Surviving Winter Spinach In The Hoophouse

The weather has been pretty cold and miserable the past few weeks, but we had a brief period when things thawed out a bit.  I decided it would be nice to see if there was still anything growing under my low hoop house.  I pulled up one side of the plastic sheeting and was pleasantly surprised to find that the spinach has not only survived under there, but was still growing slowly.

What a nice feeling to see something so vibrant and green in the middle of a cold, muddy, overcast day.  Nothing else under the hoop house had survived, but all the dead plant matter was nothing more than a nice thick mulch around the thriving spinach plants.  I harvested a small bowl of thick, succulent leaves and then tucked the tiny crop back in, so it could continue to grow for another few weeks.

Looks like it's time to have some fresh winter salad straight from the garden again.  I'm thinking that next year I will save my spinach planting for fall again.  I don't have to worry about bolting, and the crop just keeps growing all winter as long as I just trim the leaves.  This is probably my third or forth harvest from this little row.  It isn't much, but it is a welcome reprieve from eating stored food, and nothing beats a salad fresh from the garden in the midst of winter.