Cool-Season Veggies

Q. Which veggies can I plant in late winter for a spring harvest?

A. Of the cool-season veggies — potatoes, spinach, turnip greens, lettuce, broccoli, onions, cabbage, beets, kale, mustard, carrots, beets, cauliflower, kohlrabi, radishes, turnips, Swiss chard, peas — some are exceptionally quick to mature.

Here are some of the fastest: radishes (25 to 30 days), turnip greens (30 to 40 days), mustard greens (35 to 45 days), leaf lettuces and spinach (40 to 50 days). With kale, you'll be able to pick baby leaves as soon as 25 days. On any of these, of course, time to harvest depends on the variety you're planting as well as soil conditions and temperature.

For spinach, leaf lettuces and radishes, try square-foot planting: Don't sow the seed in neat rows but sprinkle the seed over the planting area. You'll get more greens to harvest that way!

Is your soil too wet to work? Sow the seed in containers, window boxes and raised beds. It's quick and easy and will leave room in your garden for your spring planting of warm-weather flowers and veggies.