We have had some absolutely gorgeous weather in the last few days, enough to really feel spring in the air! My dad and I finally got out to the community garden yesterday afternoon to check on the few plants we decided to try overwintering, and here are the (rather surprising, to me at least) results:

Our garlic and shallot bulbs have started to sprout, both the autumn-planted sets in the community garden and the softneck cloves I planted last summer.

Most of the leeks survived. Some of the smaller plants, mostly in our backyard garden plots, have cold-burned leaves, but I’m thrilled that they still look so big and strong. There will be lots of leeks to eat this spring!

These are turnips that we planted on Labor Day last year. It will be interesting to see whether the roots are intact and edible!

Out of our row of Brussels sprouts, this was the only plant large enough to weather the cold. The sprouts on it are a bit on the small side yet, but they look very healthy!

I could hardly believe my eyes when I realized that some of the spinach we planted on Labor Day made it through the winter. Apparently mulching over everything with lots of leaves really does insulate the beds!

On to the herb garden in our backyard: This is an anise plant, which I didn’t realize would come back. Maybe it reseeded itself?

Curly parsley—not my preference, but it is apparently hardier than the flat-leaf Italian variety.

Oregano, another herb that I half-expected to freeze over the winter. Our two thyme plants, sage, lavender, and garlic chives all survived, as well as…

French tarragon, believe it or not. That stuff is apparently hard to kill and grows like a weed. Too bad I don’t much care for its flavor.

And finally, chives in a planter box that I grew from seed last year, harvested carefully from chive flowers in my community garden in Salem. We haven’t even done a thing yet, and the gardening season is already off to a great start! 🙂