The famous Livingston winds hit last night — up at Choteau, near Glacier, the gauge clocked 114 before it broke into pieces — I don’t know what it was here, but it was the kind of morning where stuff is all over the yard. Among the things that blew askew was the cover that’s been on the hoop house all winter.
Here’s how it looked inside — the scallions are pretty battered, but they look like they’ll come back strong. The chard, hard to tell? I pulled the deadest leaves off the surviving chard plants, and pulled a couple of dead-looking ones out altogether. The fetid arugula came up, as did what was left of the baby bok choi. I left the laccinato kale, hoping that with a little warmth it’ll fill out some — if not, it’ll come out in a couple of weeks and I’ll succession plant.
And then I planted. I’ve never planted anything this early, but it’s supposed to be in the mid-40s all week, and although I’m sure we’re going to get more snow, and more cold, somehow it just feels like maybe we’re out of the sub-zero zone. At any rate, I’m tired of store produce, and what I really really love is spring greens. If it wasn’t for the tomatoes and peppers I’d be perfectly happy in a climate cool enough for greens all season. So here’s what I planted: arugula, green baby bok choi, a few more chard, spinach, white baby bok choi, komatsuna, and some mache, which I’ve never had any success with, but who knows? maybe this year?
I watered until it all seemed pretty saturated. The ground was nice and un-frozen, unlike the rest of the yard, so I’m kind of hopeful. A couple of weeks? maybe some spring greens of my own.
