The First Spring Salad
On Thursday, when I was working outside, I harvested the first of the spinach that I overwintered in my hoop houses. It’s coming to life quite nicely this spring.
The leaves on the ‘Giant Winter’ that survived were huge. The leaves on the ‘Catalina’ were smaller, but there were more of them and the plants dealt with the cold best of the 2 varieties I planted.
I also harvested some dandelion and bitter cress greens to mix in with the spinach. We topped these lovely greens with: pastured smoked bacon, organic pastured eggs, caramelized organic onions, local organic raw milk blue cheese, and a maple vinaigrette made with some of our very own maple syrup.
It made for the perfect dinner, quick to make and delicious to eat! I’m looking forward to salad season, there’s definitely something cleansing about eating salads in the spring. It seems our bodies crave the greens and all the vitamins they provide after the long winter.
What’s your favorite salad green? Are you harvesting any from your garden yet?
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Soaking up the Sun
Yesterday was a beautiful day here at Chiot’s Run. We saw the sun, the weather was warm, up around 40 and the snow and ice we got earlier in the week was melting off. This is the time of the year when you really start to notice that the days are getting longer. The sun is higher in the sky and feels warmer when you’re outside. Since it was so nice, I put a flat of lettuce seedling on the front porch in the afternoon to harden off. I also left them out overnight so they could get used to temps a little colder than their basement home.
They’ll be planted out in my cold frame someday later this week if I have a warm day without rain. The nice thing about planting in spring is that you don’t have to worry as much about hardening off as far as the sun goes. The cold however is a different story I find. My front porch is perfect for hardening off, it gets the afternoon sun. The concrete floor warms in the sun and will keep seedlings warmer in the spring so I don’t have to worry about them freezing or getting nipped by frost.
The greenish yellow lettuce is ‘Little Gem’ from Burpee and ‘Sea of Red’ lettuce from Renee’s Garden is the reddish lettuce. I sowed this flat on January 18th, and had first germination on the 21st. I also sowed ‘Rouge Genobloise’ which didn’t germinate very well and ‘Sanquine Ameliore’ lettuce which didn’t germinate at all, both of these were from Baker Creek. I’m not sure what happened with these, I’m going to try sowing another flat with them. Perhaps I just got a bad batch of seeds, which happens on occasion.
Do you have a favorite spot for hardening off seedlings? Are you planting anything in your garden yet?
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Comparing Overwintering Spinach
Last fall I planted two different types of spinach in one of my low tunnels. It was covered with greenhouse plastic, that’s it, no inner row cover. I was interested to see how the two varieties would survive the winter. As you can see, they both looked pretty good last fall when I covered the raised bed.
They two types I planted were:
‘Catalina’ Spinach – Tender, flat, deep green oval leaves with a delicate flavor perfect for salads. Fast growing, heat tolerant and extremely disease resistant. Seed source Renee’s Garden
‘Giant Winter’ Spinach – elected for cold hardiness. Dark green, glossy leaves are slightly savoyed. Appropriate as a flat baby leaf variety as well as winter full size. A heavy yielding variety recommended for fall crops, winter greenhouse production, or over-wintering outdoors under mulch. Seed source Sand Hill Preservation.
Since ‘Giant Winter’ is specifically bred to be a cold tolerant variety and ‘Catalina’ advertises heat tolerance, I figured the ‘Giant Winter’ would come out ahead. Last week, on that 60 degree day, I took the plastic off the hoop house and was surprised to see that the ‘Catalina’ looked much better than the ‘Giant Winter’.
This could be because the seeds germinated much more quickly and it had about a week’s worth of growth on the ‘Giant Winter’, but I’m thinking it’s just as cold tolerant as it is heat tolerant. Regardless, it’s fascinating to grow different varieties of the same vegetable to see which ones will do best in you soil and climate. I have a few more varieties of spinach to try this summer and fall, it will be interested to see how they stack up to ‘Catalina’.
Have you found specific varieties that do better than others in your climate?
