There’s still about 60 days until the first chance of frost here in Pittsburgh, so I got to clearing out the salad greens that bolted to make way for new plants. My hula hoe made it super easy to clean out four beds worth of bolted greens. My daughter said it was like a magic wand!

I really miss our fresh spinach to add in recipes, and salad greens for salads and sandwiches, so they were our first choice to plant. I then read radishes are a pretty quick crop, so why not? I think the hardest part of this process was finding seeds to plant, nearly every store I went to was either out or had sad looking seed packets for plants there was no time for. Lowe’s had only organic seeds left at around $2.50 a package (!), no spinach or lettuce. Home Depot had some seeds in the outside garden that had definitely seen better days, but I figured for $3.50 it was worth trying radishes, and two packs of lettuce. My luck changed on the way to Phipps one morning, a local nursery had a big sign that said ‘FALL SEEDS HERE’ – hurray! The girls and I stopped on the way back and bought some spinach seeds.

After we cleared the beds, I made nice little rows and got to planting seeds. The radish and spinach seeds were in really nice condition, but the lettuce/salad green seeds not so much. The one packet of mixed salad greens had gotten wet and moldy and smelled horrible. My daughter said it smelled like something had died in it. It was odd because you only smelled it with the packet open, no clue when I bought it. I mixed what seeds I could with some dirt to help spread.

Clearing the garden with a Hula Hoe

About five days later the radishes and spinach have started to sprout. I think, the lettuce has a chance, but not sure if was an orderly row of weeds growing! I think I’m going to need to start looking for some radish recipes!

Radishes (left), Spinach (right)

Radish sprouts Spinach sprouts

Pro tip for next year, buy all the seeds you need for the season in the spring and use as needed! No more scrambling around. Anyone got some radish recipes/ideas? Post them! Thanks!

 

thesugarpixieGardeninghula hoe,lettuce,Pittsburgh,radish,spinachThere's still about 60 days until the first chance of frost here in Pittsburgh, so I got to clearing out the salad greens that bolted to make way for new plants. My hula hoe made it super easy to clean out four beds worth of bolted greens. My daughter...Misadventures and fun in the kitchen and beyond