The weather this year has been so mild that many plants have over-wintered without any help from me. We've been eating Laccinato kale many times a week,cooked and raw in salads. The mustard greens are delicious and a half a dozen plants is just enough for two, I pick the leaves randomly and they grow back fairly quickly. The parsnips were the most interesting thing that I planted last year, partly because I had never grown them before and also because I had no idea how they were doing underground. Last week I emptied out a pot of them and there they were, short and small but definately parsnips. It was a treat to roast and eat them. More are in a raised bed and hopefully they will grow larger as the days warm up. I need to get last year's plants out of the beds to make way for this year's spring and summer plantings. I am excited to have so much over-winter and it is hard for me to remove any living and producing plant. We shall see how ruthless I can be.
Tiny garlic and chives are coming up. A peek of tarragon returning means that the soil is warming up and time to get that compost turned into the beds.
One detail I learned about parsnips is that rich soil makes for hairy parsnips...now I need to create a lean soil area, not sure how to accomplish that!
