I was able to spend about an hour in the garden today to do a bit of tidying up. It felt good to dig into the beds for the first time this year. The warmer environment created by the floating row cover and hoop house made for soil that was moist, crumbly and completely free of frost.
Out went the wild arugula and lettuce mix. The spinach will stay for as long as it will produce. I haven't decided what will go into this bed yet - maybe a super early crop of carrots, radishes or turnips. I love the fluffy look of freshly tilled soil.
I also enlisted some help to pull up the remainder of my Napoli carrots. I had harvested all of the large ones in December and January. What is left never fully matured this winter. Still, they will make for tasty little snacks.
The soil underneath this hoop was slightly frosty since I neglected to secure a layer of fabric row cover over the carrots this winter. I will go back to break up the larger clumps of soil as the weather warms up. In a couple of weeks, I will plant out some Shanghai bok choy and Mizuna, which hopefully will mature before an early crop of peppers is planted out in late April or on May 1st (my frost free date).
