of the easiest ones to grow. My all-time favorite is asparagus which can live for 20 or more years. Asparagus continually get bigger and more productive with just a little bit of care. The most important way to care for them is to keep the weeds out in order for them to thrive. They are one of the first vegetables to come up every spring and are absolutely delicious and healthy. Chives are another easily grown perennial and are up this time of year. They are ready to pick in another week or so. The third perennial, one of our family favorites, is rhubarb. While most vegetables require a fence, rhubarb does not necessarily need one due to it’s toxic leaves therefore not favored by our local animals. When planting these perennials take extra care to enrich the soil, since they are long lived, and compost will help them thrive. A light top dressing of composted cow manure should take care of most of their nutritional needs each year. I grow all my vegetables organically which means I can walk out into the garden, pick them, give them a light rinse if needed and eat them. YUM! What could be better than fresh vegetables!