Greetings from the garden: plant something new

ROYAL CITY — It’s spring and time to begin a whole new gardening chapter. If you haven’t already started, it’s time to get to work on those spring gardening chores.

The garden needs to be prepared for the coming season. Compost added, I like chicken manure, weeds pulled and my favorite part, the planting plan.

Which vegetables and herbs will you plant? How many tomato plants should you grow? Should you try square-foot gardening?

And of course, will you try something new this year?

Each year I try to plant something I have never grown before. Many years ago I decided I wanted to grow sweet potatoes. I ordered the small plants, they came in the mail and I quickly planted them.

It was one of those cold springs and the plants just lay there in my garden threatening to die. They didn’t, but my crop was less than impressive.

Determined to not be beaten by sweet potatoes, I tried again the next year. That spring was warm and the summer long and hot, and my sweet potatoes grew like crazy. Woohoo! Success!

Then there was the year of the kohlrabi. I’m not sure why I grew kohlrabi except for the fact that I remember my family growing it in our garden when I was a kid. But for the life of me, I can’t remember ever eating it.

But I saw the seed package one day and I planted kohlrabi. Just so you know, kohlrabi grows very well in the Columbia Basin. I had an entire row of kohlrabi the size of large grapefruit. My boys took one look at that huge vegetable with the funny looking arms growing from it and immediately said, “No thank you.” But I can grow kohlrabi!

So this year I’m planting spaghetti squash. It may not be the most unique vegetable to plant, but I’m already excited to watch it grow and prepare my first spaghetti squash dish! Have you ever prepared spaghetti squash? I’ve noticed there are many recipes for spaghetti squash. If you have a favorite, let me know.

Although it’s still a little early to plant squash you can start your cool weather garden now. Lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots and beets are some of the vegetable you can plant.

Time to get gardening! Go out and make the most of this spring in your garden. Plant one new vegetable or herb and watch it grow!