Yesterday was a bit a of a milestone in the Kitchen Garden; the first harvest for 2017. It has been such a challenging Spring. We had snow in March, a huge windstorm in April, and we have yet to hit 70 degrees this year. In fact, the last time it was 70 degrees or warmer was back in November. Cloudy skies, lots of rain and the occasional hailstorm, that's what Spring has been in the Willamette Valley this year.
Thankfully, in spite of all of this, Spinach is one tough vegetable. I seeded this raised bed way back on February 12th. With nothing more than a protective remay cover, it germinated and has slowly grown and matured. The "Gazelle" spinach, pictured above, came up first and is much more vigorous at this point.
The "Abundant Bloomsdale" was a good 7-10 days slower to germinate and the plants are lagging behind. They are healthy though and their savoyed leaves are really pretty. Time will tell if this variety will be as productive as "Gazelle". Here's the breakdown for today's harvest:
- "Gazelle" Spinach - 7.0 oz.
- "Abundant Bloomsdale" - 1.4 oz.
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4 comments:
Wow, Gazelle spinach sure lives up to its name, it's a fast one! And pretty too. Congrats on the first harvest of the year. And yikes, your weather is worse than here, we have at least had a couple of warmish sunny breaks from all the gray and wet. Raining again today though, sigh....
That is some beautiful spinach! I didn't grow any last fall, though I have lots of other greens. I hope you get some sun and warmth soon. It has been cloudy and dreary here a lot but at least it has been warm.
Lovely spinach there! Something special about the first harvest of the year, isn't there?
Your spinach is handsome, not like the spinach that wilts as you pick it up, I have often avoided growing spinach for this reason opting for Swiss chard and perpetual chard, but I may change my mind. Yay for first crops of the years :)
So good to hear from you Lexa, do hope your well.
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