I know that these vegetables have little in common other than the fact that they are both planted early in the spring. They are together here because I have had other gardens where they were difficult to grow, so it was a delightful surprise to see how well they did in our plot this year.

Variety – Radish, , Cherry Belle
Company – Pacific Northwest

Even though planting was much later than I would have liked, the tiny row produced perfectly uniform, crisp, red radishes. Not a single one was marred by wormholes, a problem I’ve had in the past. The radish plot will not be so tiny next year.

Variety – Spinach, Bloomsdale – organic
Company – McKenzie

Our spinach produced beautifully and was surprisingly trouble free. I used McKenzie’s seed tape, but since the seed is not small, it would have been easy to sow the normal way. Thanks to our wet spring, we couldn’t rototill our plot until late in the season, so I didn’t plant until May 1. The second sowing was ready to pick when we left on vacation for two weeks, and gone to seed when we got back, so we pretty much missed it completely. Next year, spinach will be planted early, with multiple succession plantings throughout the spring.