Vegetable

After a long winter in the Northeast, spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a welcome site. It's one of the first greens to appear in spring and I've actually overwintered it from a fall planting to have it available as early as April in my Vermont garden. Not only is spinach a great green for salads, it's versatile too. You can steam it, toss it in stews and soups, and simply saute it with garlic and olive oil. Not only will with cool weather loving veggie satisfy your cravings for fresh greens in early spring, it's loaded with nutrients such as...

Learn about growing summer squash and the best organics controls for the squash vine borer insect. Listen to podcast: podcast transcript How to Grow: Summer Squash You've got to watch out when growing summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) and zucchini. When it's ready to harvest, you'll get so many fruits so fast you'll be begging neighbors to take it away. I've even heard of people dropping extra zucchinis through opened windows in unattended cars just to move the stuff. Yes, summer squash and zucchini has a reputation for being prolific. That's...

One of the most attractive plants in my garden has nothing to do with flowers, it's 'Bright Lights' Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris cicla). 'Bright Lights' has multi-colored stems and leaf ribs in yellow, pink, red, orange and white, with dark green leaves. Because it's so attractive, I've started growing it among the flowers. Plus, it's an easy green to grow and versatile in the kitchen. The young leaves are good in salads. Older leaves can be sauteed in stir fries, or tossed in stews and soups. Unlike other spring greens, such as spinach,...