Well, February didn’t disappoint in terms of snowfall. Thanks to a series of snowstorms over the course of the month, we have just over two feet of snow here in northern New Hampshire. There’s more in the southern half due to several coastal storms which clobbered them but mostly missed us. The snow banks beside the road and piled up at corners of streets are huge, so making a turn onto an adjacent street is really an adventure.
Needless to say, we are all ready for spring up here. The Spring Equinox is next month, but New England being what it is, warm weather will take a while to catch up to the calendar date. The days are getting noticeably longer so I have begun to do some spring cleaning. Going over one room at a time, for half an hour each day keeps the task from being overwhelming. It takes just over a week to make my way through my home, so anything I missed on the first go, will get a cleaning by the time I make it back to my starting point, the kitchen.
I’ve also been reviewing seed catalogs for the latest offerings (not the old ones pictured above, but new ones). Since sunshine around my home is at a premium due to many tall trees surrounding the property, I try to pick seeds which do well in partial sunshine. Peas are an old favorite, as are carrots and potatoes. I don’t buy seed potatoes as a two pound of seed potatoes often goes for more than $10. Specialty potatoes such as Purple Majesty go for more than that. Instead I use potatoes I have bought at the grocery store which are poking out shoots. I know many consider this a no-no but I have not had a problem as yet and the yields are pretty decent.
I favor Yellowstone carrots over the usual orange varieties as I like the color and flavor, though I don’t turn up my nose at the traditional orange ones. Purple carrots are all right, though I haven’t tried those except in cooking. Spoiler alert: don’t use the purple varieties when making soup as the color cooks right out of them leaving your broth a funny muddy color. The flavor is all right but visually it’s not appealing.
I stick with the old stand-bys as I like them. I generally don’t experiment with odd varieties unless I manage to get one or two plants to try out, not wanting to be stuck with veggies my taste buds reject.
I did try lemon cucumbers once. The flavor was good, but they were very seedy, maybe because the growing conditions were not optimal. Lovage was touted in the catalogs as being similar in flavor as celery, so I tried those but found the flavor unappealing as it was too strong for me. It certainly didn’t taste like celery.
Still, it’s not hard to be tempted by various odd-looking vegetables not usually seen in the supermarket. The local Food Coop will carry odd veggies and fruits from time to time. Dandelion greens aren’t bad but there is an underlying bitterness I don’t like and which didn’t go away even after I put them through several rinses of water before cooking. Wild ramps, a member of the onion family, were appealing though it wasn’t until much later I found out you could eat the leaves as well as the tasty bulb. Oopsie. I’ll know better next time. However, these only show up very rarely on the store shelves in the spring. You can grow them yourself, but it takes a long time for them to mature and spread to the point where you can harvest a few.
Perhaps I may find something different at Sullivan’s Greenhouse, located in Lancaster New Hampshire. It’s a bit of a drive but I have recently discovered the quality of its flowers and vegetables are far superior to what can be found at Home Depot or Walmart. The personal touch of a local greenhouse just can’t be beat.
Have a safe and happy March.
