After you’ve finished your Spring cleanup you can plant your greens in your containers or your garden. No need to worry if you didn’t start these indoors a month ago or even in your garden a month ago (you can plant these greens in March here in Illinois.) Spinach, Kale, Chard and lettuce all like the cooler weather. In fact some actually need the cooler temps to germinate.

One of the tings I like about growing greens is how easy it is. You can spit a Kale seed and it’ll grow where it lands. They grow fast in all kinds of soil. Keep in mind though that the better the soil the better the greens will taste.

Also greens tolerate being crowded, unlike tomatoes and squash. Here are photos of our veggie beds with the greens in different stages of growth. You can see how tightly packed they are. We didn’t water these as spring here gives us plenty for free. These beds aren’t fertilized with anything other than compost, mushroom and homemade.

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When you’re thinking about what to plant next as our temps get warmer, don’t limit yourself. You can be creative with limited spaces. Plant herbs and flowers right next to, or under the “feet” of your veggies. You can plant a variety of greens, herbs, and onions at the feet of climbers like pole beans. Here is a photo of our beans growing up an old frame from our son’s bunk bed with parsley planted at the base. The next photo is broccoli with the herb chamomile planted around it. The chamomile will be ready to harvest several weeks before the broccoli. It also makes a beautiful ground cover for the tall broccoli.