When I learned that we were going to be “sheltering in place” through – at least – the end of April, I thought about what I could plant in my vegetable garden today that would yield veggies that we could enjoy as soon as possible. The conclusion? Radishes and lettuces.
On Monday morning, Anton and I planted radish seeds, which we’ll be able to harvest in only 3 week’s time. They’re so easy to plant and so satisfying to grow because of the nearly immediate results. We placed the seeds about 4″ apart, about an inch into the soil, in rows alongside the carrot seeds we planted last month.
Then we decided to plant lettuce starts (rather than seeds) so we can begin harvesting as early as next weekend, if we get some warm weather this week. We tracked down some lettuce from Central Valley in St. Helena, whose nursery is one of the few that is open. They generally have a great selection of organic seeds and plants, but it was somewhat limited this weekend. I especially love the combination of red and chartreuse lettuces in early spring, my favorite being Lolla Rosa and Simpson Elite. But they didn’t have them, so we instead chose ‘Pomegranate Crunch’ and Mirlo – both new varieties for me.
Anton and I filled up a bed, with the assistance of Zoe who absolutely loves being in the vegetable garden and helping.
We removed the fava bean plants from the vegetable bed that you can see on the left corner of the bed. They were placeholders until we were ready to plant this bed. We left the roots in the ground to provide nutrition to the soil.
In addition we added some arugula which will be a bit slower (since it loves warmer temperatures and we’re not quite there yet), but we will still be able to enjoy the larger outer leaves before we are out of quarantine. These starts were planted in my celery bed, which is already producing some tender celery.
If you don’t have access to your garden right now, don’t fret. Try planting radishes and lettuces in containers if you are limited on space. They do very well in containers and you will get some of your own fresh greens, which are hard to come by right now, before you know it.
You may need to call around to find a nursery who can supply what you need. I’ve heard that some nurseries, who are technically “closed”, will pull what you need and you can drive by and pick up your order. Nice to support your local nurseries right now…