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The Year of the Allium
Every time I purchase onions at the farmer’s market I think about how I need to grow more in my garden. I do grow onions, they’re usually small in size because our soil is very lean and I don’t grow near enough to fulfill our love of onions. This winter I’ve been spending some time reading about other options to regular bulbing onions to fill my onion needs throughout the year. The key will be coming up with a variety of alliums that would be ready for harvest at various times throughout the year. I need to learn to think outside the bulb onion box if I want to grow most of the onions we eat.
Of course there are leeks, I planted some last fall, but they weren’t big enough going in to winter. Leeks are a great fall and winter source of onion flavor if you can get the timing right and grow the right cold tolerant variety. These are some lovely leeks I saw in Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Garden last October when I visited. (since people are always asking about the varieties I grow and where I get my seeds from I’ll be listing them below).
These are the different leeks that I’m going to try growing this year. Some of them are seeded in my basement seed starting area already, some will be seeded this summer for fall harvest.
Tadorna Leek – A vigorous grower producing a medium-length white shaft and contrasting, upright, very dark blue-green foliage. Holds in the field for fall into winter harvest, and overwinters where winter cold is moderate. Resistant to leaf diseases. This variety is recommended by Eliot Coleman. Source: Johnny’s Selected
Bleu of Solaise – A 19th century French leek with deep blue-green leaves that have a violet cast in cool weather; in cool weather they excel, being very cold hardy. This good-sized variety is finely flavored and a favorite of European gourmet gardeners and chefs, but hard to find in this country. Source: Baker Creek
Carentan Leek – Long, thick (2 inches across); vigorous and fast growing; delicate, deliciously mild flavor; great fresh or cooked. The Carentan leek was mentioned by Vilmorin in 1885. An old European favorite that is becoming rare. Very adaptable and yields are good. Source: Baker Creek
Primor French Baby Leeks – First quality French hybrid especially developed for sweetness and tender texture to use as babies. Fast maturing for summer harvests. Superior flavor to domestic varieties. Source: Renee’s Garden
In the spring I’m planning for scallions and bunching onions, these should help fill the space between the end of the leeks and bulb onions until shallots and spring leeks are ready to harvest. I’m actually growing one kind of scallion and two different varieties of bunching onions:
‘Evergreen Hardy White Bunching‘ onions – Sow in spring for summer use or sow in fall for overwintering. Little or no bulbing. If your winters are severe, this is the one to grow. May be handled as a perennial by dividing the clumps the second summer to produce a new crop. Source: Johnny’s Selected
‘Red Welch’ – (Allium fistulosum) Super-hardy bunching onion that originated in northern China or Siberia, despite its name. Grown for its thick green stems and hollow leaves which possess a sharp onion flavor. This perennial never forms a bulb in the garden; once established, new plants can be raised by replanting the abundant side-shoots. May be blanched like leeks by earthing up the thick stems as the plants grow. Widely employed in the cuisines of Japan, Taiwan, and China. This crop is also grown among the Welsh, hence its name. Easy to grow and productive once established. Source:Baker Creek
Delicious Duo Salad Scallions – Our unique and handsome blend of Red Robin and Green Feast scallions bred for color, quality, heat tolerance and disease resistance. Source: Renee’s Garden
I planted ‘Evergreen Hardy White’ onions late last fall in my plastic covered raised bed. They seem to be doing well and should provide a nice early onion for cooking. They’re exceptionally cold hardy, of course you’ll hear about it when I harvest them and get a full report of how they did growing throughout the winter.
Shallots are also a great source, they’re planted in the fall like garlic and harvested the following summer. I planted some shallots this past fall, I can’t wait see how they produce. I’ve never grown them before so I’m interested in their size and length of storage. I sourced my shallots from Local Roots market, I just purchased a quart of shallots and planted them.
