Had a lovely morning in the garden today. Some sun, and warm enough that I had to take my coat off. Today was the first seed planting day of the year. I cleared last year's brassica bed - so much lacinato kale and mustard to eat and freeze this week! The kale was just bolting and the tops are like little broccolini. I did an experiment and chopped non-woody but not newly-bolted kale stems into 8-12 inch sections and buried them straight up and barely sticking out in this year's brassica bed. We'll see if they root and give me nice strong plants with deep roots. Last year's brassica bed is this year's legume bed. I planted heilong jiang snow peas, purple mist peas (snow and mid-season shelling pea, but I typically use it is as a shelling pea only), and Barton's broad beans. I planted the peas at the base of the obelisks and they'll need a little string added to help them climb. And I'll have to put some stakes and string in for the broad beans. But that's a chore for another day. I also have some sweet peas that I tucked around the clematis and roses. The seeds a bit old, so we'll see how they do. This winter has been so mild that my strawberries - the albion and allstar - haven't stopped making berries. They don't ripen of course, but it's pretty disconcerting. There hasn't been a month that my alpine strawberries didn't have tasty berries on them. We could still get a cold blast in the next couple weeks, but it really feels like the year without a winter. #gardening

To use up the kale, I'll make this kale and brussels sprouts salad https://rainbowplantlife.com/kale-and-brussels-sprouts-winter-salad/ with the mustard greens added and a real cesar dressing a kale and sausage soup that'll freeze well and then I'll blanch and freeze the rest in portions for future soups and smoothies.