Harvest Monday 20 June 2016

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.

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.

Harvest Monday 6 June 2016

I have been out of touch for the past week while we drove to St. Louis to attend my niece's wedding, which was inconveniently scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. That is prime planting season around here and I had to leave my tomato and pepper plants in the care of my son, who did an excellent job keeping the thirsty plants hydrated. Unfortunately the plants grew so tall that half had their growing tips singed off by the heat of the grow lamps. There are suckers showing on most so I am counting on them recovering.

On my first trip to the garden in a week, the garden looked fine but definitely needed some weeding and watering. I found the spinach and chard ready to harvest, my first harvest this year. The spade shaped, lighter green leaves are Tyee, while the darker green, round leaves are Escalade spinach. The container lettuces on the deck are ready and are harvested as needed, so I did not photograph them.




















The garlic is still looking good and I can see a few scapes starting to form on the larger ones, so it will be scape season soon.



The onions are definitely doing well. I planted them late, several weeks after I received them, as they were beginning to break dormancy. The result seems to be a better start than last year, when they were planted earlier while still dormant. This year the onion plants from Dixondale were uniformly larger than last year's plants and I am quite pleased with the purchase. A lot simpler than starting from seed.



The Takrima leeks that I did I grow from seed look established and are starting to grow. The shallots did not do well at all and seem to have disappeared. No shallots this year.



The cabbages are doing well despite the flea beetles. At the top is Golden Acre, a traditional, open-pollinated cabbage that can be grown in one square foot of space. At the bottom are the Minuet Napa cabbages, showing more flea beetle damage because they do not have the waxy leaf surface that tends to discourage the beetles.



The kohlrabi were only slightly affected by flea beetles and are starting to size up. This is Azur Star.



This bed contains some of the greens. The rightmost column is Webb's Wonderful crisphead, and I am pleased with how they look. Maybe I will harvest my first head lettuce this year. Next is a column of Winter Density Romaine. The leftmost column has escarole at the bottom and endives at the top.

I spent Saturday in the garden and got some weeding done. I put in the Ashley cucumber plants and half of the tomatoes and peppers. I also seeded the bush and pole beans. So the raised bed garden is essentially complete for now. Next I have to start prepping the other plot I garden to receive the rest of the peppers and tomatoes and seed the summer squash. That plot already has the kale and broccoli plants and they did fine in my absence. Just minor flea beetle damage and so far no cabbage caterpillars.

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

Harvest Monday 8 Jun 2015

 

The first kale was harvested, some dinosaur kale. It went into a Genius Kale salad, a recipe from Food52 (thanks to Susan from Edible Gardens Point Loma for the pointer).  Thinly sliced kale was tossed with diced cheddar, chopped almonds, diced mango and a lemon olive oil vinaigrette. We had it with steamed PEI mussels from our CSF share and a baguette turned into garlic toast. The wife loved it and I got her to eat kale (and mussels)!

 

 

More spinach was picked. The plants are not yet showing signs of bolting but I guess I have the clock ticking as we march toward the solstice. This was put in a spinach and strawberry salad with some more diced cheddar (Cabot’s Alpine artisanal cheddar, my favorite), toasted slivered almonds and tossed with a honey balsamic vinaigrette.

 

 

Plenty of chard is now being picked after I removed and destroyed the leaves with the leaf miners. This was chopped and sautéed in butter with one of my Saffron shallots from the basement. The shallots are still rock hard with tight skins. Too bad Saffron was discontinued, it is a great shallot.

 

 

I picked the last of the Zlata radishes, and some more of the red Dragon radishes. Was Dragon named for its color or for the weird tentacles it seems to grow? They were very tasty, sweet and juicy with just a little heat. I also pulled a few of the Hakurei white turnips. The Hakurei are not looking great this year, maybe too hot and dry for them.

 

 

Finally on Sunday. I cut the first of the Tronchuda Beira, the Portuguese kale. I am growing this in place of standard American collard greens. It looks a lot like collards but is hopefully more adaptable. I am planning to try a batch of Caldo Verde soup this week. From reading recipes, the Portuguese kale soup I make from the Victory Garden Cookbook (with red beans and tomatoes) is likely to be Azorean in origin. A lot of our Portuguese neighbors here in New England actually came from the islands. Azorean food is more rustic, they say. I will be giving give Caldo Verde a try, but I don’t guarantee I won’t go back to the peasant soup we love.

