My spring line-up varies from year to year, but there are always a few I put in every year, or come up every year.
Asparagus: we're on our 3rd year with our current patch, and planning to put in another one this year to time stack the harvest so we (hopefully) don't go a year without anywhere down the road. In my region asparagus is a 20-year-perennial.
Arugula: We actually grow this year-round, as it grows in snow just fine. It actually has a hard time with heat, and will bolt quickly when night time temps go above 60 degrees. So, we have long, slow plantings from Oct-April, then rapid successions of baby arugula from May-Sep. We cut the plants to harvest, not pull them, so we harvest every week, no matter the weather.
Rosemary: We have several bushes in different locations around the property, and they always go into a spurt in the late spring.
Savory mints: Greek oregano, germander, marjoram, catmint, and horehound all have rapid tender growth a few weeks after hibernation lifts in the early spring. The first harvest is our biggest, around late April/early May. Then they slow down a bit,but still harvest every 6 weeks. Note: Horehound is actually an evergreen in most places, but it's growth in winter is very slow and not worth mentioning.
Cilantro: We plant in late fall and it usually comes up in late February. We harvest by picking 1/3 of the leaves every two weeks until it bolts to corriander in late April.
Candy mints: Spearmint, peppermint, pineapple mint, sweet mint, and chocolate mint all do the same thing in early Spring as the savory mints, but these continue to grow rapidly until it get REALLY hot (80s at night). Note: Pineapple mint is more fragile than the rest and needs special care if grown in temperate drylands... lol
Lamb's ear: This is an evergreen herb that can be harvested year-round, but it's sweetest leaves are in early Spring right before it flowers.
Sage: A triannual evergreen here, sage's best leafs are in Fall, but starts getting new growth in early April.
Currant flowers: Starts flowering in April here. Berry harvest is in June-August (depending on the type, we have 3 types). We always harvest some of the outer branches during the flowering to keep them under control. Make a great potpourri.
Early spinach: We plant in late Fall and it acts as an indicator for planting our hardy squashes and doing final preps on all other warm season plantings. We always have a harvest by late April.
Various lettuces: We let several cultivars "do their thing" in our food forest and just keep self sowing year after year. Because the forest floor is protected from harsh winds and mild frosts by the upper 4 layers (
canopy, understory, clumpers, and bushes) they tend to sprout and grow earlier than other places on our property. We usually have a mixed bag harvest by early April.
Mustard: Another one that's planted in Fall and comes up in late winter/early spring. It never fails, and has become something of a tradition for us to spend the first official day of Spring harvesting mustard greens. (Side note: This year we planted a lot of "first sprouting" greens and snow plants near the fences, where the neighbors can see them, just to show off.)
Okay, trying to remember everything off the top of my head. There's more, but my notebook is in the office in the
greenhouse right now. These are only the things we grow outside. There's a LOT more that we get before May, or year-round, from the
greenhouse and interior window planters.
Tomatoes, cucumbers,...my daughter's pumpkin plant just sprouted in the
greenhouse, lol. I've never done winter squashes in the
greenhouse before; we'll see how that goes. I should also note that our "greenhouse" is technically a glasshouse on the southern side of our
workshop building, with an indoor food forest in it. The entire thing is one big planting box.
I'll post again if I
think of anything else that fits the bill. Or after I fetch my notebook...
~Candes
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