Things are a whole lot greener than when I took you on a photo tour of my kitchen garden in March. And it seems like every day there is something new to harvest from the garden. In addition to spinach and chives, which we started getting back in March, we now are eating lettuce, cilantro, and onions. The peas, potatoes, kohlrabi, and beets are up, and radishes should be ready within the week.

Pretty impressive for a Zone 5 garden in mid-April!

Let’s take a look at what’s happening in my kitchen garden this month.

Romaine lettuce

We transplanted this romaine lettuce four weeks ago. We started harvesting it last week – we ate it on on grilled hamburgers one night and I made my signature romaine and celery salad another night. And there’s a lot more lettuce where this comes from.

Spinach

We grew this spinach in a little pop-up greenhouse over the winter. We harvested some of it in early January before the weather got really cold and have been eating it pretty regularly for the last month.

Spinach and feta pizza going into the oven

One of my favorite ways to use fresh spinach is on homemade pizza, along with feta cheese, red bell pepper, and kalamata olives. I brushed the crust of this pizza with some scallion pesto vinaigrette that was inspired by The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly, and the result was extra delicious.

Garlic

The garlic that started popping up four weeks ago is coming along nicely. There are 28 plants at last count. Next to the garlic, a row of kohlrabi is just starting to appear.

Fred in the garden

It’s a new growing season – and a new dog. Fred is starting to learn what parts of the garden are off limits to the four-legged family members.

Cherry tomato in a pot

Container gardening is a great way to grow vegetables. One advantage is getting a good start on plants like tomatoes that normally can’t go outside until after the last frost date. In my neck of Iowa, that’s late May. This cherry tomato can sit out in the garden on nice April days and moved inside if the weather gets cold. And, look; it already has a couple of baby tomatoes on it!

Bush bean in a pot

I am experimenting with different container gardens this year, like this flower pot of bush beans.

Fresh green beans!

My efforts already have been rewarded with three beautiful green beans, which I ate raw with a little coarse salt.

There are several small beans left on the plant and lots of new growth, which I am hoping will yield even more beans. Not bad for a flower pot.

Arugula in a pot

I also have a flower pot full of arugula sitting out on the screen porch. The seeds were several years old; I never imagined this many would germinate!

Tulips

Not everything in my garden is edible. I think the best kitchen gardens have room from ornamentals among the edibles, like these tulips, above, in my herb garden.

Daffodils

The daffodils are the one thing in my garden that the deer don’t try to eat. Everything else needs to be protected like Fort Knox.

Petunia

More time spent in the garden on nice spring days means more time spent with the girls. The chickens love it when we work in the garden; we’re always tossing them treats like dandelions or earth worms. And, with the longer daylight hours, almost every day is a three-egg day!

My kitchen garden in April

What’s in your garden this spring?