The pickings are slim for fresh greens in February. After a long spate of very cold weather that was below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the cold frame is not serving up much. But a break in the cold gives me a chance to look things over.
Both the corn salad (Valerianella locusta) and miners lettuce (Claytonia) appear unaffected though are premature to harvest. Some of the Japanese and other greens appear to be making a comeback, however. But the leaf celery (Apium graveolens var rapaceum) looks healthy letting Juana cut half a dozen stalks for later use in a chicken salad.
The carrots (Daucus carota ssp sativus) are frozen into place and other greens are collapsed and look like mush. But a few of the smaller carrots sit on top of the frozen soil letting me grab samples for Juana. After a quick wash, she takes a bite. “This is soooo sweet,” she says with a smile.
I will need to wait for more of an extended warming spell to see what will come back.To compensate, I seeded up some microgreens a few weeks ago under my grow lamp and those combined with a few trays of corn salad I transplanted a few months ago have been a fresh and excellent topping for our salads each dinner. I can’t wait for Spring.
