Most people that love growing their own produce, think the highlight is that first bite of a ripe homegrown tomato, but for me, as the seasons change it is the anticipation of the new vegetables that are making their way in the garden.
As we are waiting for our summer plants to grow, the springtime is a time of the year when you might only have a little bit of one item or another.
It will seem like there is nothing ready to harvest, but there are gems out in the garden if you look and know what to look for. If you are able to grow your own food or buy from someone that does, you can get access to these springtime treats that are never available to purchase retail. These garden treats are young, tender and have milder flavors than the full-grown vegetable would have.
For different reasons they end up being picked early. Some of my favorite springtime treats are the thinnings that come when you clean up a bed that has been recently planted. Because the germination rates of the seeds we start are not always 100%, you typically plant more seeds than needed, when direct sowing seeds in the ground. As the plants start to grow, you remove the plants that you don’t want leaving enough space for the remaining plants to grow to their full size.
These tiny turnip greens, turned into an easy salad. It’s hard to get perspective, but most of the turnips are no bigger than the tip of your finger.
Just chop and wash, then drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. I beefed this up with shaved asiago cheese.
Other plants like my snow peas are not yet producing enough pea pods to make an entire side dish. I have just a few of these ready to pick, there is no reason to wait until they get bigger, enjoy them straight from the vine.
And some of the plants in the garden are just fun and tasty to pull up now before they finish growing, like my green garlic. I won’t be able to store all of these heads anyways. (And it is a good use for the smaller plants, instead of letting them turn into a small head of garlic with tiny cloves.) You can eat all of the green parts too!
Salads with mixed vegetables lend themselves to become the easiest way to use up a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I got these tender beets from the Wellspring Charitable Garden, there is no need to cook them, they are so tender. The stunted carrots are from my garden. This year I might grow regular sized ones!
The best part of these vegetables is that they are young and tender. If you have picky eaters, they might be a good introduction for them to try, like the beets that I used here. Beets are always controversial.
I usually take the easy way and just sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice or vinegar on top, like the turnips above. I also make ranch dressing and you can too, if you like.
Here is the secret recipe:
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream or buttermilk or plain yogurt (if you want to more of a dip than a dressing, use the thicker options, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt)
Mix well, if you can make it ahead.
I threw some chicken nuggets on top for protein! My husband made me confess, but they go great with the ranch dressing too.