Spinach in the snow

Bill Stoneman, who grows a variety of vegetables and a few fruits in his Albany, N.Y., backyard, chronicles, shares ideas about and appreciates growing food where it seems least likely, in cities and in the cold parts of the country. Growers must make the most of their opportunities in these places, where winter seems to blow in just after July 4 and then hang around nearly to, well, July 4. Spinach in the snow is one of the neatest opportunities of them all. A hardy plant, it’ll survive an Upstate New York winter, at least with a cold frame’s modest protection, and start growing by late February. Ruminations posted here are inspired, in part, by tasty spinach salads that have been served as early as mid-March.