What should I plant early spring?

[lupinfarm]

I'm in zone 5 in Ontario, Canada and I'm wondering what I should plant in early spring, and when I should plant it so it doesn't bolt. I'm thinking broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce/spinach for spring. I have raised beds with hoop houses over them.

 

[wifezilla]

I did well with brussel sprouts. My other spring crops didn't do so well, but those things went nuts. Well, the lettuce and mustard did OK, but my cabbage and broccoli never grew (I think bugs got them) and my radishes and spinach bolted.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd add radishes to your list. Possibility white potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, chard, and kale. My wife would do unpleasant things to me if I failed to plant peas. Depends on your tastes and room.

 

[digitS']

Lettuce, spinach, radishes, and onions from sets are my earliest crops directly from the garden.

Were you thinking of direct-seeding broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower under the hoops? I have direct-seeded broccoli and cabbage in the open garden but have a small greenhouse so start those plants in there now. The brassicas seem to gain something from transplanting and grow larger compared to my limited experience with direct-sowing.

The earliest thing you could do, I suppose, is to start lettuce indoors and transplant it under your hoops. That will also work well with the Asian greens. Direct-seeding bok choy in the open garden without protection real, real early doesn't always work. The stress of very cold weather prompts them to bolt while they are still small; just as real hot weather stresses them and will cause them to bolt.

Nevertheless, bok choy can take very cold weather. There will be a few plants that survive my zone 5 winters but they will come out of the winter scarred by the frost and then flower on the first warm days.

Here are plants that were sown into my hoop house. The 1st shot is of mostly Asian greens and overflow flats from my greenhouse have been set across the path. The date says April 24th and they are about 4 to 6 weeks old.

This is about a week later and the flats have been moved out of the way. There are mustard greens, red bok choy, other Asian greens, some lettuce and don't ask me about why the dill is in there .

Transplants from the greenhouse into the hoop house were ready for harvest earlier than these.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

WOW, Steve! What an inspiration!