The crocuses are blooming. Spring has arrived! It is time to plant the spring salad garden. With thoughtful planning, spring greens will make way for a summer garden by the end of June, and then an autumn garden in September.

IN EARLY SPRING: As soon as the soil can be worked we transplant Parsley and hardy heading salad plants like Red Acre Cabbage, Variegata di Lusia chicory and Marouli Lettuce. We also transplant big adaptable Brassicas like Bear Necessities and Lacinato kale, which will hold through the entire season and even into winter. Around these transplants we sow directly the seeds of Arugula, Persian Cress, Mibuna, Tom Thumb and Salad Bowl lettuces, as well as Lemon Coriander, a compact selection with delicious “cilantro” leaves and flowers and fragrant seeds for your pantry. We sow Einfasche Schnitt parsley seeds directly into the garden now, and Parsley Pea so long as the soil isn’t too chilly or waterlogged, as pea seeds will rot if planted in cold mud.

IN LATE SPRING: By June many early spring annual salad plants have been harvested or have bolted, making way for transplants of Erbette, Spigariello, Couve Tronchuda, Canary Yellow Chard and Red Featherleaf Celery. These plants will persist through autumn, providing continual light harvests over many months. We also transplant the dramatic red-stemmed Rossa Italiana Chicory, glowing Australian Yellow Lettuce, and a wide variety of Basil, but especially Bolloso Napoletano. Seeds to sow directly into late spring and early summer soil include succulent little Golden Purslane, Jewels of Opar, colorful Polish and Red Amaranth, Rak Tamachat Cilantro, Ambrojia and Szmaragd Dill, glossy Bull’s Blood Beet and Empress of India Nasturtium.

IN LATE SUMMER: In the Hudson Valley we begin starting seeds for the fall garden in August, except for Escarole and Ormskirk, both of which should be transplanted by late July or early August. In late August or early September we transplant the same heading salad plants as in spring, plus those varieties that will only head in fall, like Dragon Tongue Mustard and Bloemendaalse Gele Cabbage, and Purple Peacock Broccoli, which is at its most edimental in fall. We also transplant Radicchio Grumolo Rossa if it wasn’t sown in spring, for the sake of the aforementioned rosettes the following spring, and more Bear Necessities Kale, which is extra colorful and tender in fall. Finally, we sow directly into late summer soil seeds for nutty Erba Stella, Golden Frill Mustard, Rucola Selvatica, and another crop of Parsley Pea and Arugula.

Once soils have cooled, on or about the autumnal equinox, we sow seeds for Merlo Nero Spinach, Winter Marvel Lettuce, North Holland and Vit Mâche, all of which have zero tolerance for heat but persist through frost and snow and often even extreme winter cold given a protective mulch of loose straw.