First toadflax bloom

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878~

It has been unnaturally colder than normal the last week, with the lows in the mid 30s, F, a lovely visit from the jet stream which normally doesn't traverse our way. I am not used to cold like this. Amazingly, I still have green plants in my garden, and these include fava beans, peas, chard, parsley, potato plants and cilantro.

Not surprisingly, weeds continue to do well despite our cold spell, and right now, the toadflax is just coming up. I keep toadflax around for the dainty Easter egg colored flowers. Family Plantaginaceace, species Linaria. They were originally in the Scrophulariaceae family, which was my first guess. I don't think they do well as a cut flower because they only seem to last a day in the vase, after which the tiny flowers fall off and form a mess both on the table and in the water. Still, I occassionally bring them home for the table, if only for a day.

Chard grows well in our cooler months

To each its own season. The mainstay of my winter garden is chard, and it thrives in the cooler months. Not only that, in the winter, I don't worry about them bolting, a bad habit, which they will do in the summer. This plant was grown from seed on my balcony in late summer and transplanted.

Chard is underrated as a veggie. Lately, I chop chard leaves into little bits and throw them into warm soup at the last few minutes of cooking. In the summer, I saute minced garlic in extra virgin olive oil for a few moments until fragrant and then add chopped chard leaves until they wilt.

My lonely chard seedling

Since I think I have zillions of slugs lying in wait for any tender seedling emerging from the soil, I tend to start my seeds at home. I use recycled yogurt cups filled with sterile potting soil, holes punched in the bottom for drainage. After germination, I take the seedlings outside to harden. I like to enrich the soil with compost and fertilizer before transplanting. Chard seems hungry for fertilizer so I make sure to use plenty. In the background, you can see how linarias (toadflax) fills in the blank spaces of my garden. Family: Chenopodiaceae, Beta vulgaris var. cicla