I begin planting spring crops inside in late January, and by the beginning of March I’ve already got lettuce transplants, arugula, and radishes growing in the hoop houses, along with fall-planted spinach which is ready to harvest. But the month of March brings an exponential increase in the pace of planting, both inside and outside. Keeping up with that pace, and taking some risks against the weather, makes for an early and bountiful harvest later in the spring.

Peas: The usual advice is to plant “as soon as soil can be worked,” which, with warmer winters and deep mulch, can be as early as the first week in March. They may take a couple of weeks to emerge and will grow slowly, but there is no better way to get the very earliest peas. Row cover can help them warm up a bit on sunny days and will keep the wind off as well. For the earliest crop, I like Sugar Ann, which flowers a full week ahead of Sugar Snap, and tastes just as good. It doesn’t bear as heavily though, so my main crop—planted a few weeks later—is still Sugar Snap.