Frosted Wild Veggies

We've had several hard freezes in a row, and tied a record low at 20° this Easter morning. Some wild plants were knocked down by the cold, while others did just fine.


Frosted Plantain, Dandelion and Clover

Two days before the temperature drop, a poke shoot came up next to the house where it was protected from the westerly winds. Here are some before and after pictures of the effect of freezing on the poke shoots.


Tender Young Poke Shoot


The Same Poke Shoot after Freezing Temperatures for Five Nights

The chickweed didn't handle the cold very courageously. Great masses of it lay down in surrender the first cold night. The strategy seemed to protect them from further damage by getting them down next to the ground heat. Some of them which were growing up against my garden bed didn't lie down because of the protection they were already getting from being next to the wood and earth.


Frost Effect on Chickweed, The Ones against the Board were Not Laid Over

The Daylily shoots were frozen badly, and the tops fell over to protect the heart of the shoot. I'm hoping to see new growth come from these old shoots, because right now it looks like someone dumped an entire bushel basket of wilted produce by the driveway.


Decimated Daylilies


Freeze Damage on Nettles

Most of the nettles were barely damaged by freezing,. Today I gratefully harvested some undamaged nettle tops (about the top three leaf joints) and cut off the leaves and very tops of the shoots (and threw away the stems). I cut the leaves up with scissors, and added snipped wild onion tops.

These were sautéed in butter (with a few drops of olive oil to prevent scorching) for a few minutes, and I added some salt and a sprinkle of granulated garlic. The nettles and onions were then steamed by adding a few tablespoons of water to the skillet and covering it. A couple more minutes, and they were ready to serve.

I'm happy to report that the nettles still taste really great, and this turned out to be a good recipe. I'll try harvesting quite a few of the nettle tops this way. It will be interesting to see if two new tender shoots sprout from each cut stem for another harvest.

Don't forget that nettles will sting you, so wear gloves to harvest and handle them.

Nettles, Eggs and Chicken Legs

Nettles and scrambled eggs go great together. I think it's even better than spinach, because the nettles don't impose their flavor on the eggs. The two tastes are more complementary.


A Mess of Greens

There really weren't enough nettles to make a decent stir-fry last night so this morning I picked some nettles and daylily shoots with a few little tender tops of chickweed. I also picked four or five young dandelion leaves and a few sage leaves from my garden.

I sliced the dandelion and sage leaves fine because they're both pretty strong flavored. The other greens got sliced into 5/8" long pieces (the chickweed was so small it didn't need to be sliced).

The greens were sautéed in olive oil for a few minutes then I added the eggs. Since there were only three eggs (whoops), I added the meat of half a chicken leg and melted in a slice of cream cheese. Seasoned with salt, garlic and dill, it was perfect for Saturday morning brunch with toast and potatoes.

I did get a nettle sting. I only had a glove on my left hand, and was using the scissors with my unprotected right. Inevitably, I slid my knuckles across some small unnoticed nettle plants. I rubbed on a dock leaf, but it took about 15 minutes for the irritation to go away.

Hey I just noticed what day it is. For me, planting potatoes on St. Patrick's Day is a family tradition. Around this time we also planted cabbage and broccoli plants, as well as sowing lettuce and radish seeds.

We won't be planting an early garden this year because we're moving our raised beds. Guess I'll just have to enjoy the wild greens.