If you’re like me, you’re in countdown mode until the official first day of spring on March 20th. And it can’t come a minute too soon after the winter we’ve had this year! Except for the first day of spring, there’s not much else to celebrate in March—if you don’t count St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th.

From my childhood in New England, we were always taught that the month of March was “in like a lion, and out like a lamb.” And, for the most part, that’s still quite true in many northern parts of the U.S. It might change a bit from year to year, but from March 1st until March 31st, we’re bound to see noticeable differences in the weather by month’s end.

But, perhaps it’s better to think of March as the “Big Tease”—mixed in with some miserable weather days, we’ll get a peek at warmer times ahead with trees and plants starting to sprout and show buds. And then, we’ll get cool—or even cold—weather with a chance of snow or sleet. So unpredictable!

The good news? It doesn’t really matter exactly how Mother Nature behaves this year … or where you live … when it comes to preparing your food garden for the season, you need to get started now. If you’re not in a warm-enough zone to plant directly into the ground yet, there are lots of ways to get started indoors. And then, there’s all the planning that comes with having your garden.

Welcome to the March 2021 issue of Food Gardening Magazine, to help you get started with all of your spring food-gardening efforts!

In this edition of Food Gardening Magazine, you’ll discover lots of valuable and helpful content and advice, with some of my favorites including:

Gardening with Amanda articles—Amanda MacArthur is one fabulous food gardener! She takes gardening seriously, makes it fun, and delivers some great content—including companion videos to show you, not just tell you, exactly what to do. Check out these three helpful articles, with videos, from Amanda this month:

• “6 Vegetables to Plant in March”: Whether you’re ready to grow seeds inside or plant your seeds directly in the ground, March is a good month to get started. As soon as the ground is ready, you should be ready—and Amanda walks you through six perfect veggies for kicking off your spring garden. Read all about these garden-starter vegetables now.
• “How to Start Seeds Indoors”: In this article, Amanda reviews the differences between buying a grow kit and do-it-yourself (DIY) methods for starting seeds indoors earlier in the season. Find out if the expense of heating mats, grow lights, and grow trays are worth it—or if keeping it simple and non-fancy is good enough for getting your seeds started. Is DIY too much hassle? And is a kit just too expensive? Which method will work best for you? Get the answers now.
• “Strawberry Avocado Toast”: Get Amanda’s quick-and-easy recipe for this “heaven on bread” item—it’s avocado toast served a whole new way! Turn your breakfast into a tasty and memorable meal with this unique combo of ingredients, healthful and delicious—even for kids!

And this issue of Food Gardening Magazine includes details on our three featured foods this month—concurrently with publishing this issue of our magazine, we’re publishing three brand-new gardening guides on strawberries, Brussels sprouts, and quinoa. As a premium member of Food Gardening Network, you get full access to the magazine and these gardening guides:

• Sweet! The All-Strawberry Guide
• The Bountiful Brussels Sprout Guide
• The Easy Quinoa Growing Guide

I pored over these three new gardening guides, and I learned so many things about strawberries, Brussels sprouts, and quinoa. Consider some of these tidbits that I discovered while reading these gardening guides, to get you thinking about what you might want to plant this year.

Did you know that strawberries are the only fruit with the seeds on the outside? That, botanically speaking, strawberries are an “aggregate accessory” fruit (not a berry!) and are part of the rose family? Who knew!

Or did you know that Brussels sprouts have undergone a major reformulation, in the 1990s by Dutch food scientists, to make them taste more buttery and less bitter? Meaning that today’s Brussels sprouts are quite different from the overcooked mushy mess of your childhood.

Or how about that quinoa, while known as the “mother of all grains” is not actually a grain, but a seed? And that’s why gluten-free food lovers can eat this all they want without consuming any gluten.

To help guide you about these three foods and our gardening guides, you’ll find in this edition of Food Gardening Magazine three Gardening Guide Close-Ups that focus on strawberries, Brussels sprouts, and quinoa—these in-depth articles give you valuable tips and advice about these three foods, and you’ll have instant access to the premium gardening guides themselves, too. Be first to read these Gardening Guide Close-Ups, to get a head start on how to grow these foods:

• “How to Grow Strawberries from Seed or Bare Roots”: Learn how you can start growing scrumptious strawberries at home, from seeds to bare roots.
• “How to Water Brussels Sprouts For Better Taste and Disease Resistance”: Get the best watering techniques for your Brussels sprouts plants, to ensure that you have the tastiest harvest.
• “Three Types of Quinoa You Can Grow at Home”: Discover how easy it is to grow quinoa in your garden, to reap all the benefits—including health benefits—for you and your family.

And then there are the recipes you’ll find in the three gardening guides—here are three of my favorites that are unique, tasty, and easy to make:

• Strawberry Spinach Salad—This salad will have everyone asking you for the recipe. Take it to a potluck dinner and reap the compliments! It’s also a great way to get kids to eat spinach. Make a small one as a side salad with dinner—or make a large portion for dinner or lunch. Very easy and very tasty!
• Brussels Sprouts with Honey Balsamic Glaze—The hardest part of making this dinner side dish is keeping the fork out of the skillet while you’re cooking! The sweet, honey-rich glaze is a delicious partner to your tender, tasty sprouts. These are not your Grandma’s Brussels sprouts! Get this recipe now.
• Quinoa Bowl with Shrimp—Bowls are easy to make and customizable for just about any diet. This colorful quinoa bowl recipe shows you what it means to “eat the rainbow” when you make it. Because quinoa is so high in protein, you could skip the shrimp and make this recipe vegetarian with little loss of nutrition. Get this delicious recipe now!

Spring arrives on March 20th—and it’s time now to start doing the work that will reap you beautiful and bountiful rewards later, when you start harvesting crops. I hope that your garden, like mine, is ready to “March On” right now!

Happy gardening—and happy eating!

Bill Dugan
Editor and Publisher

P.S. Please enjoy this issue of Food Gardening Magazine, and let me know what you think about it by commenting below with your feedback! Your input is valuable to us and can help us make improvements.