I also have Egyptian walking onions and perennial potato onions growing in the garden. Both of them were purchased from Southern Exposure in the fall of 2009. This fall I’m expecting to get some of their perennial leeks to add to my allium collection. The egyptian walking onions are just getting established so I haven’t harvested any of them yet, but I’m looking forward to eating a few to see what they’re like. The potato onions are really great, I really like them. They grow well for me in my lean soil, it’s nice that you plant sets in the fall and harvest in spring. They don’t store as long as other onions, but they fill the gap between green and bulbing onions.
Of course I have a few varieties of bulbing onions as well that will be growing in my garden this year:
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion – These golden onions produce fruit up to 1 lb (16 oz.) and their great flavor lasts longer than most other varieties. Yellow Sweet Spanish onions are gardeners’ favorites because they grow quickly without much effort. You will be able to harvest your onions less than four months after planting. Source: Sand Hill Preservation
Borettana Cipollini – Gourmet Italian. Small, flat yellow onions. Shaped much like a button. A long day type with average storage ability of around 4 months. Mild well developed flavor. These flattened little onions are sought after for their distinct sweet taste. They command a high price at specialty markets. Small size 1-3 inches in diameter by 1 inch depth. For pickling, grilling and in salads. A good onion for colder climates. Comes out firm, stores well. Fills the gap between winter-stored onions and the early new ones. Source: Sand Hill Preservation
Yellow of Parma – Large, golden onions are oblong-globe shaped. This late onion makes an excellent keeper; a rare and hard-to-find Italian variety. Source: Baker Creek
Stuttgarter Onion – A tasty old favorite that sets medium-large, yellow onions with a good, pungent flavor. This variety is among the best keepers and produces well. Plant some of these for winter eating and store them clear through to next spring. Source: Baker Creek
Juane Paille des Vertes – Introduced about 1793, this old onion is now hard to find. It is also called Brown Spanish by French seed house Vilmorin; in 1885 they said, “The winter supply of Paris and of a great part of Europe consists chiefly of this variety, which may be often seen hanging up in dwelling-houses in long hanks formed by interlacing and plaiting the withered leaves together.” The roots are flattened and 3-4 inches across; the skin is a brownish yellow and the flesh is flavorful. This antique is known for its keeping qualities that made it a standard in Europe for over 200 years. Source: Baker Creek
All of these bulbing onions are currently seeded and growing nicely in the basement seed starting area. No doubt some of these will not do well, others will thrive, I’ll keep you posted on the how they all do. The only thing I’m worried about is finding enough space in the garden for all of these lovely alliums. WHEW – hope that’s not too much information for you!
Do you grow onions? How many different kinds of alliums do you grow?
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The Edible 2011 Garden is Here
On January 16 I started my first flats seeds for the 2011 edible gardening season. I started half a flat of each ‘Red Burgundy’ and ‘Borettana Cipollini’ onions. Onions like warm soil, so I put it on the 10″ x 20″ seedling heating mat my mom lent me. I covered the flat with a clear dome to keep in the warmth and the moisture and waiting, checking on them every day of course.
When I checked them in the morning on January 21 and I had germination! That’s pretty quick for onion seeds, they always seem to take a little extra time. Of course there were only a dozen or so tiny shoots on that day. Seeing those first little green shoots of the seed starting season is always an exciting thing!
Yesterday every soil block in the flat had at least one little green shoot and most of them had three. Looks like these onions will be ready to plant out in the garden come March. I can’t wait!
I also have other onions in the basement planted only 2 days later, but since they’re not on a heating mat they haven’t germinated yet. I ordered a 48″ x 20″ heating mat which will have enough room for four flats. I’m hoping it arrives soon so I can start 4 more flats of onions. If you’re planning on starting a lot of vegetables that like warm soil as onions, eggplant, peppers and tomatoes, a heating mat is definitely a good investment. Especially if you happen to have your seeds starting area in a 55 degree basement like I do. At least it’s the perfect temp down there for spinach and lettuce seedlings, which I take full advantage of mid-summer when starting my fall greens.
Do you use heating mats in your seed starting efforts?
