Whoa, now I know why this season is called "Spring". The leafy greens are truly springing into action. Let's see how they have progressed in the last 4 to 5 weeks.
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Iceberg (foreground) and butterhead lettuces on March 20
These seeds were sown en masse in 4-inch pots on February 22 |
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| Butterhead (foreground) and iceberg lettuces on March 29 |
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| Butterhead on April 12 |
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| Butterhead on April 25 after harvesting 9 of the 24 original plants |
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| "Rhapsody" butterhead Lettuce |
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| Iceberg on April 12 |
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| Iceberg on April 25, these have been thinned quite a bit also |
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| Iceberg "Superior" Lettuce |
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| Napa cabbages on March 22, these were sown on February 22 |
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| Napa cabbage on April 12 |
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| Napa cabbage on April 25 |
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| "Little Jade" napa cabbage |
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Spinach on March 29
These were sown on March 7 |
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| Spinach on April 12 |
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| The first harvest of "Summer Perfection" spinach (18 oz.) on April 22. |
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| Spinach on April 24 |
These are the superstars of the spring garden. I've been enjoying a fresh salad almost every day using the baby heads of lettuce that I've been thinning out. The first harvest of spinach was used in
Beans and Greens 2.0 and
Asian Stir-Fried Spinach, both tasty treats. And I suspect that I'll be harvesting the first head of napa cabbage fairly soon given the rate that they are growing.
We've been having a fairly typical spring this year, with a couple of almost heat-waves (temperatures hitting the low 80ºF's), but mostly mild sunny days and cool to cold foggy nights. It's been nice to have some warm spells. Last year and the year before we had cooler than normal temperatures, day and night, with hardly a hot day to warm our bones. The spring garden loved it those years, but I didn't. Most of the garden has tolerated the recent warm spikes, with a bit of help from me, I've suspended lightweight row cover fabric over the greens to protect them during the hot sunny days and I made sure they didn't get too dry. Other vegetables suffered a bit through the heat - more on that in a later post when I cover the rest of the garden.
What are the star performers in your garden this spring?
Such nice harvests. I'm barely picking anything right now. Though the kale needs to be chopped off and frozen for the most part.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to see the growth over time is just amazing. It shows just how worthwhile growing leafy vegetables really is.
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