 

That is the harvest from my garden last week. To see what other gardeners world-wide are doing, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, out host for Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday 1 Jun 2015

The last week of May and I finally have something to show. Above are Zlata and Red Dragon radishes. The leaves had some flea beetle damage but those nasties were controlled pretty well with some Spinosad sprays, so I am getting a good radish harvest. And no maggot damage!

I finally made a cutting of Tyee spinach. The plants look good and there was no sign of bolting. I know it is all about day length, but maybe the cooler weather and rain we are getting will prolong the harvest. I didn’t have a chance to cut some chard, but that is ready to start clipping soon. The leaf miners got under the cover so I need to start removing and destroying the affected foliage before I lose it all.

The kohlrabies are starting to size up, and this may be my best harvest of them yet. Above is Azur Star and below is Winner. Just ignore the weeds, they are on the list but I have higher priority tasks right now.

Saturday was a work day in the community garden so I did not have time to do anything to my own garden except water the bean seedlings, which are starting to come up. Sunday I did get to the garden despite the threats of rain. The plan was to plant the tomatoes in the in-ground plot. When I arrived, of course it started sprinkling. I almost left but decided to sit in the car awhile and it stopped within a few minutes. So I went ahead and planted 14 tomatoes in tropical steaminess, with occasional sprinkles, muddy hands and huge mosquitoes buzzing my head so I dare not swat. A hot shower never felt so good.

I did prevail and half my tomatoes are planted. Hopefully this rain is enough to wet the raised beds where the rest of the tomatoes go. The raised beds were dry all the way to the bottom and water just beaded up on top. What I really need is a slow, soaking rain and it looks like we will get it. Once the rain stops, next step is to get the rest of the tomatoes and some of the peppers planted, so we can get on with the gardening season.

That is what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

Garden Progress 3 Jun 2013

It was a wild week with cool weather to begin, rain on Wednesday, then four days of 90F+sun and heat. I decided to plant my tomatoes on Tuesday, figuring a cool, rainy day on Wednesday would help them settle in before the heat. They were  hardened by being out in the sun for days prior to planting and  I watered them everyday during the heat wave, so they are doing fine. Three of the tomatoes are grafted onto a special rootstock. I have also planted ungrafted versions of the Big Beef and Juliet tomatoes for comparison.

 

On the left above is the grafted Big Beef, with the ungrafted transplant I bought from Applefield Farm on the right. The ungrafted plant is stocky and very healthy, the type of plant I look for when purchasing a transplant. The grafted tomato has improved greatly since it was potted after removing it from the shipping carton. Right now I would bet on the ungrafted plant, but we still have the whole growing season ahead.

 

Again on the left above is the grafted Juliet tomato, with the ungrafted tomato on the right. The grafted plants are tied to a bamboo stake to give some support to the joint of the graft so it is not excessively stressed by all the wind we are getting.

Above is a grafted Cherokee Purple. I am hoping the vigor and disease resistance of the rootstock will give me a healthier plant and more fruit than I usually get from this heirloom. I have planted Cherokee Purple for years now because of its great taste.

On Sunday, which did not reach the extreme heat of the three prior days, I decided to set out the peppers, with rain and moderate weather forecast for the following week. I planted 22 pepper plants, seen below:

 

On the left of the box are four Aconcagua peppers, an heirloom cubanelle-type from Argentina. I tried growing them last year and failed, so here goes again. Next are two Tiburon Ancho and two Jalapeno. On the right side are four Jimmy Nardello. The row of onions in the back is Copra, with tomatoes behind them.

 

This box has three Padron and a mystery pepper on the left. I started the peppers in 3/4 inch soil blocks which tend to move around in the tray. I’m hoping the mystery pepper is my missing Padron. To their right in the front square is Red Cherry. The plan was for four of these but I had poor germination. Behind it is an heirloom pepper from Baltimore called Fish that I bought from Jem Mix, which should be fun to try. To their right are four Lipstick peppers. The onions behind the peppers are Red Bull and those are tomatoes along the back row and wrapped around to the right.

 

The fava beans are getting tall and I placed unfolded wire tomato cages along the sides of the box to keep them from flopping. Even more exciting is they are now flowering and they are pretty heavily loaded with buds. The flowers are white with black spots, which is quite unusual but attractive. So far no aphids, just a spittle bug or two, but I keep watching and waiting for their appearance.

