Unwrap

Even though temperatures dipped back below normal for the last two days, it seems that spring is finally here, which means I can safely remove some of the protection from the plants I overwintered outdoors.

Starting with the edibles that were provided with makeshift greenhouses. Remember when I decided to wrap this small planter with plastic to try and grow chard over the winter? Well it's time for this eyesore to go away.

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I'm tired of seeing it, and I'm tired of dealing with the water that it collects when it rains or snows:

So off it came, all 30' (9m) of it!

I'm so glad to see it go, but it did its job -- the plants are looking great!

The little lettuces and other greens I planted a couple weeks ago here are looking good too, even though they haven't been getting enough water:

There are seeds sprouting in here too:

I'm not going to remove these until I can identify them with certainly, as I sprinkled cilantro (corriander) seeds in here and I'm pretty sure that's what these are.

These are not, but I'll let them grow a bit first to see just what they are -- most likely something undesirable, probably violets. It's too early for the malabar spinach seedlings, which are easy to ID anyway -- I'll have plenty of those in this bed in a month or two.

I left the bars up just in case we have a late freeze and I need to protect these plants for a night or two. I hope I won't need to use them and I'll probably regret leaving them in place -- I already gave myself one good knock on the head -- plus these plants are quite cold-tolerant, but I'd rather be prepared than have to scramble later.

It's so nice to see some fabulous (and edible!) plants as opposed to the plastic. Hooray spring!

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