First Spring Flowers

Garden Week Five 4/24/2018

First spring vegetables!

• Plants are started in doors.

• Soil is tested and amended.

• Part of the garden is turned in, and a bed is prepped.

• IT’S TOO EARLY TO PLANT!! – OR IS IT?

No, it is not too early to plant…Spinach and Peas.

Bee & Pea: A lovely spring pollinator helping to make peas.

Spinach:

What a lovely and versatile plant spinach is. From sandwiches, soups, salads, pasta dishes or just have it blanched as a side. Spinach can be added to most dishes for added flavor, color and nutrition. Yum!

Spinach is an edible flowering plant of the Goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae) a branch of the Amaranthaceae family and is related to beets, chard and quinoa.

In china, spinach is referred to as “Persian Green” or “Persian Vegetable” as it is believed to have originated, like many plants, in ancient Persia. Possibly, being cultivated as far back as mid 200 AD. This delectable vegetable has established itself throughout the world and time.

But how do we cultivate in our chilly climate successfully?

One way is to start your seedlings inside. If you are a seasoned gardener, you may have already started your spinach seeds. These can be transplanted outside anytime after the first four leaves have developed and soil temperature has is reached 45-75ºF.

According to “Clyde’s Garden Planner”, you can direct seed spinach to the garden anytime in the next week. As with any spring planting, you may consider having some season extending Row cover available, for the last spring snow or freeze. While Spinach is a hardy vegetable it will still not tolerate temperatures below 20ºF.

Sweet, Sugar or Garden Peas:

The Princess and the Pea, by Hans Christian Anderson. Wherein a pea is placed under many mattresses to test a young lady’s sensitivity, proving that she was a princess.

In my mind, this is not the best use of a pea. If you are like me, you like to snap them right off the plant and eat them fresh, add them a green or cold salad, or steam them with a touch or olive oil, salt and pepper till bright green, then enjoy!

The Pea has a much longer history than the lovely spinach. According to Hirst, K. Kris. "Plant Domestication." ThoughtCo, Apr. 9, 2018, thoughtco.com/plant-domestication-table-dates-places-170638, the mighty Pea was domesticated somewhere in the Near East around 9000 BCE. That is a long time!

No matter the history, the mighty pea belongs to the Fabaceae family, commonly referred to as the Pea, Bean or Legume family, and are related to plants such as alfalfa and clover.

Unlike beans, which are warmer weather plants, we can start peas when our soil temperate get to 40-75ºF. While the plants can defend against mild frost, the seed pods and flowers will not.

To give your peas a good start, try starting germination by placing in an air tight container or zip lock between damp paper towels for about 24 - 72 hours, checking every 24 hours. Once you see the shell has softened or expanded and the first root is reaching out, you can plant the seeds to the garden, root down.

Peas grow in bush and vine varieties. Because of the wind, I would advise staking your bush varieties for support. As you can imagine, vining varieties will reach far and wide to climb. A trellis and regular direction will keep your peas where you want them.

You can be enjoying spinach by the end of May and peas by the middle of June.

Happy Gardening!

Cold-Sweetening: Cabbage, Beets, Spinach, Kale, Carrots, among other plants are sweetened with a little cold....brrrrr!

“Cold-sweetening”, why some vegetables taste better in the spring:

Luckily, some plants like the cooler days and evenings of early spring and will in fact taste sweeter for it. Many cool whether plants experience “cold-sweetening” and will tolerate and thrive to a certain degree of cool and even cold weather.

But what is Cold-Sweetening? We all know how sunlight is photosynthesized to create energy for plants. This energy is then stored by plants in the form of starches. But, when the temperature drops, some plants turn this energy into “free sugars” known in fruits and vegetables as intrinsic sugars. We find the simplest free sugars naturally occurring in syrups, fruits and honey. Because sugar water freezes at a lower temperature, this process acts to strengthen the plant’s cell structure against the cold and frost.

Try tasting plants in your garden after cooler weather to see if it tastes sweeter.