Seed starting...

 

Spring arrives in the greenhouse...

The Chard has reseeded itself and is flourishing along with the Italian Parsley.  The Chard is a tasty substitute for spinach in omelets. A hand-full of parsley added to a prepared tomato sauce gives the sauce a lift. 

The tomato plants will be ready to transplant when the ambient temperature rises with a. nighttime low of at least 55 degrees. We are not there yet.

Seed starting is more successful when the best medium is used. This year we are using Coast of Maine Seed Starter in starter equipment from  Johnny's Selected Seeds. These inserts were purchased last year and are proving will worth the expense. They wash easily, hold up very well and the plants are easier to extract the seedlings from then the ones made of lighter weight plastic.

For more inspiration: Rodale - Look to the 40's

Links open in other websites

 

What to do with a pound of very fresh haddock fillets? . . .

First I checked the Internet - no recipes I liked there.

So I grabbed a basket, a pair of scissors and headed to the greenhouse - hand full of chard, 4 large stems of oregano, one large stem of parsley. That's a start. Next back to the kitchen - 3 large white stuffing mushrooms, 3 strips of bacon, half a roll of Ritz crackers made into crumbs, 1 cup leftover brown rice. I'm ready.

Cook bacon in fry pan until very crispy. While the bacon is cooking, finely chop onion, slice mushrooms, remove the oregano leaves from stems.

Preheat the oven - 450.

Remove the cooked bacon from fry pan and crumble. Add onion and mushrooms to bacon fat and cook until soft. While the veggies are cooking melt 1/2 T butter in oven proof dish. Spread cooked rice on the bottom of the dish. Cut haddock in 2' pieces. Add half the fish on the rice. Add half the crumbled bacon. Cut the chard in thin strips over the rice. Toss on oregano leaves. Add the rest of the fish and bacon. Sprinkle crumbs until all the ingredients are covered. Add very thin slices of butter over most of the crumbs. Decorate the plates with the parsley.

Bake for 5 minutes at 450. Reduce oven to 350 and cook until fish is done. 15 - 20 minutes.

Serve immediately. On the table in less than an hour. Will feed 3-4. Clean up, cutting board & knife, one fry pan & spatula, one serving dish & one serving spoon.

Crop rotation . . .

Crop rotation wil help keep your garden in good condition for years. If you are interested here is a link to Yankee Gardener's, Crop Rotation Chart, a place to start.

We have a lot of rhubarb chard in the greenhouse now and have adapted the recipe for Warm Herbed Garden Spinach from Yankee Gardner's recipe.

• 1/2 cup red onion or yellow onion, chopped
• 2 slices well cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons margarine (we use butter*)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (sea salt*)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 lb fresh garden picked spinach (can use chard or other greens*)
• 3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon (Optional use lime juice if available)
• Top with crumbled feta or blue cheese*
• Garnish with chopped fresh oregano to taste*

Cook onion, bacon and garlic with margarine (butter*), over medium heat until bacon is crisp and crumbled.
Stir frequently.
Reduce heat and add seasonings.
Add spinach (and or other greens*)
Toss just until spinach (and/or other greens) is/are just wilted.
Drizzle with the fresh lemon juice.
Garnish with parsley & fresh oregano*.
Serve immediately.

* As in most kitchen we have added our own touches as noted by the * in this recipe.

The web site has lots of useful information for gardeners and cooks.

Spring!

The greenhouse will be on a garden tour this year so work began last fall to prepare. A number of plants did well over-wintering. We have been able to harvest mesclun greens, herbs, spinach, dandelion leaves and chard. The broccoli is coming along with heads of an inch showing and a cauliflower at 3/4". Peas will be planted today as well as more spinach

The most exciting find was not the plants -

it was a yellow spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatu! Shiny dark blue with bright yellow spots, the salamander was hibernating under the straw mulch. Even tho' I replaced the straw the salamander moved on to a safer place - hopefully in the greenhouse since it will help keep the insect population down including slugs. I wonder will the salamander enjoy the sow bugs (mealy bugs)? Anyone know?

Photo from Wikipedia