Spring!

I have been watching this spinach for the past few weeks. I planted about a dozen spinach plants late last fall but they did not grow enough before frost and cold weather shut them down. I wrote them off and didn't even bother mulching that bed (actually I did once with leaves but they all blew away in a windstorm the next day and I didn't feel like gathering all the leaves again!)So I was happily surprised when they started showing new growth as soon as the ground thawed. I know spinach is tough and very cold tolerant but I figured without at least a row cover or some mulch it wouldn't make it. Wrong. It not only made it through the winter but is nearly big enough to harvest a few leaves for some salad and it is only the end of March!



There are other things growing too, garlic and the rye that I planted last fall. Also a few left over onions that I missed last year. They survived the winter in the ground so I will probably let them go to seed. I am selecting for winter hardiness in all my crops and the biennials that overwinter successfully are certainly worthy of being included in the seed collection! I also have several carrots that overwintered successfully that will be grown for seed this year.