 

 

 

On the harvest front, I cut a lot of salad greens before the hot weather. Below is some nine ounces of spinach I clipped. The spinach survived the heat and now we have a week of cool weather so I am hoping I will get more. I also clipped a large bag of lettuces I didn’t photograph, including my first head of escarole. I thinned out the Buttercrunch lettuce by removing a couple of heads to give it more room. I also noted the need to re-apply the Sluggo, since the slugs have really enjoyed hiding out in the cool of the lettuce bed. The lettuce will have to washed carefully.

 

 

 

 

To see what other gardeners around the world are doing in their gardens, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday

Harvest Monday 27 May 2013

The weather has been cold  and foul and the tomatoes and peppers are patiently waiting indoors for their opportunity, but what is already in the garden (the cold weather crops) are absolutely loving this weather. The lettuces, escarole, endive, choi, chard, kale, collards and spinach are enjoying the moist, cool weather and are growing rapidly.

 

I was worried about the spinach bolting, but it has instead exploded with growth after the rain. Above are three of the five squares planted to spinach. These are in a bed destined to house a summer squash (the uncovered square above), but that won’t happen until June. Meanwhile I hope to get a few more cuttings from the spinach.

 

 

This is the first cutting of spinach, 9 ounces. Most of this went into creamed spinach to go with the steaks we had on Saturday night. I had some strip sirloin steaks but because of the weather had to use the gas grill instead of firing up the barbie and using some mesquite chips. Normally I would be barbequing up a storm on the first holiday weekend of the summer, sitting on the deck with a brewski and carefully monitoring temperatures and smoke, but that is unpleasant to do when it’s cold and rainy.

 

The creamed spinach is a standard steakhouse offering. Basically, the spinach is steamed until it wilts, chopped, then squeezed to release any juices, and mixed with a thick béchamel sauce flavored with a little bay and nutmeg. If you want to be fancy like the steakhouses, you can put it in a casserole, cover with Parmesan cheese, and bake. Using frozen spinach is possible but is considered heresy. Most if the time I simply steam the spinach until it wilts and serve it with butter, salt and pepper, but some occasions call for a dish that is a bit fancier.

 

 

I clipped a pound of mixed salad greens in the rain on Saturday morning (the weight is of course dripping wet, not toweled dry). Some of this went into a salad to go with our steaks and creamed spinach Saturday night. The vinaigrette was made with olive oil and a fig-infused balsamic vinegar, which gave a nice fruity, almost banana-like flavor to the dressing. The rest were washed, spun-dried and refrigerated for salads later this week.

 

 

My newly-planted kale is still immature and has been plagued by flea beetles. The kale above is from volunteers from my seed collecting effort last year. They are sprouting and growing in the wood chips around the raised beds (and bolting, since they sprouted last fall from seeds and wintered over). Since they are “weeds” I figured I would harvest what I could before pulling them. I also recently learned from reading other blogs that kale flowers are edible and tasty. Last year they just went in the compost.

 

To see what other gardener’s are harvesting, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions, out host for Harvest Monday.

My First Meyer Lemon

The Meyer lemon tree I bought on impulse this spring spent its summer on the deck. It flowered profusely in the spring and set a lot of fruit. All but five dropped and the biggest of those is now ripe and the rest are starting to ripen. I will have to come up with a good recipe to use my first lemon. Any suggestions? I found the LA Times has an article on “100 things to do with a Meyer Lemon” which is giving me some ideas.

The garden is mostly done except for kale, chard, parsley and some remaining beets which can take the frost we had last week. My wife and son visited the garden the weekend before the frost and harvested what they could. I photographed it but didn’t post it last week. One remarkable find they made was three more of the Summer Dance cucumbers. I have never had cucumbers up to frost before.

I haven’t done a lot of work in the garden the last couple of weeks because I have been recovering from surgery I had the end of September. One advantage of being an “invalid” was I didn’t cook or clean. My daughter was bothered by the stack of zucchini and patty pan squash piling up on the counter, so she decided to work her way through the Victory Garden Cookbook section on summer squash. One of the best was a squash pie made by layering slices of zucchini, tomatoes and cheese in a pastry crust and baking it.

As soon as I can bend comfortably in the middle, I have to clean up the beds and get ready to plant my garlic and shallots. Unfortunately I didn’t plant my spinach and sprouting broccoli seeds, but I may try a few just to see if they germinate and take. You never know what the weather will be. I also hope to pot up a rosemary plant for the winter. Last winter was so mild my rosemary survived into January or February when the really cold weather finally killed it.