Saturday, May 2, 2009

First Farmer's Market of the Season


I'm always delighted when the farmers' market comes back in the spring. It's especially nice when it happens on a sunny Saturday. I tried really hard to be restrained today--it's easy to come home laden with plants that will still be sitting next to--but not in--the garden the following week. I tried hard to limit myself to what I thought I would be able to plant in the next few days (with the understanding that there are lots of seeds I want to plant also).

The haul:
  • 1 coral bells for the bed (part-shade) under the stone wall in the back
  • 1 blue salvia for the main garden--I had one that was quite lovely last year and seems to have died from unknown causes, unfortunately
  • 1 perennial bachelor's button for the main garden
  • 1 flat leeks (not sure if these will be at home or the community garden)
  • 1 flat shallots (ditto)
  • 2 bags spinach
Re: the spinach--I opted for 2 $1 bags from the old Polish guy who sits at a table (sometimes with his wife) at the very end of the market. He never has much--bags of spinach, bags of butternut squash, blueberries in mid-summer, onions. But I like to buy the spinach from him and not just because the only other spinach on hand was $4 a bag at one of the organic stands. Last year, I heard someone quizzing him on whether he used any chemicals on his spinach, and he got indignant. His argument was along the lines of, "Why do you need to put that stuff on spinach? I've been growing spinach for XX years, and I've never put that stuff on my spinach. Why would I start now?" Etc. It seemed pretty certain that, whether his spinach was officially organic or not, he didn't put any stuff on it, and that was good enough for me. If there's enough excess green garlic at the community garden (not what I planted on purpose last fall, which still needs a bit more time), maybe I'll make the inaugural batch of Molly from Orangette's spinach and green garlic soup. But not right now. It's late afternoon, the sun is still shining, and the garden is calling my name.

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