Winter survivor

The weather has been very cool and wet the last week with a couple inches of snow last Wednesday. We planted kohlrabi last weekend, but other than that, nothing has been seeded or transplanted. This next week looks more promising, with temperatures in the 60's and mostly dry.

The greens in our cold frame have been thriving in the cool weather, though, and we've been enjoying big salads with most meals. Even without a cold frame, anyone can have early green salads by planting spinach in the fall and then covering it with a layer of straw, hay or some other insulating material before the really cold weather sets in. The spinach below was planted last fall in our garden and not given any protection other than a blanket of snow on top of it all winter. The spinach goes dormant during the winter and reawakens once the snow melts and the weather warms. A row of arugula that was planted next to the spinach last fall did not survive. Quite a testament to the hardiness of the spinach plant.