You can count on your trusty sheet pan to flawlessly prepare the salmon fillets, lemony potatoes and seasoned romaine (yup, warm lettuce—don’t knock it ’til you try it) in 30 minutes flat.

Around mid-March, I seed warm -season crops of tomatoes and eggplant, and cool-season varieties of Asian greens, cabbage, parsley and lettuce. The last big seeding happens at the end of April when ...