Pizza Night

Tonight I went out to the garden and found enough spinach to put on a pizza.  I picked just about every leaf, so I guess that's the end of it.

The pizza was just white sauce, garlic, some cheese, and the spinach.

Back in the Garden

We've had sun for four days straight, and I've been able to get a lot done outside.

I've finally gotten the weeds under control, especially the bittercress.  I like to keep ahead of it because it flowers and goes to seed so quickly.  It has those hateful little seed stalks that explode when you touch them, sending their seeds flying in all directions.

I put three cubic feet of steer manure on the asparagus.  I just left it on top of the bed.  Once it rains it should trickle down to the plants.

With no rain for quite a while, some things were starting to look dry.  I watered some of the pots, including the two citrus trees.  I also watered the asparagus, strawberries, and new fruit trees.  I noticed some things are beginning to come to life.  The red flowering currants out in front have buds, as well as the blueberries and fruit trees, except the apples.  Also, the elderberries and vine maples are showing signs of life.

Yesterday we saw the first crocus on our neighborhood walk.

Pizza Night

With nothing in the garden I've been running out of ideas for our weekly pizza.  So I'm having to get creative.  Tonight's pizza was dried tomatoes, green peppers (from the freezer), kalamata olives, and feta cheese, with a white sauce and pesto base.  It was really good.

State of the Garden

We had a (partly) sunny day, so I went out to see what things looked like and do a little more cleanup.

I pulled the remaining broccoli, kale and chard plants.  They were mostly mush, with little chance of recovery.  I left the spinach and some mache and lettuce that's under a cover.

The carrots that I left in the ground had totally frozen on top, but are surprisingly good in the ground.   I pulled some and left the rest for now.  They do better in the ground than out. By the way, the 'Merida' carrots I planted to overwinter came up but never amounted to anything.

I dug up all the remaining parsnips.  The ones from the first planting are huge, much too big to use.  But the second planting are a more reasonable size.  Again, the tops were totally dead, but the roots were fine.

I did a little weeding, mostly among the blueberries, and the garden looks pretty respectable.

My two little citrus trees look pretty bad.  The lemon is almost completely leafless.

The mandarin looks a little better. 

Both of these were protected with plastic down into the 20s, then in the garage below that. The catalog says they're hardy to the mid-20s.  We'll just have to wait to see if they come back.

Seed Catalogs!

Oh joy!  The seed catalogs have started to arrive.

Territorial has some interesting new varieties.  They have a new chard called 'Electric Neon' and a variegated kale.  Also, a new variety of leek, 'Megaton,' that holds well through the summer without bulbing or flowering.  They have a carrot called 'Romance' which looks nice, as well as 'Purple Sun,' with very high anthocyanin.  I may have to try that one.

Johnny's has a new green bean, 'Cosmos,' that looks promising, although 'Provider' is a little earlier as well as dark-seeded, which means it germinates better in cool soil.  I was glad to see that both Johnny's and Territorial have 'Cylindra' beet, which is my favorite but has been hard to find recently.

I'm considering growing some dry beans this year, and Vermont Bean Seed Company has a dazzling array to chose from.  I like the ones called 'Money,' 'Jacob's Cattle,' and 'Calypso.'  And I have to try 'Peregion,' an Oregon heirloom.  It looks amazing.

And then there are the tomatoes.  I think this year I'll have to buy plants, since we won't be home from our trip until the middle of April.  But wait 'til next year.  I'm definitely going to grow 'Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye.'