🌱 what i'm growing in my spring garden 🌱

ps. indoor seed starting class tomorrow @ 3pm!

I feel very distant from the natural world lately. The holidays sweep us up into the magic of lights, gifts, music, desserts, and good wines. I love Christmas maybe more than anyone, but the January hangover is unsettling and I float along feeling as if nothing is accomplished — even though I look back at my task list each day and I am checking off boxes at an all time speed. TikToks keep telling me to stand in the sunlight for 15 minutes every morning and to sleep without my phone by my side. I can’t do either. I want to watch all the videos, take all the classes, plan all the things, and it’s all so…inside.

The earth is a living, breathing thing and I have buried myself deep inside a corner of drywall to stay warm, but the light is muted and the air is dull. Even when I emerge to walk about the yard it is as if all my children have turned their head away from me as if to say, “come back later, no one is home right now.” - morning journal, jan 6

THE SPRING GARDEN

I have finally planned out my spring garden. Max and I sat down on New Years Day while we shelled some beans to do my “Garden Goals & Reflections” exercise together. Minus a 5 minute tiff about whose fault it is that tools are left all over the backyard stairs everyday (it me 💁🏻‍♀️), I loved all other minutes of this conversation. While the garden is “Mine,” Max’s infrequent contributions are invaluable and we have loved building it together. If you want to read ours, you can stalk it HERE.

Over the past years, the garden has very much clarified itself into separate selves: The Spring Garden, The Summer Garden, the Late Summer Garden, and The Fall Garden.

I used to plan everything at the beginning of the year (and I still do a draft to ensure I can buy any hard-to-get seeds before they sell out) but now I am learning to tackle it in phases and reserve energy for each season.

The Spring Garden is easily my favorite and exists to me as a First Child. So much attention and care is given to it and it eats up the love with its mild personality and few needs. It is in fact Spring Gardens that require the least work and yet we give them the most — and it is the middle Summer child that needs the most, and yet we often are well distracted with our lives by then.

If you are new to gardening, read a little crash course in the different seasons and then come back! I wrote about them HERE. But don’t use that old calendar that I linked, get this new and improved one. :)

When planning your Spring Garden, the first step is to select Cool Season crops that will not die in a light frost (28-32°). With a highly variable climate, frost cloth is helpful to have for unusual temperature swings and we are having more and more of those each year, and will protect from a killing frost (24°).

The second step (and this has taken me years) is to identify varieties that do best in the Spring as opposed to Fall. While Cool Season crops can often both in both seasons, it heats up very quickly in the southeast and so I try to select varieties that mature quickly and can root/establish themselves while the temperature is still chilly. There is a difference between starting cool and finishing hot (Spring) and starting hot and finishing cool (Fall).

MY LIST

GREENS

I get the best salads in the spring; no other time of year compares. They are easy and beautiful. We eat a lot of buttercrunch varieties because it feels like True Luxury.™ I never liked arugula until I grew it, and I’m getting better at finding dishes to toss asian greens into. Asian varieties of greens typically handle temperature swings the best, so I’m trying Dash for my spinach. I do keep them under row covers.

• Arugula: Eruca Sativa [the common type]

• Dock: Bloody [gorgeous on any plate and perennial]

• Head Lettuces: Crawford Bibb [most gorgeous + most delish], Gustav’s Salad

• Leaf Lettuces: Merlot, Rouge d’Hiver

• Bok Choi: White Stemmed Mustard, Purple Lady

• Spinach: Dash

COLE/BRASSICA

I typically do not grow much in the Brassica family because they face many challenges in my area. They generally do better in long periods of cool weather, which we have some years and not others. Spring crops bolt easily if we get hot temps suddenly, the cabbage worms are brutal every year, and they are so susceptible to rotten heads if we get too much rain. Fall crops struggle if the hot summer months lag and beat down on them while they’re still tiny. I am resolved to master them though by doing three things. (1) Choose regional-specific, faster-maturing varieties. (2) Continue to attract as many wasps to my property as possible. (3) Put them in the coveted Full Sun spots as they really struggle in even Part Sun areas.

• Broccoli: De Cicco

• Cabbage: Tete Noir [fall variety, but I’m trying it], Early Jersey Wakefield [the cone types are for spring]

• Chinese Cabbage: Golden Beauty

• Kale: Lacinato [the sweetest/softest], Casper [a pretty one that i like]

cute lil salad turnips

ROOT VEG

I have noticed that some years I get better roots in the spring, and others I get better roots in the fall. We’ll see which year it is this year!

• Carrot: Pusa Asita Black [heat resilient], St Valery, New Kuroda [heat resilient]

• Parsnip: Hollow Crown [for fall, not spring, but i’m experimenting]

• Salad Turnip: Tokinashi [my fav root veg. like a potato but with 10x flavor]

• Beets: Bulls Blood [fast & leaves lovely in salads], Golden [the least-earthy beet]

• Radish: White Hailstone

MISC OTHERS

• Peas: Royal Snap II [i just like it bc it’s beautiful], Sugar Daddy Snap

• Potatoes: Confession, I always just plant leftovers from the farmers market 🙃

• Fava Beans: Broad Windsor [not a common bean; grows through ice and snow]

A NOTE ON WHERE I GET MY SEEDS

My first stop is Southern Exposure. They focus on heirloom seeds that thrive in the southeast, and they source often from small farms. These are the seeds I need, and I love to support the seed saving efforts of individual growers.

However, I often use Baker Seeds / Rare Seeds for discovery. Their photos are superior, and I love their Whole Seed Catalog they release every year.

I buy as much as I can from Southern Exposure, and then will make a second fill-in purchase from Baker Seeds for anything particularly unique. Some years I do a third purchase from Johnny Seeds — I get their Elidia Basil which is highly resistant to wilt (which we struggle with here) and they have the best variety of cut flowers.

There are many other great sources, but these are currently mine! If you have other favorites & recommendations, sound off in the comments! True Market and High Mowing are great backups, and can be your “Southern Exposure” if you are in northern or central climates. :)

A NOTE ON SEED BUYING

Do not feel compelled to buy seeds for everything as a new gardener. Often, supporting local nurseries & growers are the best thing for both you and them — especially for crops that handle transplanting well.

You should be buying seeds for direct-sown crops (root vegetables, beans, select herbs). You can buy seeds for unique varieties that you want to start from seed if you can create an indoor seed starting environment or have a sturdy little greenhouse. You should buy seeds if you are growing large volumes of the same thing; this will save big $$. You should buy seeds if you want to have cut flowers. Most of these are annuals and only available from seed starting yourself. (This is why buying flowers from a florist is a lil pricey — a lot of precious love and work goes into it.)

HELP DECIDING SEEDS VS TRANSPLANTS

I got a free resource for that! And I just updated it. 😘

I am also teaching a virtual seed starting class tomorrow (Sunday) at 3pm. If you can’t make the time, go ahead and register and I will send you the recording and materials!

Timing is another major consideration for what should be grown vs purchased. Regardless of region, my Dynamic Garden Calendar Template will help you figure that out very very quickly. It’s visual, easy, and modifiable for both beginner and advanced growers.

if you want roses this year, don’t forget to order them for march/april arrival <3

Until next week, I will leave you Jean Valentine’s words for the week, delivered to me by Abby:

Lauren