Getting back from the Florida Keys was a big shock on the first day with a temperature drop of 80 degrees (more on the travel up later) but within a few days we felt like we were in a Northern Florida zip code as it was sunny and pushing 60 degrees. Unlike prior years, the ground was mostly soft with little underlying frost: all of my raised beds were ready for planting. But some cleaning was in order.
The greenhouse reeked of rodents and I found a few nests in my starter trays (as well as a live mouse.) I had been lazy last fall throwing pots and other gardening implements into it hoping that they would somehow self organize over the winter. Or perhaps the mice and rats using it as refuge would make nice like they do in Cinderella and Ratatouille, respectively. No such luck.
Cleaning out the greenhouse got me going and I started to clip the old hellebore leaves revealing small pink and white buds ready to open and bloom out. In the lower garden, a Montauk Daisy that I had not pruned last fall was budding out, forcing me to cut it back hard so it would be bushier during warmer times. And there were piles of leaves needing raking that had blown into homes for bugs and birds.
The strawberries have started to pop out from under their straw and the garlic looks very healthy and ready to peek out its from its bed with a light green shoot. And tiny leaves of sorrel have started to emerge through the older, brown desiccated ones, a reminder of what we ate last December. At this stage these tiny delights are at their most flavorful, with little bitterness to counterbalance their lemony taste. I’m sure Charlotte will start to harvest her fair share. But the most remarkable veg are the leeks that I did not harvest last fall.
We had a good harvest of leeks last fall and there were more than Juana and I as well as friends could use. So I left a bunch in the ground not knowing how well they would hold up. As I pulled up one of the thicker stalks, I heard a satisfying tear and was greeted with a heavy waft of onion. It had held up. Pulling them successively, the same held true until I had a large bunch in my hand. Washing the soil off the roots, the flesh was still firm and ready to be cooked. As I would discover later, leeks are like carrots in that they are best stored in the soil over the winter. A welcome surprise that will find its was into some soup I will make tomorrow as we are expecting up to 6 inches of snow, a reminder that while you can avoid the cold you will never avoid the winter in Connecticut in March.
