Spring seems a distant warmth, but take heart. Novalis® has great news for gardeners. You don’t need to worry about growing transplants of gourmet varieties. We offer a discriminating selection of Plants That Work® In the KitchenTM, shipping garden-ready transplants to your local garden center just when you need them. We’ll save you time, so you can make the most of the weeks between the last frost and summer’s heat.

The spring garden matures as the weather grows hotter. Choose heat tolerant lettuces such as Buttercrunch Bibb, Red Sails, Salad Bowl, and Simpson Elite. And don’t forget the arugula.

For specialty vegetables you rarely find in the market, plant ‘Romanesco Veronica’ cauliflower and the small, delicate ‘Oliver’ Brussels sprouts. Bunching Evergreen Hardy onions start in the spring garden, but continue all season, year after year. Indeed, they are perennial.

Although available in many markets, sweet and crisp ‘Sugar Snap’ peas are unsurpassed when cooked fresh from the garden, or even eaten raw in the garden! At a season when so many plants are knee high or less, these vines provide an opportunity to fill a pretty trellis.

Finally, don’t forget the herbs, because the cool months of spring are the prime time to plant dill, cilantro, chives, parsley, and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums? Of course. You’ll love the peppery flavor the flowers and chopped leaves bring to a salad.

Linda Askey