Embracing the Flavors of Spring

I know, we all live for the garden tomato. Okay, maybe not every one of us, but it is the most adored fruit of the home garden. And I do get it. But I also know that for so many of us, tomato season is a completely abbreviated concept of a real growing season if you take into account the other months in which food can grow.

I believe everyone must think beyond tomato season, because there’s so much more to celebrate and enjoy when we reach for the right seeds at the right time.

It has taken me well over a decade to come to this place of acceptance. The first 5 years of intensively gardening in Minnesota were definitely skewed mostly toward my frost-free growing season. But slowly I woke to the nagging question of what if.

Accepting that in order to fully enjoy my climate I must lean into foods that grow well in each season is the biggest epiphany of my gardening career. With that mindset shift comes the opportunity to cook with novel vegetables. And yes, that means you may need to adjust your palette to what homegrown tastes like. Mizuna and mustard greens are not a cucumber. Arugula does not resemble a green bean except maybe in its slight pubescence (fuzziness) on your tongue. And radishes, while also mostly red, are distinctly more flavorful and crunchy than a cherry tomato. They all would complement a tomato in an amazing garden salad, but their seasons don’t always overlap that well.

It’s in these bold flavors that spring prevails (and fall, too, but that’s a tale for another month). And for cold climate growers, it is the act of capturing these weeks of the early season that truly fuels our minds, bodies, and souls. It’s the most important early spring endeavor for me to kneel at my beds, muddy my knees, dirty my hands, and breathe in the new year.

Spinach is a garden flavor that has won my heart by way of showing its resilience to me. I confess I have two bags of frozen spinach from late last fall I still haven’t consumed, yet the plants I left uncovered all winter have been revealed and are putting on growth daily. This is an annual leafy green that survives a Minnesota winter – uncovered – and then wakes up and grows in March?! I mean, do I need to explain this any clearer for you to understand the magnitude of such foods in our gardens at this time of year?

I am a firm believer in doing the least amount of work for overwintering vegetables. I am not interested in tromping out into a frozen garden, one that can often be locked shut by snow and ice for a few weeks in deep winter, to have a harvesting adventure. I am totally comfortable enjoying our easily accessible root cellar vegetables, which include the likes of bok choy, chinese cabbage, green and red cabbage, and brussels sprouts for months in winter — in addition to potatoes, carrots, daikon, kohlrabi, beets and more.

And while spinach and arugula harvests are in the foreground of the garden season, head lettuce, a family favorite, is way out on the horizon’s edge, presently taking shape under grow lights. It will soon be hardened off and low tunnel ready, though won’t make its way to our plates until June. Bok choy will happily mind the gap between overwintered spinach and head lettuce season.

As I layer successions of leafy greens of all kinds this time of year both by direct seeded and indoor sowing, I am maximizing the options for meals in the coming months. I hope you enjoy building your own succession garden of your favorite spring flavors.