Spring vegetable gardening

We finally got our spring garden planted. We started 2 weeks ago planting onion starts, potato slips and seeds for kale, lettuce, carrots, beets and turnips and Swiss chard (a new favorite). Then came the cold spell. We had snow once, ice another time and several days of continuous below-freezing temps (very unusual for us). I hope my new little seeds hunkered down and didn't try to sprout until this week when the temperatures are in the 60s and 70s. The fluctuating temps are common for this time of year.

Here's my garden last week covered with frost. You can get an idea about how big it is - about 40 x 100 feet. Are we nuts? During the spring and early summer it is a lot of work, but last year I missed the fall garden season due to lots of rain, and I really missed it.

Last weekend I finished the first round of planting sowing snap peas, parsnips (new to me, I just wanted to try them) and our favorite, spinach. I will do another planting of spinach, lettuce and carrots in a couple of weeks. Anything extra we have we give to non-gardening friends or take to the local food bank. They like getting fresh produce.