Spring is sprouting with the tenderest produce of the year: Pea shoots, garlic shoots, and more

This is the season of shoots, sprouts, and all manner of greens and lettuces. Small clumps of asparagus are just poking up through the soil. Rhubarb leaves and tender stalks have also emerged. Many gardens and nearby farms have an abundance of hearty greens to herald spring.

My true harbinger of spring? Peas. Since I've just planted peas outside, I won't be eating them from the garden until May. But what I am eating (and have been for weeks now) are pea shoots. These delicate-looking tendrils of young pea plants shout spring. Tender enough to eat raw and sturdy enough to add to a stir-fry, pea shoots are available in the city at various markets, especially Asian grocery stores. But they are also simple to grow at home on a windowsill or in a small planter outside.

There are dozens of other beans, grains, and vegetables that can be sprouted in your kitchen with little fuss and no special equipment. If you desire fresh homegrown produce throughout the year, this practice is worth pursuing. Sprouts are almost instant gratification, as the entire process from seed to table takes only days,. I favor legumes such as lentils or mung beans and enjoy the savory crunch they add to a salad or fresh rice-paper spring rolls. Radish sprouts add a spicy zest to sandwiches, and broccoli sprouts are considered a "super-food" full of phytochemicals and nutritive benefits.

Yet the ease with which pea seeds transform into tall, sturdy shoots makes these a perfect crop for a beginning grower. This year I bought a big bag of pea seeds. Every few days I soak a handful of them overnight, and then sprinkle them so thickly they are touching on 3 inches or so of potting soil in a small garden pot or repurposed plastic container. I cover them with a little more soil, and keep the planter moist. In a day they will sprout, and be moved to the windowsill or outside, to grow 4 to 7 inches tall and green over the next week.

Don't let them get too tall or they get tough and stringy. Snip a few as garnish, or harvest the whole batch for a salad or quick saute. Pea shoots can be harvested and refrigerated, wrapped in a damp towel or loosely packed in a plastic bag, for as long as a week. The roots and remaining soil make a great addition to a compost bin, planter, or garden bed.

Moving outside into my backyard gardens, I have been harvesting from a bed of purple kale that I planted in the fall. It spent the winter uncovered, and its frost-kissed leaves are now tender and sweet. I have been adding it to brothy soups and using it as a bed for grilled foods, even shredding it thinly to eat raw as a salad.

For other spring options, many specialty markets and food co-ops are now well stocked with local baby spinach, Swiss chard, young arugula, and various herbs. Farmer's markets are opening around town and will have these greens and more.

Rarely seen at market, but a staple of the kitchen gardener's repertoire each spring, are garlic shoots. Garlic, like other bulbs, is generally planted in fall. Growers place individual cloves of garlic in a prepared bed and each clove matures over the season to become an entire head. When garlic is harvested each summer a few cloves are inadvertently left behind. The following spring yields dozens of small scallionlike garlic shoots in former garlic beds. Some growers plant small cloves in fall specifically for the spring garlic crop.

These young garlic shoots have a uniquely intense fresh garlic flavor and are popular among restaurant and other professional cooks. The white root end of the plant can be minced finely and used in cooked dishes, and the green tops can be added toward the end of cooking or used in sauces or dressings. Green garlic pureed with a bit of olive oil and some lemon juice moistens and flavors lamb or chicken before grilling or roasting. Either portion of spring garlic is good in salad dressings, mixed in marinades, or featured in a soup or on top of pizza. You can also add minced chivelike green garlic to goat cheese or cream cheese for a spread, dip, or filling. These garlic shoots not only grow in proximity to all the spring greens, but also are the perfect complement to steamed or sauteed kale or chard.

I like to create a rustic tart with a few buttered sheets of phyllo. Top this with green-garlic goat cheese and bake until the phyllo is browned. Serve warm with sauteed chard, kale, or spinach mounded on top. With a lettuce and pea-shoot or arugula salad on the side you've got an elegant spring dinner.

Dessert is inspired by the blooms of the nectarine and peach trees in my backyard. Last fall's preserved nectarines and raspberry jam combine perfectly with the tart taste of rhubarb, the first fruits of this warm spring.