As spring warms and gradually turns to the deeper greens and brighter sun of summer, the salad vegetables, too, become a memory of cooler, more refreshing days. Pictured here are the last of the spring salad ingredients: lettuce, spinach, green onions and strawberries.The onion plants remain in the ground to form summer bulbs of course, but soon their tender tops will be too strong tasting for salads. The lettuce and spinach are bolting, going to seed, and becoming bitter. I have left them in the ground as well: to shade the berry plants through the hot summer and perhaps reseed themselves. A garden is an investment in HOPE afterall...
I am always saddened a bit by change; this time, dreading the end to my cool evening harvests with glasses of wine full of strawberries.
The happy discovery of basil plants - volunteers from last years plants that went to seed - amidst the greens and cover crops help me though... Soon it will be tomatoes and basil, fresh salsa from onions and peppers, and hot summer fun:) And hope, always hope, of more volunteers next year.
