The Savoury Garden

A new year, and the gardening season has begun. We’ve had a bit of a warm spell, and Average Last Frost date is fast approaching, so the urge to get started on the garden was more than I could resist. Not that I wanted to.

I pulled the cover off the overwintering bed to reveal some very fine greens. The picture above features Rouge d’Hiver, which is beginning to form loose heads. Below it is Mervielle de Quatre Saisons, and near the top of the photo is some kale. There will be salads aplenty soon, because there’s also Mache coming in, finally. I think I need to try covering the Mache with light sand. I’ve read that it grows better that way. Spinach is also doing well. Another bed has lots of garlic coming up. I haven’t pulled the mulch off the beds yet because we’re expecting a return to winter weather shortly.

As you may recall, the area that I’m using for a garden has been an unkempt lawn, sort of. It’s in horrible shape, and the first thing I have to do is cut and remove sod. After that, a good bit of digging and tilling will be required to break up the clay. I have several hundred pounds of compost as well as several other organic amendments to add to the soil, so I should be able to accomplish a good bit of soil rebuilding this year.

30 January 2011

One good afternoon of work in the warm sun, and the area for another four beds is nearly uncovered. There will be some rain this week, but by Valentine’s Day I should be able to get at least one or two beds prepped and planted in early greens and such.

Yes, starting outdoors on January 30 is rather early, and I know that winter is not yet done with us. After all, the wooly worms had black bands on both ends, so another good blast of winter weather is expected. I have to take advantage of what good weather I can because there’s a huge amount of work to do. I know I wasn’t too early, though, because there were bees out inspecting the garden, checking every little plant, and carefully buzzing past each shovelful of dirt to see what there might be. And a couple of birds were out inspecting trees for good nesting sites. I wasn’t the only creature experiencing a bit of Spring Fever!

I mentioned that Average Last Frost date is fast approaching, and that means starting seeds indoors. That, too, was part of the first gardening weekend of 2011. In another week or so I’ll find out whether the seeds I saved from San Marzano tomatoes and bell peppers (capsicum) are viable.

So, there’s the latest from The Savoury Garden. If you follow Stumptown Savoury on Facebook, you’ll get updates every day I do anything in the garden. See you there!