Spring Salads for Lunch or Dinner

Greens, whether in salad or cooked, are a nice spring treat for dinners and luncheons. Dandelion greens are a classic, but always be sure to use dandelions that have not been sprayed or treated with chemicals in any way. Many times they are available in the spring in the produce section along with other greens, if you prefer to buy them. The following recipes are from my copy of Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, printed in 1949.

Dandelion Green Salad

1 cup finely shredded dandelion greens, very tender

2 cups shredded cabbage

1/4 cup sliced radishes

1 hard cooked egg, quartered and sliced

2 tbsp. crumbled Blue Cheese

Horseradish dressing

Use only the very tender heart leaves of either the wild or cultivated dandelions and shred by cutting with a very sharp scissors. Cabbage is best shredded by using a very sharp, thin bladed knife. Combine all ingredients and toss lightly with horseradish dressing. 4 servings.

Horseradish Dressing

1/3 cup prepared horseradish

1/4 cup vinegar

1 cup salad oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. onion juice

1 tbsp. ice water

1/8 tsp. paprika

Soak horseradish in vinegar overnight. Drain in a sieve over a bowl, pressing horseradish until dry. Discard dry portion and to the strained liquid, add remaining ingredients. Beat well with a rotary beater. Makes about 1 1/3 cups.

Spinach Medley

1/2 pound clean, crisp, raw spinach

1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce

)1 cup grated raw carrots (2 large)

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup sliced radishes

1/2 cup French Dressing

1/2 tsp. salt

Vegetables should be cold and crisp. Cut spinach into shreds with a sharp scissors. Cut head lettuce with a sharp knife. Grate carrots. Combine all ingredients but carrots and mix very lightly but thoroughly using two forks. Do not stir. Add the carrots and toss two or three times only. Serve. 4 servings.

Mustard Greens and Spinach with Bacon

2 pounds fresh, tender mustard greens

1/2 pound bacon

1 quart boiling water

1/2 tsp. salt

black pepper to taste

1/2 pound spinach

Wash mustard greens very thoroughly, trimming off roots and tough stems; trim and wash spinach. Put mustard greens into kettle with bacon, add water, cover and boil gently for 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and put spinach into kettle, pressing down well. Again cover and cook until spinach is tender, from 10 to 15 minutes. More water may be added as needed. Serve hot. 4 servings.

Watercress is another green that can be grown from seed year round:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/watercress.html

~Brenda

March Garden Tips & Chores

It's hard to believe it's almost the end of March. I spotted the first of my daffodils opening this weekend, and all the trees and shrubs have buds on them, including both lilacs. I've always loved this time of year. Today I'm sharing Spring gardening tips.

Reminder: Don't prune any shrubs or trees that have spring blooms. Prune after the blooms have died off.

-The first spring chore should be walking around your landscape and cutting off any damaged or diseased wood from shrubs and trees. Mine made it through fairly well with just a small amount of damage to my Rose of Sharon. Use sharp garden shears that have been cleaned.

-The next chore is gently raking leaves and debris from all the garden beds that collected over the winter, and cutting back any dead foliage, or pulling up any annuals that were forgotten in the fall. If their isn't any disease present this can all be composted.

-Wait to till or dig in the garden until the soil is dry enough to crumble. If it's too wet from spring rains and moisture it will clump and be hard to work with later.

-If you didn't cut back the old wood on your butterfly bushes (for the type that grow from the ground each year, not on the old wood) then be sure to cut the old stems back to the ground now.

-Once the soil reaches a temperature of about 45 degrees and it's dry enough to work with you can plant peas, spinach, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, greens and calendula outside by sowing the seeds into the soil or containers.

-Cut back all ornamental grasses before they start to sprout from the ground so the new growth isn't accidentally snipped.

On OFL I have an article on growing peas:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/The-Spring-Garden:-Growing-Peas.html

~Brenda

Garden Tip Hodge Podge

The sun is shining, and spring is trying to arrive, even in Michigan. Yesterday I noticed the first daffodil stems poking up in my garden, which always makes me smile. Today I'm grabbing two of my older gardening books and sharing tips I thought everyone would enjoy.

The Old Dirt Dobber's Garden Book, 1944

EVERGREENS: In spite of good care, an occasional arborvitae, juniper, pine or cedar will become so ragged and ill-shaped that it destroys the beauty of the planting. These trees are not generally pruned severely, but in cases like this a drastic treatment is the only recourse. If you decide to prune, don't stop half-way; cut the top one-third out and prune the side growth at least half-way back.

CUT POPPIES: Cut freshly opened poppies very early in the morning and sear the ends immediately with flame or boiling water. Treat an inch or two of the base of the stems and char them thoroughly. Then put them in fresh water and they will last for several days without wilting. Do not cut the stems after the first searing. The large Oriental poppies may be cut the same way.

Adventures in My Garden and Rock Garden

Louise Beebe Wilder, 1923

I find the notion that Primroses will not thrive in this country rather widespread, particularly among professional gardeners. Undoubtedly it is true that our hot, dry summers are trying for them, especially where no special provision is made for their comfort in sun-baked gardens. But where there is some shade, the soil may easily be made to suit them, and moisture supplied where necessary; and in many gardens are felicitous situations where these flowers would grow as luxuriantly as we would have them, even seeding themselves, which is the true sign of a plant's having made itself at home.

