Port Potager

It is cold. It's been cold all weekend. Tomorrow it will snow, and we are expecting so much that the state had to reschedule the MCAS exam (our statewide, bullshit standardized test).  Major prognostication fail, Punxsutawny Phil . And so we wait. Seedlings are popping up in the cold frames and on the windowsills, and they are doing well despite the freezing temps. So well, in fact, that the leeks and onions are rather in need of a haircut: These are our red onion seedings, which we planted about six weeks ago. As you can see, they are floppy and unruly. (The leeks are far better behaved, standing upright like good little soldiers — yet another example of their superiority .) Once onions and leeks get to be over four or five inches high, you can trim them back so they aren't so top heavy. This is a finesse job, because you have to ever-so-carefully untangle and lift up individual leaves, which are still pretty delicate. After their haircut (which I perfor...

When we planted our peas last weekend, we had to make room for them in one of the rows that still had some winter veggies in it. Here's the last of the winter harvest: Here we have kale, spinach, and mache from the winter cold frame ( long since removed  from that row, actually). On the small plate to the right are onion sprouts, which are the tiniest baby onions pulled from our seed flats to thin them out. They are oniony and delicious on a salad, which is where most of these veggies ended up. We may also make some more kale chips , since there's a lot of kale left. Hopefully we'll have new salad ingredients from our cold frame again soon!