Karen's Garden Delights Journal
4th week of March 2011

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If it was December, this week's snow would have been absolutely gorgeous. But when we are longing for spring, it is more of a disappointment. Here is the garlic peeking through 2 inches of snow. Often by this time, we are out spading small areas of the garden and making plans for Olin to disk the rest. This year, the ground is much too wet and cold to consider taking the tractor through. I am extra thankful for all the greens coming from the low tunnels but am not fond of freezing my fingers to pick a salad.

While we are waiting on the snow to melt, there are plenty of seedlings needing attention. This tray of lettuce, arugula and salad burnet is ready to be divided into packs. They will stay in the greenhouse till their roots are established and should be ready to go in the garden when the temperatures are at a level where things will actually grow. The tomato and pepper seedlings are also ready to go into 4 packs but these tender plants will stay indoors for several more weeks. I am watching for a reasonable warm streak to put out the a tomato or two in WaterWalls. The first ones will certainly be somewhat risky but I'm seeing how early I can try it. I also plan to clear the blooming arugula and chickweed from a corner of the greenhouse to put in a few tomatoes. Those early tastes of tomato always taste so good and we'll see if we can harvest our first one before the end of June.

Another crop we are harvesting are Jerusalem artichokes (sometimes called sunchokes) that overwintered in the ground. They are a perennial root crop that look similar to potatoes and spread like crazy. I transplanted a few from my grandma's old bed and now they are growing abundant in several corners of the farm. Unfortunately, they are not a family favorite but I have been able to sell quite a few at Local Roots. I like them raw with veggie dip but no one else shares my enthusiasm. A friend we shared some with gave the suggestion of using them in stir-fry like water chestnuts. I gave it a try in this chicken breast and greens dish and everyone ate them and actually liked them. So that is our new culinary discovery of the month.

Meanwhile, calls keep coming to schedule talks and classes this spring and summer. This week there was a request for a Mother-Daughter banquet talk, an author event and an inquiry for cheesemaking for a 4-H group. I hope I save enough time to actually dig in the garden! Cheesemaking seems to be one of the most popular topics and it is so interesting to see people who don't even have a family cow or goat really want to learn to make their own cheese. Some upcoming classes at Local Roots are Gourmet Salad Gardening on April 7 and Basic Cheesemaking on April 13. Both require preregistration. Maybe I'll meet some garden journal readers there.