Mrs. Wilder goes on to say that she has over a thousand primrose plants, many grown from seed, in her garden. She includes the following in the family of Primula: English Primrose, cowslips, oxlips, auriculas, and forms from alpine and blog conditions. She mentions a new "blue" primrose which she doesn't care for and she wishes for a green variety that was available many years before. Below are conditions she gave her plants to thrive:

-a little leaf soil or rotted manure scratched in among their growths now and again.

-watered in dry weather with weak manure water

-their leaves kept clean and free from grit

-they require a deep, rich soil, stiff in quality and fairly moist

-shelter from cutting winds and shade for part of the day

Primroses "are for sheltered, shadowy corners, lightly wooded places, where they may have as companions Hepaticas, Violets, Bloodroot, Dutchman's-breetches, small ferns and emerald mosses."

I love Mrs. Wilder's writing and will share more from her books later in the spring.

On OFL I have an article on Forget-Me-Nots, another charming spring flower:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/forget-me-nots.html

~Brenda

Spring and Wildflowers

I love reading out of print wildflower or garden books, especially when they are from the 1800's or early 1900's. I love the descriptive writing style and the peek they give us into the gardens and woods of their time. Today I am reading How To Know The Wild Flowers by Mrs. William Starr Dana. The edition I have was updated and published in 1900.

I looked up Trout Lilies, which are also known as Yellow Adder's Tongue, Dog's Tooth Violets. Each spring they are the first wildflower on our property to bloom.

The writer is unhappy with the two English names "there is little reason for calling a lily a violet", and she feels it in no way resembles an adder's tongue. However, she writes that the name trout-lily is not without charm, but prefers the name "fawn lily". She describes the flower as such:

We direct our steps toward one of those hollows in the wood which is watered by such a clear gurgling brook as must appeal to every country-loving heart; and there where the pale April sunlight filters through the leafless branches, nod myriads of these lilies, each one guarded by a pair of mottled, erect, sentinel-like leaves.

I often read this book for inspiration before or after I take a walk on our property. I always remember to keep an eye out for wild treasures that I might otherwise miss if I was in a rushed frame of mind.

I ran across another book I was given by family who know I love out of print homemaking and gardening books. It's a book of advice columns that were published in the Detroit News during the 1930's called Acres of Friends. This was before the days of Ann Landers where a long answer was at the most a couple of paragraphs. Readers "questions" went on for pages, and the answers much the same. The writing is very dramatic and often over the top, but there are some neat tidbits. One of which is this poem about spring; Bouquet from April, 1935:

Daffodils with green leaves for handles;

High tea at noon.

Violets, tiny, satin-breeched heralds of Spring,

Flushed with the lovely purple tints

Of cool and lingering twilight.

Acacia, Soft, yellow pom-poms, for the caps

Of dancing, fairy clowns

In shimmering moonglow.

~Muvver Lou

As you walk outside this week, think of the spring flowers as poetry and allow some whimsical words and thoughts as you stroll. It's nice to take yourself out of an often black and white world to dream a little.

On OFL I wrote a nice article on growing rhubarb, another spring favorite: http://oldfashionedliving.com/rhubarb.html

~Brenda

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Blooms

Bulbs, Tubers, Rhyzomes & Corms, Oh My.

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~W. Earl Hall

Many of us are still patiently waiting for our fall planted bulbs to bloom. While we wait, it's time to plan spring planting of summer blooming flowers. Many of these flowers are not hardy, which means they don't survive the cold winters under normal circumstances. It's also time to determine whether you want to divide or add to your supply of hardy bulbs, corms, tubers or rhizomes this year. What is the difference between bulbs and these other plant types?

Why aren't they all just called bulbs? A "bulb" is what a tulip or daffodil grows from. It's the rounded thing (for lack of a better word) that stores the flower which will eventually bloom. The pointy part is what the stem grows out of, and the flat bottom is where the roots will form. This is a simple definition for the others:

A corm is what a gladiola grows from each season. It looks like a bulb but has an indentation at the top, and a flattened part with roots at the bottom like a bulb.

A tuber is thinner and looks kind of like a carrot in some ways. The roots are at the bottom again, and the stem grows out of the top. If you've pulled up Queen Anne's lace it looks like this as do daylilies, both wild and cultivated.

A rhizome is what we plant to obtain the Iris. It's an ugly, long, thick root that lays sideways with one end bending upwards, which is where the stem appears. Rhizomes should always be planted fairly close the surface, unlike bulbs or corms which need to be planted fairly deep.

You don't really need to know these definitions to grow these type of flowers, but it helps to know the terms if you are reading articles or books on landscaping or planting instructions. Below are some of the most common type of summer blooming flowers that grow from bulbs, tubers, rhizomes or corms.

TENDER:
Caladiums
Cannas
Dahlias
Gladiola
Tuberous Begonias
Elephant's ear (Colocasia esculenta)

HARDY:
Lilies (Lilium spp.)
Rhizomatous Iris
Daylilies(Hemerocallis)
Lily of the-valley (Convallaria)
Blazing Star (Liatris)

You'll notice that most stores have large displays of these out for purchase already. I have planted and divided daylilies as early as April in my Zone 5 landscape, but most of the others should be planted AFTER the last frost in your area. Even if you can work the soil, the tender varieties should be planted after the frosts have finished. It's hard to be patient, but it is important to do so.

Next Monday I'll post more on planting and selecting the summer blooming flowers I've mentioned today.

On OFL we have an article on growing gladiolas.

~Brenda