Spring 2026 in the Kitchen Garden

Spring is here and the garden is slowly coming back to life. Early in March I started planting seeds in soil blocks and by early May the first of the seedlings were transplanted into the garden. This year spring came in with a bang, we had several very warm days in late April and early May. It did quickly get cold again though and we even had a little snow in early May. 

The warm days were perfect for getting out into the garden and getting the beds ready for planting. In the spring we have been using a broadfork in the beds to help loosen up any compacted soil It also helps to mix in the mulch that we put on top of the beds in the fall. We like to cover the beds with the used chicken bedding before the winter sets in. This adds lots of nutrients to the soil for the following growing season. 

In the fall, we planted around 400 garlic cloves. It is always so fun in the spring to see the tops of the garlic plants pop up after the long winter! Garlic is such an easy crop to grow and I love recommending it to beginning gardeners. We grow hard neck varieties, we need the hardy garlic due to the climate here. When I started growing garlic, more than ten years ago, I didn’t write down what variety I had grown. I am still growing garlic from those first cloves and now I just refer to them as the Maynard garlic, named after the town that we used to live in. 

This year I am also growing German Extra Hardy and Music varieties. Last year I tried three new varieties and the German Extra Hardy were the only ones that did really well, beside the ones that I have been growing. The Music garlic is a new variety that I am trying out this year. The goal is to produce enough garlic for us to eat through the year, they store very well, and for us to have enough cloves to plant in the fall. We have been building up to that over the years and this year I do not think that I will need to purchase any new garlic to plant. 

The onions and leeks are the first seeds started in March and they are the first seedlings transplanted into the garden in May. This year we planted more than 500 onion seedlings. Last year the onions didn’t do very well and I want to have more this year. One of the issues last year was that the weed pressure became too much for the onions and for us! This is one of the reasons that we mulch the beds in the fall, to help reduce the amount of weeds. 

The leeks did not germinate well this year, so we only have a few planted. I think that the seeds that I tried to start were all older and that is why they didn’t germinate well. Seeds typically last for more than one season, but as time goes on they become less viable. Due to the loss in viability as the seeds age, I tend to add more seeds to each block the older the seeds are. This gives me a better chance of getting something to germinate. It also helps me to use up the older seeds, so I know to order new ones next year. 

After the onions and the leeks come the brassicas; Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, and broccoli. Spinach, lettuce, celery, and parsley are also cool weather crops and can be planted out before our last frost. There are also seeds that can be directly sown into the garden before the last frost, such as carrots, beets, turnips, and radish. I also started ranunculus flower corms this year and they are cool weather flowers, so they have been transplanted into a bed now. 

The warm weather crops like tomatoes, cucumber, sunflowers, squash, peppers, Asian greens, pumpkins, and eggplant will not get planted until after the last frost. I have not had success growing any peppers outside here, so I plant them in the greenhouse now. This gives them the heat that they need and it means that we can keep the plants much longer. Peppers can even be grown as perennials if you have the right conditions. It’s really nice to have them in the greenhouse and be able to have fresh peppers even in the winter. 

Our last frost date is June 1st, which means that we have an extremely short growing season. The first frost can come as early as September 15th! That gives us only a little over 100 days frost free, so the crops that take a long time need to be started early in blocks in the greenhouse. Even plants that typically get started outside after the last frost, I start them in the greenhouse to give them a head start and make sure they have enough growing time. Things like cucumber and squash can be direct sown after last frost, but they won’t have enough time here to produce well. 

We also have some perennial fruit plants that we grow. Like the garlic, the strawberries and most of the raspberry plants came from our previous garden. Both strawberries and raspberries reproduce very well, so each year we get lots of new plants from them. Over the years I have given away hundreds of strawberry runners and raspberry starts to friends and neighbors. Both of these plants will spread a lot if given the space! 

Perennials that we purchased when we moved here are black raspberry, blackberry, cold hardy kiwi, blueberries, black currants, lingonberry, and elderberry plants. Some of these are still fairly new and not producing much yet, but they will get there and we enjoy what we do get. We also have an orchard with fruit trees and each year we get more from them too. The trees are all still pretty young, we planted them as bare root sticks in 2021 and they have grown so much since! 

This time of year is always very exciting as we watch all of the new growth and the changes in the garden. It is also a challenging time trying to stay on top of the weeding that needs to be done. The weeds definitely move in and take over very quickly! Those few warm days that we had really helped to get the weeds going and now we are working hard to fight them. 

Each year that we have been here, things in the garden get a little bit better. There has been a lot of learning and a lot frustrations, but as long as we see some improvements it feels like we are making progress. It is so rewarding to be able to connect with the food that we eat; we get to start the seeds, tend them and watch them grow, and know exactly where our food came from. We are so grateful.