One-Block Feast: Spring Garden Plan

How to Harvest: To eat the pods, pick them when they are small (about 3 inches long), plump, and deep green. To eat the fresh beans inside (but not the pod), wait until the pod and beans are larger but are still bright green. For dry yellow shelling beans, wait until the pods have blackened and drooped.

Seed Source: John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds.

Green Onion ‘White Lisbon’ 

Sometimes called scallions, green onions are either bulbing onions that you harvest young (before the bulbs grow), or bulbless bunching onions. We grew ‘White Lisbon’, a green bunching type with delicate stems and sweet, juicy tops.

Best Site: Full sun and loose, fertile, well-drained soil.

Days to Harvest: 60 to 65 days from seed.

Planting and Care: Plant green onions from seed or nursery seedlings. Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep and 1/2 inch apart in rows 12 to 15 inches apart. Plant seedlings 4 to 5 inches apart. Keep the soil evenly moist and feed plants regularly with a dilute liquid fish emulsion.

How to Harvest: Pull up green onions when the tops are 12 to 18 inches tall.

Seed Source: Botanical Interests.

Mesclun 

The word mesclun, from a southern French word for “mixture,” refers to an assortment of greens picked when young and tender. Sweet red and green lettuces, piquant green arugula, spicy mustard, peppery red Komatsuna, tender Swiss chard leaves—some or all might turn up in one of these colorful mixes. Succulent “weeds” such as purslane and tender mâche might be included, too. You can choose a mix that contains the greens you like.

Best Site: Full sun in fall, winter, and spring in mild climates, and well-drained soil enriched with plenty of compost.

Days to Harvest: 35 days from seed.

Planting and Care: Scatter seeds over the prepared seedbed in spring. To prolong the harvest, sow seeds every 2 or 3 weeks. Thin seedlings to about 3 inches apart. Keep the soil evenly moist, and apply half-strength liquid fish emulsion after the first fully formed leaves appear.

How to Harvest: Snip off the young plants above ground level. Most will produce new leaves for your next harvest.

Seed Source: Burpee.

Nasturtium 

Round, bright green leaves of this pretty annual (Tropaeolum majus) have a refreshing herbal fragrance. When young and tender, they also have an appealing, dewy sweetness and a peppery flavor (as do the buds and flowers) that adds zip to salads. You can grow vining nasturtiums to trail over the ground or climb (to 6 feet), or you can plant bushy dwarf types that top out at 18 inches. Either way, they will reseed themselves: We still have offspring of ‘Copper Sunset’ popping up here and there, even though we haven’t planted it for years.