The extended cold winter we have had and slow start in the vegetable garden has made me rather grateful for the recent warmer weather we’ve had.
I like to grow as much of my family’s fruit and vegetables as I can. But when you are nearly a month behind in the garden, it is frustrating as there isn’t much available for the table in the early spring when winter vegetables are coming to an end. My early seeds that were sown in the propagator to germinate, such as the tomato and pepper seeds I grew have out-grown their home and have been moved onto windowsills inside the house to protect them from frost.
To combat the shortage of food from the garden, I have been growing some early salad greens in troughs in the greenhouse that can easily be transported to the house for use. One of these troughs will last us over a week, providing tender, fresh salad greens for sandwiches and salads.
Mixed salad leaves have to be one of the easiest things to grow like this and can be grown in a window or greenhouse in the early spring. 4 to 5 weeks later, you have salad leaves for cutting, many of which will come again if they aren’t cut right down to the roots.
Once finished, the contents of the container can be emptied and quickly made into compost. Spring appears to have finally arrived and I have been catching up in the garden and starting a new hot bed of compost, turning it every couple of days and adding manure from the chicken house and grass clippings from the garden.
Lets hope this is the last of the cold weather and my hot bed doesn’t go cold.