Well, it seems I did. But how wrong I was! How gloriously wrong! When the snow was gone from our cold frames we realized that, in fact, they did contain some food. Maybe not as much as in some previous years, but enough to make us happy.
Mache: the plant that winter cannot kill.
Mache is also the plant that, apparently, grows even when the gardeners are inept. We’d planted mache seeds last fall and they never germinated. Meanwhile, these guys sprang up in other parts of the garden as volunteers. Last year, we’d let our mache go to seed. And it looks like it paid off! Mache makes a great salad.
Can you find the ones that aren’t weeds?
Yes, mache makes a great salad, especially when you put in some Incredible Survivor Lettuce! I don’t even remember planting these—must have been in the fall, but I had no idea they were there all through that bone-chilling winter, and I would never have guessed they’d live. But they were under a cold frame and doing just fine. We ate some last night and it was delicious.
Meanwhile, our garlic is looking grand:
Getting bigger and tastier by the day!
I love the rule for growing garlic: Plant on Halloween, harvest on Fourth of July. The snow had covered these plants for months and it’s lovely to get reacquainted now that the days are longer and they’re happily growing taller.
What is your garden up to right now? Any happy surprises in those beds?