AN EARLY SPRING
What can I say? We thought we were getting an early start on seeding vegetable flats and suddenly, spring arrived early! After 3 years, we thought that our CSA shares would begin in mid-May and suddenly, spring arrived early! To prepare for our daughter's wedding I asked advice of seasoned flower growers, who told me I probably couldn't have things blooming by mid-June, but I planted seeds in mid-January and suddenly, spring arrived early!
Life has been hectic the past 2 months trying to do 3-4 months of work, but we've had some real successes to celebrate! I had flowers (marigolds and pot-marigolds and zinnias) by the end of March, so my flower beds and planters are now prepared and hopefully the plantings will be fully developed by the time of the wedding. Thanks to a neighbor's gift, I had a nearly limitless supply of 4" pots to re-pot my seedlings as they grew and I waited through several temperature swings (into the 80s and 90s) for frost to become less likely. Three varieties of tomatoes and two varieties of eggplant are now transplanted into the main garden. I've never had such large, healthy plants the first week of May. Twelve rows of potatoes went in around Easter; 6 types of onions are in the ground along with most of our broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage starts. The fall spinach planting once again forced our hand on share delivery with the first boxes being packed during Easter week and the second boxes packed April 24 & 28 (featuring wonderful lettuce and asparagus). I had just begun to try some new recipes for rhubarb and we're rapidly entering Strawberry Season!
Here is a new favorite for rhubarb which you can enjoy with spring greens, once again from Simply in Season:
Rhubarb Dressing
2 C rhubarb, chopped
½ c sugar
¼ c vinegar
3/4 c oil
2-3 T onion, grated
1½ t Worcestershire sauce
¼ t salt
Cook rhubarb, sugar, and vinegar over medium heat until soft.
Drain in sieve. Discard pulp. To 6 tablespoons of this juice, add remaining ingredients. Shake in jar or whisk together. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
NOTE: My batch made 13-14 tablespoons of juice and I used it all in one batch of dressing.
