Green Valentine

Have you planted your greens yet?  It’s time!  Every year on Valentine’s Day I sprinkle lettuce and spinach seeds in a few spots around the garden.  Even if the ground is covered with snow or ice, lettuce likes the cold and will sprout as soon as the ground softens. Sometimes I don’t quite get it done ON Valentines Day, but always within a week or so.  You can have multiple fresh crops of greens staggered throughout early summer by waiting a week or two between plantings.  This works better if your later season plantings are in  cool shady spots so that they will resist bolting.  Or, plan so that your last plantings of lettuce will grow under a larger veggie that will keep it cool and shaded.