After many, many tries we were finally able to have a real spinach harvest yesterday. Not sure why but until now we have had no luck with spinach. We've tried growing it in several locations and have never had any results to speak of. In fact the stuff that we harvested yesterday was actually planted last fall. It sprouted and put on a couple leaves and then just seemed to go to sleep. We let it be over the winter and now that spring is here it actually grew with little to no attention - so that's what easy to grow means.
My theory on why the plants went sort of dormant last fall is that the day length was getting too short and the sun was too low in the sky for the plants to get much sun. We have an acre or more of our property cleared so getting enough sun isn't usually a problem in the spring and summer. The cleared part of our property is surrounded by tall pines and poplars, so as the days were getting shorter and the angle of the sun was lower I think the spinach wasn't getting enough sun to thrive. The fact that the spinach lived through the winter tells you how mild our winter was - I think we only saw snowflakes once.
The other green stuff in the picture is garlic and shallots. We planted those last fall too but I think they're supposed to go through the winter and then come up the following spring. Dianne tells me that they won't be ready for harvest until their foliage dies back and then they may take some curing after that. You can see I'm not the garlic and shallots expert in the family.
Here's a shot of Mr. O doing some serious spinach picking - that one sure did have some long roots. We enjoyed fresh homegrown spinach in our salads last night and with every bite I savored the gobs of nutrition coursing through my digestive system and finding their way to wherever vitamins and minerals go. It reminded me of the School-House Rock tune "The Body Machine", which I only heard 80 bazillion times this weekend as we drove to Northern, VA and back. That CD is one of Mr. O's favorites. I have to admit I learned a lot from those as a kid. Check out the tune and video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAvxGDjlpM .
2 comments:
You guys are ahead of the curve. There's an article in this month's Horticulture magazine about the return of the chicken. As in, chickens in your backyard. So don't be surprsied if everyone else on the block follows your lead.
They've even got pictures of a chicken tractor. You know, the kind with the little chicken behind the wheel. Apparently the chickens drive this tractor, tilling the soil, and then when they've finished tilling (up to 40 ac. at a time), they dismount and eat any grubs and worms they find. Ingenious. Unfortunately they only make a model for silkies. So it takes them about 3 months to finish the tilling. And you can just imagine how small the tractor is.
I LOVE the new banner at the top with little O and his basket....too cute. And I found a hot pair of white loafers for Herb in Charleston this weekend. HOT.
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