Harvest Monday 13 Jun 2016

I finally got around to weeding the raised beds. As a nice surprise, in the radish bed I found some radishes that were ready to be pulled. These are D'Avignon (French breakfast type) and Celesta cherry. A lot of the radish seeds did not germinate during our dry spring so I re-seeded the blank spots. If you look at the leaves, you can see extensive flea beetle damage, but it did not affect the roots.



The spinach and chard are now growing rapidly. I made another cutting and disposed of the leaves with leaf miner damage, which is not too bad at this point.



The mustards are now growing quickly, outgrowing the flea beetles. Left is Green Wave and right is Komatsuna. These went into a typical Southern braise with bacon fat, served with stuffed pork chops.

We had several days of rain and cooler weather and happily the garden responded with accelerated growth. Here's a tour of the brassicas and lettuces, all of whom appreciated the change in weather.



This is Blue Wind broccoli, an early broccoli, looking pretty good. On my tour of the brassica bed, so far there is no caterpillar damage and minor flea beetle effects.



The Atlantis brokali is far more vigorous than Blue Wind and I hope to see some shoots soon. So far I am very impressed with this one and thinking of replanting it for the fall.



The Spigariello liscia that Michelle grows is sizing up and the leaves are starting to narrow and curl. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops and how it tastes.



Nero di Toscano is healthy but smaller now than the other kales. It tends to make its move later in the summer, which makes it good for late summer/fall harvests.



Nash's Green, new this year, is a light green Siberian-type kale that seems slower growing than the others. I hope it establishes itself and starts growing soon. It is supposed to be very cold hardy and capable of overwintering if the winters are not too severe, like last winter.



Red Ursa, a Frank Morton cross of Red Russian and Siberian kale, is another new kale this year. So far it is looking great and I may be able to do some cuttings soon.



The Minuet Napa cabbages had a burst of growth after the rain and are starting to form heads. So far flea beetle damage is limited to thr\e older leaves now that I am spraying.



Golden Acre cabbage is also looking good and just starting to form a head. Its leaves do extend a bit beyond the promised one square foot, but it is not a problem so far.





















The Natcha escarole is enjoying its space (I planted 3 per 2 squares rather than the usual 4 per 2 squares). I will have usable heads in a few weeks and should probably start some more to replant.



For Mark to enjoy, this is Dubuisson endive. It is a little slower than Natacha but is close to needing the heads tied up to blanch the centers. Some people hate endive but I love it. My parents always  grew it and we had it tossed in a hot bacon dressing with crumbled bacon bits. The bacon fat and vinegar tend to attenuate the bitterness. You can always add some blue cheese or Gorgonzola crumbs for added zip.



Last time I reported that Azur Star was sizing up nicely. Now Winner is joining the parade. Very little flea beetle damage on the kohlrabi which is something to cheer about.



The Webb's Wonderful crisphead lettuce is sizing up nicely and forming heads. Anything could happen but I am looking forward to having my first head lettuce in the salad bowl. Time to plant some more, I am impressed how fast these grow.

That's what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting, visit Dave at Our Happy Acres, our host for Harvest Monday.