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I’m in our local Master Gardener training class this year.  Class meets once a week for three hours, and we gardeners can get hungry during that time, so we have a mid-class lunch break.  It’s a little early for lunch, but somehow that never occurs to our appetites.  We take turns bringing a dish and there is always something tasty on the menu.

For my turn, I wanted to bring a fresh garden salad.  The only thing in our garden now, really, is salad greens, but they’re looking good.  I planted them last fall and they’ve weathered the frost and snow and wind remarkably well.  It amazes me every winter, but it’s great how easy it is to have fresh salad all winter long.

Like most of the US and elsewhere, we’ve had a cold Spring.  Temps below freezing every night this week.  But every morning once the sun comes over the treeline to the east, the frosty leaves begin to thaw.

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The first time it frosted and before this de-frost thing happened, a few years ago when I had my first Fall garden, I almost had a panic attack.  The second time this happened, I almost had a panic attack.  The third time this happened, . . .

It’s really hard to believe those tender leaves, beautifully red or green or green-tinged-with-red-speckles, have the ability to bounce back from being frozen.  I still breathe a sigh of relief when it happens, even though I well know they will be fine.

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As for the salad, every leaf was consumed.

I think this variety is Lollo Rossa. It’s so beautiful.

This Fall, I intend to go even bigger, growing overwintering greens and other veg in as many beds as I can. Every year I find new things that can take the cold.  As a plus, here it gets hot and humid and buggy so fast, starting in the Fall lets us have a few of the cool season Spring veg it ordinarily gets too hot too soon for, like snow peas and carrots.

Anybody eating fresh salad yet?