Surprise Salvage Spinach

I was originally going to post more greenhouse pictures today, but then a magical thing happened. At work yesterday I was transplanting spinach seedlings. I had been instructed to discard the puny seedlings that don't yet have their first true leaves. These runts can't compete with the larger specimens for light and other resources, so they would not survive in a flat with the normal-sized plants.

Instead of tossing the dwarf greens, though, I pocketed them. They were going to go to waste otherwise, and they might just stand a chance now.

"Those don't look like spinach," you might be thinking. I was surprised the first time I saw those infantile leaves too. Spinach's cotyledons (fancy word for seed leaves) look the least like their true leaves of any species I have ever seen. The plants look like grass at first, but they end up tasting oh so much nicer.

This is the biggest of the bunch. You can kind of see what will become its first spinach-y leaves in the corner of the V shape.

I'm keeping my sprouting spinach seedlings in custard cups and a miniature jam jar until I find a suitable container with drainage. (Flea market time! In the background of this picture, you can see the basket I bought at a flea market to contain some of the plants I ordered seeds for.)

I'm also not going to keep all of these. Spinach is great in salads, omelettes, quiches, on sandwiches or wraps, on pizza and calzones, and...well, I could go on. But I don't need four plants' worth, so at least two of these babies are going to my madre for her enjoyment.

In other news, my zucchini's next few leaves are starting to take shape! I keep thinking that maybe there's hope for this early bloomer after all.

And finally: my wheatgrass got a haircut! It doesn't look like it's going into the Marines or anything, but it's a little tamer.

That's about it for today. Have you ever adopted a plant? Do you think there's hope of produce for early-planted zucchinis?

Next post: more greenhouse delights.