Springtime in the Rockies finds me grumbling about the fickle weather one minute and glorifying it the next, never losing hope that the garden will soon burst forth into glorious abundance.
Edible garden plants, a source for our culinary needs, are frequently ornamental and ornamental plants, a source for our landscape needs, are oftentimes edible. Thus, versatile and edible ornamentals serve a double-duty purpose by indulging both the palate and the palette.
Let me count the ways. The springtime garden offers up rhubarb and asparagus, arugula and mizuna, bok choy and spinach, lettuce and Swiss chard, radish and carrots, chives and green garlic, Egyptian onion and French tarragon, lemon balm and mint, oregano and thyme, borage and beebalm, parsley and fennel, lavender and sage, even pea vines and pansy blossoms to add glamour to meals and grace to growing areas.
Our cool spring weather is perfect for sowing and growing salad greens as edible ground cover plants in the bare spaces between clumps of flowering bulbs. As bulb foliage fades, its demise is camouflaged by the bright green, crinkly foliage of Swiss chard and other spring greens.
Perennial rhubarb and asparagus are usually grown from roots, available at local garden centers, and planted in early-to-mid spring to speed them along to their productive years. Each prefers at least a couple of seasons to establish a strong root system before harvest can begin, and a limited harvest is advisable even during their third year of growth.
Both rhubarb and asparagus produce edible spears from late April through most of May. I stop harvesting asparagus when its emerging spears are no larger than a pencil. These smaller spears are then allowed to grow, developing ferny foliage on stately, 2-foot-tall stalks to manufacture food and replenish the plant for next year’s harvest.
With the approach of fall, female asparagus plants will be adorned with numerous berries that ripen to bright red. Each berry contains several seeds that can then be planted in late fall, a project for those gardeners who are patient enough to wait for seed-grown plants to reach production. The hybrid ‘Jersey King’ asparagus provides exceptional yields, as do other male hybrids. Once established, these tough, long-lived plants require little care and are likely to bear for 20 or more years.
Rhubarb plants actually require cold winters for proper growth and prefer the coolness of spring to produce crisp spears. The deep-red stems and crinkled leaves of the ‘Valentine’ cultivar are particularly striking in perennial beds, with the added benefit that the tropical-like foliage remains attractive throughout the summer until cut down by frost in the fall.
Simon & Garfunkel sang of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, and gardeners everywhere prize these and a wide selection of other aromatic herbs.
Several perennial herbs are stubborn germinators, often requiring special circumstances to break dormancy. Fortunately, potted transplants of perennial favorites – such as rosemary, Italian parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, lavender, French tarragon and lemon balm – are locally available, so we can achieve a diverse planting without fear of failure.
Tender annual herbs are easy to grow in our climate, their shallow roots ideally suited to raised beds and large containers. They need excellent drainage and at least a half-day’s worth of full sun. Borage, dill and fennel germinate readily when sown directly into the warm soil of mid- to late-May but resent transplantation, so sow them where you want them to remain.
Cilantro and basil are quite sensitive to cold, so they are best grown from seeds started indoors six or eight weeks before the last frost and transplanted to the garden after all danger of frost is past. Cilantro is at its best when plants are young, so continue to sow it every
two or three weeks for a continuous harvest.
And who can resist the magic of sowing annual vegetable and flower seeds and waiting for germination? Warm-season seeds rot in cold soil, so wait until May to sow bean, squash and corn (known as the “three sisters” of southwestern gardens), cucumber, sunflower, calendula and nasturtium.
The colorful globes of tomato, eggplant and pepper add interest to any container, bed or border. Seeds started indoors this month can be planted outdoors when night temperatures remain above 40 degrees.
Ornamental edible fruits include grapes (‘Concord’ for jellies and ‘Canadice’ red-seedless for eating), ground-cover strawberry plants (everbearing ‘Tri Star’) and raspberries (yellow ‘Fallgold’ fruits on old canes in July and on new canes from August until frost).
Last but not least, fruit trees provide a vibrant palette with triple benefits: colorful, edible blossoms; juicy fruits for the gardener and the birds; and welcome shade for outdoor living all summer long.
