What's in season in Spring - Green Connect Illawarra

What to expect from Green Connect in Spring

There’s something about spring that makes people think about fresh veggies. We know this because we always have a spike in our customer base around this time of the year! Maybe it’s the farm that the change in season give you the best of winter veg that’s coming to an end, with the excitement of that first bite into a summer tomato!

As always, we encourage our customers to keep an open mind when it comes to some of the less-conventional veg. Many customers have been introduced to their new favourite veg through the Green Connect box! But we understand that there are some things that people just don’t like, or they may grow some veg at home and not want to double up.

This is why we have an ‘exclusion’ system, where you can select up to three things from the lists below that you don’t want in your box (you can do this week to week or ongoing). Your exclusions will be taken out of your box and replaced with something else. Send your exclusion requests to [email protected]

Seasonal Flowering Veg

Broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, cabbage (green and savoy), snow peas, broad beans, green beans, fennel, kohlrabi, zucchini (grey and black jack), tomato (cherry), cucumber (Lebanese), squash (yellow patty-pan).

This category of veg is where you will see the most change as the days get longer. Although brassicas are commonly thought of as a winter crop, it is Spring when they are at their most prolific. For most of Spring we will be sharing our bounty of cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage. In November (or even in late October if you’re lucky), you will start to get a taste of the summer to come, with yellow patty-pan squash, Lebanese zucchinis and cucumbers, and of course everyone’s favourite …. cherry tomatoes ripening up.

When snow peas and broad beans are on, they’re on! They will be filling your boxes towards late October-early November. These will turn into summer green beans and Italian flats at the latter end of the season.

Leafy Greens

Oak lettuce, cos lettuce, silver beet, rainbow chard, kale (green curly leaf and red Russian), mizuna, rocket, joi choi, boy choy, celery, amaranth leaf, radicchio, sweet potato leaf

The days are numbered for our bok choy and joy choy that have filled your woks throughout winter, so enjoy the last of them. Into Spring, we grow red amaranth leaf as a warm-season stir-fry alternative, and we will also get to try sweet potato leaf, coming to you with recommendations from many of our Congolese staff.

Think Spring, think salad, and our oak lettuce, cos lettuce, and diverse salad mix will not disappoint you. Nor will our spicy rockets or mizuna. Kale (red-Russian and curly

green) and silver beet will be staples throughout spring, with rainbow chard, radicchio and celery making the occasional appearance in your box.

Roots, starches and alliums

Potatoes, Carrots (Dutch and purple dragon), beetroot (golden and purple), radish (red cherry and purple plum), turnip (white Japanese), pumpkin, leek, spring onions, onions.

Carrots are a year-round grower for us, and this spring we will be spicing things up with a new ‘purple dragon’ variety joining the perennial favourite Dutch carrot. Like

wise, we’re keeping our beetroot interesting, with both purple and ‘golden globe’ beets already jumping out of the ground. The radishes that dominated the winter boxes will be less common through Spring, as will the Japanese turnip, but will be no less crispy and delicious.

As always, we will be outsourcing our potatoes and onions from other organic growers and will outsource the occasional pumpkin when supplies are short. Leek and spring onions will be bringing a real ‘spring’ to the box throughout the season.

Herbs

Coriander, Dill, Parsley, Basil Thyme, Rosemary, Bay leaf, Vietnamese mint, Lime leaf, snow pea tips, broad bean tips, water celery

All of the perennial herbs that have been dormant throughout winter are coming back to join the coriander, dill and parsley that has been prolific throughout winter. The rock-star of the warmer months, basil, will start appearing in boxes at the tail end of the season.