Just because we're in the middle of winter, doesn't mean we can't start planning for our spring crops.

Too easily when we think about the vegetable garden, we let our minds drift directly to beans, tomatoes and sweet corn. While there are good reasons for this to be the case, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's easy to put the cart squarely in front of the horse by starting thirty tomato varieties in February, and have no room for the bounty of spring vegetables you could be enjoying for months before that first tomato ripens. Let's take a moment to consider some of the crops that are at their best before summer even has a chance.

A Quick Return

Do you like fresh green salads? If so, late winter is your sweet spot. All of the best salad greens are hitting high gear while frost still threatens. There is a reason that the grocery stores try to sell you "spring mix" all year round. Lettuce comes in so many colors and textures, it is a shame that so many of us only know about the green iceberg style that comes on our burgers. Grow your own blend, beginning a month or more prior to the final frost date and you will not go back willingly. Spinach is so versatile; it's a wonder that the next green on this list has been outshining it lately. Spinach is a consistent performer in the cold weather vegetable garden fall through early summer in the south, and performs best with an early start in the north. Kale is currently the garden green with the biggest celebrity status. Its healthful benefits are shouted from street corners, grocery stores and juice bars everywhere. Believe the hype...it's delicious and you should grow your own. Like lettuce, kale comes in a rainbow of colors and textures. Chard is another unsung hero of spring. It mixes well with the other greens, adding amazing color and flavor, and crunchy texture to salads. Full grown chard is an awesome cooked green by itself, or in mixed-greens dishes. Start it early. Radishes add crunch, color and flavor to salads or stand alone as edible garnishes. They are garden lightning, from seed to stomach in under a month! Sow small batches at two week intervals to have a constant supply until summerís heat stops the train. Peas grow in the cool soil and chilly air of late winter and early spring. Use the edible-pod types in salads and stir-fry, or grow the shelling types to use raw or cooked. They also build soil nitrogen as they grow, making them beneficial to the ensuing summer crops.

A Long Term Investment

A few of our summer recipe favorites are the products of cool weather gardening. Planting these too late will ensure failure. Get them in the ground in late winter and your summer picnics will be complete. Potato salad is the classic picnic side dish. Yours will be the best when your homegrown potatoes are the main ingredient. Do you think there isn't a difference between store-bought and homegrown? You will prove yourself wrong. Plant potatoes about a month before the last frost date. Onions will not bulb if they are planted too late. Start onion seeds indoors in winter, or plant sets in the garden about six weeks before the final frost date. Use "green onion" thinnings as scallions in that spring salad. Onions go with just about anything, and they are always better when they come from your own back yard. Cabbage makes coleslaw, and cool temperatures make great cabbage. Seed cabbage indoors six to eight weeks prior to the final frost and plant outside after two sets of leaves have emerged. By the way, homemade sauerkraut is awesome on hotdogs. Carrots taste sweetest in cool weather. Summer stress can give them a fibrous texture. For the best quality, grow carrots in the spring. Start them outdoors as soon as the soil is workable, a month or so prior to the last frost date. Parsnips are becoming a fashionable crop these days. Because they take such a long time to grow, they are an expensive option for commercial growers. They require cool spring soil for several weeks to germinate, and grow about a hundred days before they are ready to harvest. The benefit is a sweet, nutty root that looks somewhat like a broad white carrot and adds an amazing dimension to fall recipes. If you have not tried parsnips, grow a few this year. You can thank me later. Asparagus is a perennial crop that, once planted, gives back for years. Plant crowns in late winter or early spring and do not harvest until the second year. The spears begin to emerge around the time of the last frost date and production is over for the year within a month or two, depending on your location. If you want local asparagus, grow your own. Most asparagus sold in grocery stores is grown outside the U.S.