The other evening I stopped at the garden, because a person I work with has never tried kale and I said I would bring some in to her and I knew I had some "baby kale" that could just about be ready for it's first trimming. It had been raining off and on in a series of heavy and soft showers. When I got to the garden it was raining slightly while the sun shined on it through an opening in the clouds. A rainbow {actually there were two--it was a double rainbow} ran across the east sky. Needless to say, it was beautiful, one of the moments I will hold on to and remember in the winter. Of course I was the only gardener there, cutting kale in the rain, and for a while it was nice to just stand there and take the garden in.
The plot looked so happy. It made me smile just looking at all of the goodness growing. The rain has been good this week to the little plot.
The kale is planted very tight. I should probably thin it, but I won't, because it grows well and I don't really need it any other way. I'm so excited for it that I will be hacking off little baby kale leaves before the big full leaves come. This is my ragged Jack.
Scottish curly leaf is there too. Both varieties are, of course, tasty. I'm playing around with growing a dinosaur leaf too. It's suppose to be super cold hardy {but I'm not sure what that means in zone 3}. I tried out some from the co-op and it was pretty good, like most kale, and there was a lot of leaf to it. Perhaps next year I'll add it to the kale crew.
I couldn't help but pull a few of my icicle radishes that are hanging out with my carrots that are trying to get going. These are so white that they're almost transparent when they're all washed up. I gave the tops of these to Happy Jack the rabbit when I got home, and it was fun to see him enjoy those.
It's so good to officially harvest for the first time! Today I'm going back to snag some more kale, mizuna, and probably just a few more radishes. It has begun!
