There are a lot of things that suck about vegetable gardening in Seattle, but our relatively mild winters aren't one of them. Strategically timed late plantings of kale, collards, mustard, arugula and other hardy greens will usually produce all winter long without protection, while lettuce, carrots and other staples can inch along under a simple plastic cloche. But when the spring comes and your overwintered vegetables start to bolt, don't be so quick to pull them out and toss them into the compost pile.

Last fall a late planting of radishes split in the ground during heavy rains, so I left them in place as ground cover, and this spring I'm being rewarded with an unexpected bumper crop of plump, crunchy radish pods. These immature seed pods have a mild, slightly sweet radish flavor even kids will enjoy, and make a tasty and exotic addition to salads. Though to be honest, mine rarely make it further than the distance between my hand and my mouth.

But the biggest treat in my garden this spring has been one particularly vigorous kale plant that volunteered in my tomato bed last summer, and has been sending out a nearly endless supply of delicious flower shoots for the past month. Just snap off the shoots where the stems are still tender, about six to eight inches down, before the flowers open up. A week or two later, new shoots will be ready for harvest.

Tossed in stir fries and salads, kale shoots have a broccoli rabe like flavor, but without all the bitterness; even my daughter is eating it willingly. The vaguely mustard-like immature pods are also tasty, but I'm saving most them for seeds. This particular plant is a keeper.

But the big takeaway here is that you need to experiment. Just because you won't find radish seed pods and kale flowers in the produce section at Safeway, doesn't mean that they aren't delicious. After all that hard work you put into your garden, it would be a shame to toss out or turn under the tastiest parts.