Cauliflower Spring

This spring in the Pacific Northwest was the wettest and coldest that I remember.  Of course I say that every year.  But this time I mean it. Usually we get a February two week respite that includes much sun, warming temperatures and workable soil.  Of course the real rain hasn't started yet so of course the soil is workable.

And then the rain begins.  We received hardly any rain during the winter months. It was a bit snowier and colder than usual. We had below freezing temperatures for at least a month of the winter.  So I thought the only thing that would survive in the garden would be the carrots. The winter cabbages and winter cauliflower were growing, but producing nothing. So I just let them grow thinking I would pull them up when the warmer weather was here.

March Cauliflower

The first of March brought a couple of days of sun and I thought I would go work in the strawberries just to get outside. And to my surprise there beautiful and white was the most beautiful and bug free head of cauliflower I have ever seen. I have since harvested seven beautiful heads of bug free cauliflower. Next year I plan to grow them the same. Plant in October and harvest in spring. No cabbage moths, no aphids. What a great surprise!

Spring is More than a Date on the Calendar.

We have had an early spring here in the Pacific Northwest. And my abundant backyard is beginning to grow. We actually started things in January when temperatures were in the 50’s with lows of 42 degrees. I don’t believe we have seen any frost since before January 25.

In January we cut down some wild plum trees (not good for anything but pectin), trimmed the clematis on the south fence, and gave the Wisteria a haircut in hopes of a bloom here and there. If it doesn’t bloom this year then I know the 10 year old vine will never bloom. If anyone has any helpful tips, let me know.

February remained dry and warm and we chipped the tree branches, pruned rose bushes, pulled strawberries from the walkways, and planted peas outside. Inside broccoli, leeks, red onions, basil and parsley are beginning to show themselves.

March has been exceptionally warm. The peas are beginning to show and I have managed to get spinach, radishes, lettuces, carrots and walla walla onions planted. Today I planted a rhubarb start. Can’t wait for the rhubarb crisp!

Flowers are not absent from this picture. Violets are blooming. They are one of my grandmother’s favorite flowers so I always think of her. Plus she had a sister named Violet and one named Myrtle. My grandmother was named Florest (nickname Flo). So great-grandma Whitney must have loved flowers herself.

And of course my most favorite of all……my treasured bleeding heart! My sister brought me a start of my grandmothers plant several years ago. I delight in the fact that it comes out of the ground blooming.! Isn’t that the most spectacular sign of spring?