Spinach Meals

The spinach has been loving the rain. I harvested quite a bit yesterday and there's more still in the garden. Since I also went to the gardener's market yesterday and got some fresh eggs, I decided on a quiche.

I've never made a quiche before, but figured it seems like a dish that would be very forgiving. I used the bacon that had been in my freezer since Christmas, a crust I had in the freezer from ages ago and fresh chives from my garden.

5 fresh eggs

.75 cup low fat cottage cheese

4 strips bacon, cooked

a bunch of spinach, sauteed in the pan used for the bacon, chopped

a bunch of fresh chives

2 oz blue cheese

I got over eager and took a sample before I took a picture. It might have been better to not cook the spinach in the bacon grease, but I was at first playing around with the idea of not putting in the bacon, just using it for the sauteing. It tastes fine and it was a good experiment.

I had some left over spinach and used it in soup.
chicken broth - homemade that I'd had in the freezer a little while
packaged cheese tortillini
fresh basil from the garden
garlic salt (since I didn't have any salt in the homemade broth, otherwise garlic powder)
pepper to taste
add spinach in the last few minutes of boiling.

The Weed Patch

Here's a picture of my garden part way through the process of de-weeding:


Here it is now:







I notice that I seem to have done some damage to the plaster on the side of my house in this process. Two steps forward, one step back. The after picture is from several weeks ago. Perhaps I should take a new one to show how well that squash plant is growing. It seems to love all the rain we've been having. I'm worried about the tomatoes though. It seems like it's rained pretty much every day the past couple of weeks.

First Harvest

I arrived from Alaska this morning. The first thing I did was take a stroll back to the garden. I was happy to see that my tomato plants had survived my abandonment. The next thing I noticed was the weeds trying to reclaim their old stomping grounds. 10 days and they'd nearly taken over the spinach bed.

The spinach was fighting back though. I hadn't gotten around to thinning it before I left, not being ready to pick winners and losers yet. Today that couldn't be put off any longer - if for no other reason than to make it easier to weed. The result is a much neater looking row of spinach, with plenty of room to allow growth. AND a bowl of baby spinach leaves - enough for a handsome dinner salad.

Veggies in the Ground

On the Sunday hike, someone mentioned that we were at the 50% frost date - there was a 50% chance that there wouldn't be any more frosts. Then I looked at the 10 day weather forcast and there's not going to be a frost for another 10 days.  I took a chance and started throwing plants int he ground as quick as I could.  

I didn't drive home immediately after the hike, but made a beeline to Lowes where I bought a bunch of herbs.  I torn out a bit of sod near one of my new pear trees, not far from the weed patch and threw in an herb garden. Yesterday, I went nuts at Home Depot and bought 11 tomato plants, 3 peppers, 2 cantalopes, a zuchinni, a yellow squash, a tomatillo and a water melon. They're all in the former weed patch. I'm a little obsessed with tomatoes. 

Tomorrow I'm headed to Alaska.  I feel like I'm abandoning my children. I got a babysitter, but these aren't toddlers. They're infants. The kind that you don't leave with a stranger.  Probably they're biggest threat is still frost, but I'm feeling lucky. There's no frost predicted out to May 14th and the 10% frost date is May 20. If the forecast is right, surely there can't be more than a 20% chance of frost now. Here's hoping...

Sprouting Spinach!

A little over a week ago, I planted some spinach. Sunday I noticed a little sprout, but thought there was a good chance it was just grass creeping into my spinach bed. The test for sprouting spinach is many little sprouts that look basically the same. Yesterday afternoon, they were there. They each look like two little sprigs of grass growing together. Less than 40 days left until I have my own home grown spinach.

Flocks of Phlox?

The first bulb plants are starting to poke out. As yards are filling with the early signs of spring, I'm kicking myself for not being able to commit to a location for hyacinth, crocuses and irises last fall.

In the mean time, I'm wandering around my yard, inspecting the apple trees for signs of budding and wondering if the daphne has just gone off and died. I'm also inspecting everyone else's plants to see if mine are keeping pace. Or perhaps someone else has planted a hydrangea, so I can safely plant the one I've been nursing inside for a month.

In a welcome sign that spring is finally here for me as well as everyone else, this morning I happened upon these little babes.

There are in fact two clumps of them, right where I planted perennial phlox last autumn. In fact, that's the only reason I have for believing that it is phlox. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's not a clever weed, tricking me into watering and feeding it.

It had also somehow escaped my attention that the coral bell has been underway for quite sometime, camoflauged against the mulch. Sneaky little bugger.