A little more diversity in the harvest. I pulled a couple of the kohlrabies and after chilling them, I peeled and sliced them for a lunch with hummus. I added some sliced radishes to pad out the meal. My wife actually liked everything. Both the kohlrabi and radishes were sweet and juicy and the hummus tamed any spice in the radishes.
A bunch of radishes picked last week, but not all. I found half as many still in the harvest bag. The lone whitish radish is Zlata, one of the two I will harvest this year. I didn't purchase new seeds and found just a few seeds left in the packet, of which two germinated. Oh well, more room for Champion red radishes.
I got a large cutting of spinach. Several of the plants look like they are ready to bolt but the rest are still putting out new leaves. I am happy with anything I get. We had a spinach salad with strawberries and balsamic vinaigrette Friday, and I finally had enough left to just have steamed spinach with the steak tips I grilled on Saturday. Strawberry shortcake for dessert.
The garlic is finally starting to produce scapes. This cutting is mostly from the German Extra Hardy. Next will be the Chesnok Red and German Red. The tiny scapes are from some of the volunteer clusters of garlic around the garden produced when gardeners failed to harvest scapes and dead head the flowers. I consider it my civic duty to prevent further profligate behavior by their garlic.
Around the garden, the Flash collards are starting to put on some growth and I may have a harvest soon.
The Golden Acre cabbage is still looking good and has not yet been assaulted by flea beetles, cabbage caterpillars or slugs. Still looks like it is not quite ready to form heads but is thinking about it. Saturday I did see a white butterfly floating around the garden so I need to keep an eye out for caterpillars. We had a few butterflies in the spring but none since until the new one showed up. Maybe they won't be so bad this year.
The Minuet Napa cabbage is definitely starting to form heads all by itself. With the Soloist cabbages, I had to use twine to tie up the heads so they would blanch, but Minuet is doing it on its own. It has interesting ruffled leaves.
This is Webb's Wonderful crisphead, looking like it is getting ready to be harvested. I have never grown a crisphead so I have no experience with when they are ready and when they are bolting. I probably will cut a head next week to see what I have.
The Winter Density Romaine lettuces are are also forming nice sized heads. The escarole behind them are also getting quite large and should be ready to harvest soon.
That is what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners from around the world are harvesting, visit Dave at Our Happy Acres, our host for Harvest Monday.
Lovely harvests Dave. Your radishes look especially perfect. Ours taste great but don't look too closely at them--root maggots found them despite covering. I've never blanched Soloist, we just take them as they are (mine were just started, for a July transplant). As for the white butterflies, I'm surprised that I haven't noticed any yet this year. But I'm spraying with BT anyway just to be safe.
ReplyDeleteKnock on wood, no root maggots yet, but the radishes are almost done anyway. Just the turnips, if any actually germinate. I spray spinosad for caterpillars because it also works on flea beetles.
DeleteYour kohlrabi, spinach, and radishes look so good. And I love the idea of free range garlic scapes. Your lettuces are amazing looking. I do wish we had more of a spring and could grow things like that.
ReplyDeleteThe weather is getting hotter and drier, so no more spring weather.
DeleteWe don't get Collards here in the UK. The nearest we have is called "Spring Greens", which is just a type of loose-leaf Cabbage (nice, all the same!). We have had very few butterflies of any sort so far. I don't miss the white ones, but a few of the others would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we have had too hot of a spring (with temps up to 100F) for the spring garden to be anything but disappointing. I'm hoping maybe for a decent fall harvest for my cool weather crops, but otherwise I've all but given up on them. Lovely harvests from your space, as always.
ReplyDeleteThose are lovely collards. It's been a while since I grew them, I've been growing mostly kale instead. I can't get enough garlic scapes so I think you did an honorable thing to harvest the volunteers!
ReplyDeleteLooks like both you and I are in the kohlrabi now :) Great tip for serving the radishes with hummus - hadn't thought of doing that before.
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, I haven't seen many white butterflies lurking around either. Not that I'm taking any chances after last years fiasco where I didn't cover the beds for a week or so after transplanting and ended up battling caterpillars for the rest of the summer. This time round, I netted them the minute I transplanted the seedlings.
I didn't realize that Chinese cabbage would benefit from being tied up; I had assumed they would simply form heads on their own. Mine are quite small still - at what stage do you normally tie them up & how do you do that?
I guess it depends on the variety and the conditions. Last year my Soloist cabbages were lying sprawled out on the ground. Tying them up helped form a head and blanch the interior. This year Minuet, a different variety, is forming heads on its own.
DeleteEverything is looking pretty great around your garden, especially that kohlrabi! I'm growing collards for the first time and realize, after seeing your mention above, that I'm not sure when to harvest. They don't form any head so I assume it is just a matter of sizing up?
ReplyDeleteCollards don't form a head, you just cut the leaves like kale. The stems are woody so just tear the leaves off the stems and wash in a lot of water to get sand off. We cook them by throwing the wet leaves in a pot with hot bacon fat, add a little more water, cover and steam for maybe a half hour. Serve sprinkled with pepper vinegar.
DeleteSounds delicious, definitely will try that one.
DeleteKohlrabi and hummus, what a great idea. I always struggled to figure out a way to serve kohlrabi that I would enjoy, unsuccessfully, so I haven't grown it in quite a while. We love carrots and hummus, so I imagine kohlrabi and hummus might be similar.
ReplyDeleteYour greens sure are zipping along and looking good! They were quick in my garden also and I've already cleared almost all of them out already.
We peel and slice them. They are juicy and crunchy and make a nice spoon for the hummus. At least until the snap and snow peas are ready.
DeleteI agree that kohlrabi and hummus sounds like a great combination. I discovered two cabbage moths inside my row cover this morning! Grrr! Perhaps they've all come to SC this year and you're crops will be safe.
ReplyDeleteDrooling over those perfect radishes. Last year I tied some of my napa cabbage and they became hiding places for all kinds of bugs.
ReplyDelete