Half-wild Salads

The irises have been popping blue-purple everywhere. The apple tree and cherry trees blossomed snow white a couple weeks ago, then shed their blossoms and now the green cherries are already beginning to appear. Spring passes in a blur of speed. It has been an unusually droughty April, which the farmers loved because they could get their corn crops in the field, but today the weatherman has promised an inch or two of rain and possibly a twister so I have time to write a blog.

I divided some rhubarb plants and replanted them in one-foot deep and wide holes filled with compost so that next year we should have some early summer pies to be followed by the cherry pies of late summer and apple pies of fall. It is nice to have a succession of eating even though that is not necessary today with a freezer. We had not planned to plant strawberries but when a neighbor gave us 30 plants we couldn’t pass it up. The rhubarb and strawberries now occupy a perennial area in the far west end of my garden. They receive the morning sun but are somewhat shaded by the apple tree in the hot afternoon. The morning sun is a blessing in summer but the afternoon sun is a curse. Next year I also hope to add a permanent bed of asparagus to this perennial area of the garden.

This year where the asparagus will be next year is a bed of salad greens, seven five-foot rows of lettuce and two of spinach. This represents the first produce of the garden we have begun to consume. We have had several salads so far, some of the wilted greens variety made with a hot topping of sweetened vinegar, bacon and bacon grease—the kind we ate in the 50s before salad dressings were sold in plastic bottles. We threw in some sweet violet leaves which are ubiquitous in my yard and edible and tasty in salads. Violets have none of the bitter taste of dandelion greens and have more nutritional value than garden grown greens. We will probably be eating a lot of salads for the next month until later vegetables begin coming in. Good deal for the waistline.

The early spuds are up, about six inches tall, and the late potatoes are planted and under a straw mulch to keep down weed competition. I also have bush beans, pole beans and corn all up and about six inches tall. There are four tomato and four peppers plants. I am taking a chance by planting so early but I have sandy soil that drains well and heats up early. Seed is relatively inexpensive if I do have to replant because of a late frost and I really want to get the plants off to a good start before the insect hordes arrive. I did have to cover everything with newspaper and cardboard one night when frost was predicted, but I think it is worth the effort to beat the bugs and summer drought.

Besides the vegetables I’ve already mentioned, I also have two 25-foot rows covered with black plastic and drip irrigation hose under the plastic for melons and cucumbers. My horseman buddy arrived right on schedule with a free dump-trailer load of two-year aged horse manure. After two years it has turned back into soil and you would never be able to identify the substance as horse manure. So all the beds, including plastic topped, drip irrigated strips are well fertilized. The black plastic has proved a real incubator and Crenshaw, cantaloupe and honeydews are all beginning to poke through the holes in the plastic. I am taking a real gamble with the Crenshaw and honeydews since the local farmers don’t grow them and I have learned not to question the locals. But I am a melon lover and have decided to take the long shot anyway. As for watermelons, I will plant a whole field of Jubilees around May 15, hopefully from transplants and under irrigated black plastic, so they aren’t included in my little 25’X40’ vegetable garden.

That pretty well brings everything up to date. I’ll just sit here, eat my greens and listen to the thunder and rain. I don’t REALLY think there will be a tornado?