Getting Cool Weather Plants in the Ground: Lettuce, Kale and More!

I planted some cool-weather veggies last weekend - pre-Snowpocalypse here in Colorado. (For the third week straight it snowed, in April.  I'm ready for spring!)

I was so eager to get out there, and I wanted my lettuce to get a good start this year. I know that you can plant lettuce even earlier than I did, as it is a frost-hardy plant, but being a beginner, I'm pretty cautious.

I even expressed doubts about planting when I did; my husband responded by telling me to trust myself. I've read so much online and in books about gardening this year that I have too much information in my head, and it's making me think too hard about what's right and what's wrong. I didn't think at all last year, and things turned out OK. I think a new gardener needs to balance what they find in books with what they find with experience.


I'll try to do that this year as I target both veggies that I succeeded with last year and veggies I'm growing for the first time this year.

So I jumped right in. The good news: I discovered lots of earthworms in my garden soil, a great indicator that the soil is healthy.

Here's what I have planted this year (so far):

Some spinach.

Some kale, which will go wonderfully in salads and in soups including one I tried last night and will blog about later this week - with white beans and italian sausage. Looking forward to trying some fresh-from-the-garden kale.

And lettuce! I chose Red Sails, Parris Island Cos Romaine, Buttercrunch Lettuce and Swiss Chard - Bright Lights. I grew Parris Island last year, and it did well; this year I'm hoping for a much more robust crop. The husband and I eat salads nearly every day for lunch, and to be able to take that lettuce from the garden will not only save us money but will be more fun and more tasty.

I also planted onion seedlings (which don't seem to be doing well, so I need to go back and examine what I may or may not have done wrong). You sometimes just need to wait. Plants adjust. And garlic! I planted cloves.

Here's what the garden looked like after I planted. The big plant in the middle back is rhubarb, from last year. I look forward to being able to eat that this year!

Happy planting!