March is the time to plant cold-season crops, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and onions. You'll find onion "slips"--immature onion bulbs--available at your local nursery now, along with some basic brassicas to start for summer harvest. Next year try starting from seed to select more unusual varieties. Venture out into what may be new territory by trying broccoli rab, kohlrabi, and bok choy. In its latest issue, Feast Magazine has an introduction to kohlrabi along with recipes.
Last week on The Splendid Table Lynne's guest, Organic Gardening Magazine writer Doug Hall, recommended 'Dakota Tears' as his top onion pick. He had many more delicious-sounding suggestions for superior vegetables to start from seed. Listen to the full interview.
Chefs and gardeners aren't the only ones talking about vegetable gardening these days. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and First Lady Georganne Nixon were at Bowood Farms in St. Louis on Friday for the launch of the AgriMissouri 10,000 Gardeners Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to get 10,000 public and private gardens registered on their web site, where they have a map of all public and community gardens in the state.
If you've ever wanted to start a community garden, check back next week for a story about what that process was like for one group in St. Louis.