We posted a video tour of our early spring crops garden, so click here to see the video on YouTube. And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to our channel as well!
What Are First Harvest Vegetables?
Even though we’ve just hit June, now is the time when our early spring crops are booming. Early spring crops can be planted before the “last frost date” because they can withstand a light freeze. In fact, many early spring crops prefer the cooler weather and even taste better when they’ve gone through a few freezes. Here are the vegetables we planted in early spring. We’re still figuring the whole “hoop house” thing out — especially on such little land — so they’re not quite as far along as the pros could have them. But for a first go at early spring crops, we’re happy with them so far, and we’re certainly learning a lot along the way!
Delicious Early Spring Crops
Here are the varieties of early harvest vegetables we planted in our garden this year. I’ve compiled a list below, and linked each specific variety we ordered. Make sure to check back in after the gardening season is complete, we’re we’ll go over what we liked and disliked about each early vegetable variety. I can already tell a couple of my choices aren’t my favorites to date. But that’s what trial & error is for! We planted most of our early spring crops in our DIY untreated raised beds, which are still holding up great.
Here’s What’s In Our Spring Garden This Year
- Peas
- Carrots
- Pak Choi
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Beets
- Radishes
- Romaine
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Swiss Chard
Planting Early Spring Crops in the Fall
Many early spring crops can also be planted mid-late summer for a fall harvest. I actually decided to wait on planting the brussels sprouts until summer so that we can harvest them in the fall. Word on the street is that brussels sprouts taste much better when mature during a frost, rather than in hot weather. Supposedly the same goes for kale. Since we didn’t want to wait for fall for fresh kale, I already planted a bunch. However, we’re going to seed some new kale late this summer, and test the theory that fall kale tastes better than spring kale.
Can You Plant Herbs In Early Spring?
Absolutely! In fact, many herbs prefer the colder weather, and I prefer to direct seed my herbs rather than buy transplants. I’ve found that herbs like parsley and cilantro do just fine being “over seeded”, and I get a much more bountiful harvest that way. I do count my herbs in my early spring crops category, however I usually have a mish-mash of seed packets lying around, and I cant tell you exactly which varieties I sprinkled around the garden this year.
Here Are My Favorite Early Spring Herbs
- Parsley
- Flat
- Curly
- Cilantro
- Chives
There are other early planting seeds for herbs that can be harvested with the early spring crops, for sure. But those are my favorites!
What are your favorite early spring crops to plant? Have you found that harvesting in spring vs. fall makes a difference in flavor?