Early Spring Greens

The first week of January was a good time to start a few lettuce seeds indoors. I used small starter cells filled with potting soil. Once the plants had been established, I transplanted the seedlings to two window planter boxes and set them on the back porch to catch the morning sun on warmer days, and still moved them inside during freezing weather.

A few weeks later, I started some plants in the greenhouse. I planted a few peas, leaf lettuce and spinach. By mid-March, I was able to enjoy fresh salads, long before I was able to plant the rest of the garden.

The first family sized harvest was mid-April. The sour sorrel was a bonus, a wild green that popped up next to the greenhouse. That little plant really takes me back to my youth. We used to sit along the road bank at the home place and pretend the sour sorrel that grew in the lawn was spinach when we acted out our favorite Popeye stories.

The peas are twenty four inches tall but will not be producing for several more weeks, by that time the ground should be worked and I’ll be able to plant a long row of peas and other cool weather crops in the main area of the garden.

The dinner salad was delicious with the addition of store bought cucumber, radishes and sweet peppers.