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After weeks of dormancy, a few days of blazing sunshine in March gave us the confidence to give the hoop house a breather and check out what was growing inside.
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We had pretty much left everything alone for January and February as we hunkered down through bitter cold, dull days. Snow had completely covered the house a few times and I could see ice flaking off the inside was I removed snow (sometimes 5 inches) off the taunt plastic.
If I had been blind-folded when I entered the hoop house on St. Patrick's Day , I would have experienced a flash-back of a visit to the tropical forest pavilion at the Toronto Metro Zoo (though devoid of primates and tourists).
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The space was warm, and the air was thick with the smell of humid, moist earth, and wet wood. Here and there, water was dripping from the curved ceiling.
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Actually, the chickweed had thrived and was overgrowing everything else.
Who knew I'd be weeding the garden in
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Of course, I did end up pulling up a lot of the tender shoots that I was attempting to rescue, but the earth was so soft I simply made a hole with my finger and replaced the root.
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When I checked on the re-plants a couple of weeks later, they were growing happily, now that their strangling housemates had been evicted.
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As I weeded the greens and thinned the carrots, I noticed the soil was warm and loose, having never been trampled by two or four-legged creatures all winter. Worms rose to the surface, rising cobra-like as if to to catch a bit of warmth or fragrance, before slithering off.
A few dozen baby carrots were pulled as we thinned the crop. Tender and flavourful, our first crop of 2011 was crisp and candy-sweet.
1 comment:
When will you post again ? Been looking forward to this !
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