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GARDEN CLIPPINGS: Greens of all kinds popular in spring

Like a kid in a candy store. The day we received the new seed racks, I scoured the selection, looking for what’s hot and what’s not.

Like a kid in a candy store. The day we received the new seed racks, I scoured the selection, looking for what’s hot and what’s not.

This year is no exception with new offerings from all suppliers.

GARDEN CLIPPINGS: Greens of all kinds popular in spring Back to video

Greens of all kinds are going to be popular this spring. Lettuce, microgreens, spinach, Swiss chard and mustard greens are taking up the top few rows of all seed displays. All are gratifying to grow with their quick turnaround from sowing to eating.

Microgreens are the quickest and easiest to bring to the table. Sow seeds indoors at any time of year and you can almost watch them grow.

I use plastic clamshell containers because they are clean, cheap and look fine on the windowsill. Use a soilless growing medium and keep an eye on moisture levels.

Use sharp scissors to harvest your microgreens when they are two inches (five centimetres) tall. Add the greens directly to your salad and repeat when the greens have grown up again.

You will know when the greens become less productive, when you can sow new seeds and toss the old crop on the compost heap.

Spinach has taken centre stage on seed displays with all suppliers offering new varieties.

McKenzie Seeds, probably Canada’s oldest and largest, offers three spinach varieties, all heirloom: King of Denmark, Giant Noble and Bloomsdale Long Standing.

Fothergills, a seed distributor with European roots, lists Barbados, Lazio and Perpetual Leaf Beet in their spinach lineup.

Sow spinach seeds directly in the garden at the end of April or beginning of May. Spinach seeds do not mind a light frost. Within two weeks, most spinach will have sprouted, and a month later, they will be ready to harvest.

For continuous spinach supply, sow new seeds every two weeks until June. Spinach is a cool season crop that will not perform well in the hot summer months of July and August.

Wait until the end of August to sow new seeds for harvest in September and October. For best results, don’t let the soil dry out.

For mustard greens and mesclun mix seeds, Ontario Seed Co. from Waterloo has the best selection.

Like lettuce, mustard greens are quick to sprout and quick to grow. Pick leaves as they mature to complement salads, soups and stir fry dishes.

Mesclun seeds are a mild mix of leaf lettuce, oriental greens, kale and other greens.

Sow seeds in a container with soilless growing medium and you can expect to harvest in three to four weeks.

Sow new seeds until June and resume sowing in late October for fall harvesting. Ontario Seed Co. has a mainstay mild mix as well as a spicy Italian mix with extra zing and zip.

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