What can I grow for an early harvest?

This is our “prickly weed” thistle.

Yes. They have creepy roots to spread themselves

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I second the honeyberries, i was picking berries late march-early april in zone 7

i went with boreal beauty, boreal blizzard, solo and maxie

it is only my first year so i didn’t have much berries but maybe i can provide more experience next year

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Thanks! I’ve planted a number of varieties there including:

  • evergreen
  • guardsman
  • ishikura
  • he shi ko

Not sure which ones have survived to be the ones in the picture.

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I like walking onions! They are very good right now, here in zone 4/5. What about fiddleheads ?

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prelude red raspberries are ready by late june up here. bet in 3 zones warmer they would be ready pretty early. honey berries are the earliest crop here also. the japanese strain honeyberries produce a little later but also take the heat better. dont think the canadian or russian ones would survive that far south. rhubarb is almost ready to pick here but i don’t know if it could take z7 heat. maybe shaded in the afternoon it would make it.

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i higghly doubt fiddleheads would make it that far south. they like the cold.

Thank you!

Someone might have mentioned them, but we are picking a few strawberries already. Our Earliglow variety is just starting to ripen up. I picked about 5 today, the most so far. It’s been raining a lot this week, so that may have slowed down the ripening, but I expect a lot more as the weather dries out and the sun comes out.

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I was hoping we could grow some edible fern heads, tho? I know my ferns are up and growing, so I was going to look into ones known for eating. I know a guy who said you can eat any fern heads, but I don’t think I’d trust that!

I’ve only had them in Indian food, so I bet those would grow in the South :smiley:

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Ostrich fern grows fine here in part sun…

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I did notice a couple of strawberries plumping up and starting to turn white–the prelude to red.

My three year old happily eats them green! She does the same with cherries. I keep telling her they will taste a lot better if she leaves them on the tree to turn red…but three year olds are not known for patience. It’s funny because she can be super picky about food at the dinner table–but if it comes from the garden it is all good. That’s a reason to garden right there!

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I planted a loquat in Charlotte NC about a dozen years ago…didn’t stick around to see how it fared.
It was gifted to me, and I planted it in the yard of a friend at the time. But, I suspect in 7b or 8a, it would fruit successfully some years.

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Dont plant it but you should have no problem finding it now. Garlic mustard is every ware harvest with impunity

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really? i know they’re tough. they grow wild anywhere wet here along rivers and creeks. I’ve always thought them as a northern plant. i stand corrected!

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They are in a wet spot, beautiful moss carpet underneath. The neighbors have some in slightly more sun and less water that are not as aggressive but still doing OK.

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they are such a nice fern. we used to pick the fiddleheads . they’re for sale in the stores everywhere up here right now.

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I looked at ferns at the local garden center yesterday but didn’t know which varieties would be good for fiddleheads. They didn’t have ostrich.

I’m going to keep that one in mind though.

I did pick up some asparagus. Any tips on planting/growing? This was a big pot with several asparagus plants growing, probably from roots planted this spribg. Should I plant them together or separate them?

i just planted 4 under my big spruces. got them from either jung or park seed. they spread by rhizomes pretty quick so the bed will fill out fast. they need dappled light rich organic soil in a non windy wet spot. if theres moss growing , chances are they will grow there. people around here dig them from the wild and plant around the foundations on the north sides of their houses.

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That’s gorgeous. I’m definitely going to get me some to grow here now. They are very tasty, and that would be fun to harvest so early in the year.

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