Spinach in Cloches

I was so happy to be able to harvest nearly 1 1/2 pounds of fresh spinach from the garden yesterday. My first attempt at trying to get spinach going for fall and winter harvests was a complete and total failure. I had set out 18 spinach starts back on October 6, already a late start, and then left for a week long vacation. When I got back I found not a trace of a single spinach plant remaining. No doubt the seemingly thousands of sowbugs that inhabit my garden found the tender young seedlings and if it wasn't them then the birds probably found a way into the not so secure mesh tunnel. Bummer.

But I'm always willing to test the limits of my relatively mild climate so I decided to sow another 2 dozen paper pots, each with 2 seeds. All but one of the pots had at least 1 seed germinate and I kept both seedlings in the pots where both seeds germinated. Those got set out in the garden on November 23, a ridiculously late date. This time I was determined that the sowbugs and birds would not feast before I could enjoy a single leaf. I spaced the seedlings out so that each one could be covered with a bottomless plastic gallon water bottle cloche. I placed them cheek by jowl to provide more stability in case of wind. Each bottle is pushed about an inch into the soil. The sowbugs don't seem to be able to climb  the sides of the plastic bottles so I left the tops of the bottles uncapped to allow for ventilation. Just in case I trapped some baddies in the bottles I place a bit of Sluggo Plus by each plant.

November 23

Look at how tiny the seedlings were. I really didn't have a lot of hope that they would produce much of anything in what was turning out to be a cold and wet November and the same was expected for the forseeable future.

November 23

The cloches provided some frost protection not long after the seedlings got set out and on a number of nights since.

November 26

The plants grew surprisingly quickly considering the cold weather and short days. The cloches must provide enough warmth during the day and protection at night to help the plants grow. I grew hopeful that I might get to harvest some baby spinach by the end of the year.

December 2

December 2

December 2

Less than 2 weeks later the plants had grown to a "baby" leaf size! I could have harvested then but I decided to let continue to grow.

December 14

December 14

Ten days later and some of the plants were starting to fill the cloches. I wasn't ready to harvest them then since I had other veggies in mind for holiday meals.

December 24

December 24

December 24

December 24

Yesterday was finally harvest day. The plants looked like they were about ready to bust out and I noticed a fungal infection on a leaf that was pressed up against the plastic.

December 29

December 29

December 29

The first unveiling. Not bad.

December 29

December 29

I harvested the oldest leaves and left a couple of young ones on each plant. It turned out that there were very few leaves with fungal infections, mostly on the oldest leaves that were in contact with the soil. I removed all the infected leaves and any remaining seedling leaves and then the shorn plants got covered up again.

December 29

Ta Da! A couple of baskets of beautiful fresh spinach.

Summer Perfection

Verdil

Last night I concocted a dish of the Verdil spinach wilted in homemade broth flavored with tomato conserva and sweet pepper conserva from my stores. The spinach was piled on top of garlic toasts in big wide bowls and garnished with seared red onion (from the garden), pine nuts, and crumbled feta cheese. A nice warm dish for a cold winter night.

It's going to be interesting to see how soon I'll be able to harvest again.