There is nothing quite like the bubbling excitement of the anticipation of the growing season. Even before the frosts have ended or the spring leaves begin to show signs of growth, excited gardeners being their seasonal tasks in preparation for the upcoming spring and summer. Whether it's garden design, seed shopping, seasonal pruning, harvesting over wintering crops, indoor starts or just constant day dreams - if you've been bit by the gardening bug, you share eager jitters and anticipation with many.
As we journey into spring, some of the first flowers and vegetables that will grace our homes are welcomed sites, for sure. Overwintering brassicas are the sweetest, most delicious in the spring, after the harsh cold of the winter. Even if you are not a kale person, try picking a fresh leaf or blossom from a kale plant in the spring, after the plant has stored more sugar and you might be surprised by how much sweeter it is.
If you planted hardneck garlic at the end of last season, you can look forward to the delicious garlic scapes that you should harvest from your garlic plants. Not only are they a treat of growing garlic, but harvesting the scapes will help the garlic plant push energy into creating a bigger bulb for your garlic harvest. Try chopping the garlic scapes up and stir frying them with other veggies, or roasting them like you would asparagus.
Be on the look out for lots of leafy greens and lettuces, radishes, fresh shelling and snap peas, broccolini/raab/rapini and beautiful rainbow chard as the first vegetables of the season. We love these little guys, they work so hard during the early months of the growing season to whet our tastebuds for fresh produce, preparing us for the jewels we expect in the summer.
As far as florals go, narcissus and tulips are the spring time show stoppers. They have since come and gone, but the spring always feels promising when these beautiful bulbs put on their show. This year we are hoping to have lots of sweet peas to share the sweet scent of the garden with our patrons as one of the first flowers. The softness of a sweetpea bouquet peppered with cosmos and herbs is a whimsical sensation that would bring a moment of peace to anyone's busy day, and force you to stop to smell the flowers.
To embrace the Season of Firsts, and this being our inaugural year, we want to gift a first Produce Box by hosting a giveaway. Find us on instagram. Like us and tag a friend that love to garden on our giveaway post when we post it. We will give the winner a spring produce box - of all our first product harvests - in June. Winners must be located in Vancouver.