I didn’t waste anytime getting restarted. Under the new system designed to space out visits, I booked an “indoor seeding” slot on opening day, Feb. 8, and started planting–spinace, lettuce, arugula, kale, chard, and, of course, microgreens.

Less than two weeks later, I have just harvested my first crop:  sprouting daikon radish, red acre cabbage, and garnet red amaranth microgreens.

As for my long-frozen, overwintering backyard garden, after being buried for about a month now, the snow has started to recede, and amazingly, there are signs of life underneath. I had pretty much written the overwinter garden off as a total loss. It has been locked in an dark icy cave for weeks, the thin row cover sagging nearly to the ground under the weight but miraculously holding off a succession of icy, eight-, six- and four–inch snowfalls.

Now the snow cap is receding and I can see that  mustard greens seem to be snapping back, some mizuna, maybe some lettuce, and more. In perhaps several weeks, on a warm early spring day I’ll pull the cover off and we’ll see.

Overwintering garden in early February

A thaw, and signs of life, on February 26

Don’t bury the seeds, as I did in my first plantings (see sprouting daikon radishes, above), not even under a skim of growing medium. Instead spread the seeds on top and cover the tray or pot with something that blocks out the light for a few days until they sprout. When the seeds are buried, the roots latch onto clumps of growing medium that are a pain to clean. I’ll do it the right way with my next batch.

It’ll be great to have as many as I can eat for the next three months. I served my first harvest with roasted beets, gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.

After a couple of years on a waiting list, this winter I got into one of Philadelphia’s hidden gems: the greenhouse in the Horticultural Center in West Fairmount Park,  run by the city’s department of parks and recreation. Part of the building is open to the general public. Another part of the facility is a working, commercial-grade greenhouse, half of which is used by parks & rec employees to grow seedlings for gardens in public parks and community recreation centers all over town. The other half of the greenhouse is occupied by a community propagation program. Community gardens, nonprofits, for-profit growers, and individual Philadelphians like me can rent an 8’x3′ table for $50 for the propagation season, which runs from the February through May. So, as I said, after waiting for a couple of years, I’m in, and have wasted no time getting my crops going.

It’s the third week of February, and I’m largely alone so far. Do my greenhouse neighbors know something that I don’t about the folly of getting such an early start? We’ll see.

By the third week of February, few of the other growers in the propagation program have gotten started, but I have eight or 10 different crops underway already including rutabaga, rapini,  kale, chard, cilantro, arugula, sprouting daikon radish, three or four varieties of lettuce and lots of spinach.

I’m planning to put the spinach out in my garden, under a floating row cover, in early March, followed by the lettuce a week or two later. We’ll see how that goes.

One of the propagation program tables near mine

Another table near mine with a myriad of herbs

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Department greenhouse

The Parks Department, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, is now offering another service to Philly urban farmers: space in a greenhouse in Fairmount Park where you can start your own seedlings. A 3-foot by 8-foot table in the greenhouse costs $50 per season, spring or fall—water and potting mix included. You’ll need to sign up for an orientation session, and kick in five hours of volunteer work to help maintain the greenhouse. For serious gardeners, that seems like a good deal, and fun, to boot. Here’ s a Philadelphia Parks & Recreation memo with the details.

UPDATE: Read about my adventures in the greenhouse here and here.