Signs of Spring!

It may only be the last day of January, but I don't have to look too hard to find signs of spring. The comfrey and valerian are waking up, sending the first tender purple/green shoots up out of soil. I have noticed signs of germination in my salad greens beds, and even my asparagus are beginning to poke upwards toward the top of the soil and the sunshine. So you see, while there may still be a couple more months left of winter, the plants and I know that soon the time of growth & green will be here!

Today I worked for quite a few hours, moving more compost onto the 2nd Garden. When I grew tired of that, I weeded a few more raised beds, filled them with fresh compost, and seeded them with sorrel and leftover salad greens seeds. I have decided that one can't have too much sorrel (or salad greens, really), since apparently it's so difficult for restaurants and such to find it around here. So I decided to double my sorrel patch this year. Plus, it's one of the few greens that I grow that laughs in the face of winter's cold. I can walk out there in January and pick myself enough greens for a salad. Of course, one needs to keep in mind the Oxalic acid content of the leaves, but I've never had a problem with it (and let's face it, I'm a bit of rebel). My husband loves sorrel too - he'd easily overgraze the entire patch if I let him. Sorrel becomes too bitter for most palates once the weather warms, but after the first frosts (so from fall to late spring) the leaves become sweet and tender again. So if you already have an established sorrel patch, this would be a good time to start nibbling on it.