Spinach Gratin, topped with Parmesan; winter gardening?

I could barely get all the spinach in my dish; I had to press it down. Heating the stock helped wilt it so that it wasn’t higher than the sides of the baking dish.

You can uncover it for the last 5 minutes if you want, to add a bit more color to the cheese.

This makes 4 servings, rather than my usual 2….. Although we two spinach lovers ate almost all of it.

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Every year I look at my garden in the fall and feel guilty that I’m letting it go.

I usually stop hoeing around the middle of August…. That’s when the summer and winter squashes are sprawling so much I can barely walk and everything is growing like crazy. There’s no room to hoe.

Then, in the middle of Sept, they all start to die back, exposing all of the weeds that have grown in the last 4 weeks.

The weeds make me feel guilty

At the moment I have lots and lots of chard, lots of green tomatoes and 2 summer squashes that are still producing – the other two are on the compost pile.

That’s one half of the potager; the other half is covered with the winter squashes – acorn, butternut, and mystery.

What makes me feel seriously guilty is that I don’t have any plans for planting winter vegetables.

I should be planting Brussels sprouts and broad beans and kale or other cool weather vegetables for winter.

I actually did one year, and it was kind of fun to put on my winter coat, go out to the garden and pick Brussels sprouts for dinner.

Okay, not that much fun…..

The thought of having to hoe and weed and tend the potager all winter long is more than I can handle.

I love it when it starts getting warm in the spring and I can get out and start my garden.

I love it when it starts getting cool in the fall and I can stop.

I’m learning to appreciate all of the seasons for what they offer.

And winter offers less work.