Early spring brings so many delights, doesn’t it? Today is a more seasonable day than we’ve experienced for awhile – cloudy skies and a wind chill in the high thirties (and going down into the teens tonight) – but still, there is a quickening of energy, an anticipation as we go outdoors to see everything greening up. And every day there is something to notice: crocuses in bloom, daffodils on the verge, trees budding out, late-fall transplants showing evidence of surviving the winter (phew!), and, of course, the daylilies growing apace after those balmy days last week.

One of the most pleasing aspects of this time of year, I think, is being able to start harvesting for the salad bowl again after a long winter of store-bought greens. Young sorrel leaves add a lemony bite …

Chives go into scrambled eggs as well as salads …

And there are early dandelion greens, last year’s overwintered scallions in full growth, and the beginnings of herbs to add flavor as well.

Lettuce, kale, and cabbage seedlings are coming up under lights, but given the forecast for a week of below-freezing nights on the way, they won’t be going outdoors any time soon. But here’s what I’ve saved for last: a bountiful crop of spinach from the unheated greenhouse …

We're putting it in everything: salads, egg dishes, smoothies, sandwiches, soups. Planted in the fall, the spinach sprouted before the coldest days and nights of winter, then laid dormant under row cover until reawakened by the late-winter sun and warmer daytime temperatures. This was a first-year experiment; and despite a midwinter shearing by whatever little critters find shelter in the greenhouse (chipmunks, most likely), growing this winter crop of spinach has proved to be a great success.

For several years we’ve intended to get serious about growing winter greens. As is typical, though, our To-Do list is always longer than our available time and energy. Maybe this lovely early spinach will give us more incentive. The combination of perennial greens, requiring very little attention, and some covered raised beds planted to a variety of cold-hardy greens might just supply us well enough that we won’t have to buy any more commercial salad mixes. Organic they may be, but packed in plastic and shipped all the way from the west coast, hardly a sound environmental choice; and what’s easier than harvesting the freshest greens possible, a few feet away from your door?

There’s a great little article in Mother Earth News this month about perennial edibles; sorrel is amongst them, and others that come later. Check it out online ... I can't seem to get the link posted here! ... just go to motherearth.com and search for perennial edibles. Good stuff!