yesterday broccoli harvest

This is from seed I started last August. It grows in my cold frame until late October, then hangs out during the winter - not enough sun to grow. In early March it takes off again. Then gives us a very early harvest.

However, this year I learned what not to do. I should have transplanted it out of the cold frame in April. The frame gets too hot too fast for broccoli and most of the plants buttoned. They made tiny little button heads and I was so mad I pulled them out and composted them. These three heads grew on plants at the edges and gave marginally nice heads. I steamed one of them up for dinner last night and it was tasty.

The broccoli variety I have been growing is called Diplomat. As I was doing some unrelated task it occurred to me why someone would use this name for a broccoli: the big head - of course! Very funny. (except when it buttons.....)

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garden work

In my side yard garden:
- chicken wire baffles put over newly planted pole bean seeds to protect from squirrels
- winter broccoli harvested from cold frame
- cold frame prepared for summer plantings
- cucumber seedlings transplanted to tepee
- spinach, lettuce, parsley and basil seedlings transplanted (I am so late with the spinach and parsley!)

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asparagus

This is my first real harvest of asparagus. Enough for a nice meal.

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spinach harvest

I felt nervous going out and picking some spinach from my cold frame. What a day!

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first spring harvest - a bowlful of greens

I picked a bowlful of greens from my cold frame today. They made a wonderful salad, and I am happy that this is the start of a new season of garden fresh food.

My cold frame contents suffered a lot mid winter from very low temperatures. About half the plants were damaged (mostly bok choy and lettuce) and died. Survivors perked up as light and temperatures increased. Now it's quite full. After taking this picture, I pulled the bolted bok choy. I think probably bok choy is not a good crop for my cold frame. (Trial and error is often the best way to learn...)

By seeing my heavily reinforced cold frame, I am reminded how much snow was piled up on it this winter. Hardship has built quite a bit of character into my frame! It has also made me very appreciative of spring.

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."

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today's harvest

Baby bok coy - one of my favorites! I wore a head lantern to go out and find my cold frame in the 5 pm winter darkness this evening. The greens in the frame are looking really nice.

Our dinner tonight was bok choy stir-fried with garlic, sauteed garden sweet potatoes and kielbasa. It was a yummy winter meal. We are waiting for 4-6 inches of snow to fall on us tomorrow.

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today's harvest

Today, I harvested the last of my leeks, 2 tiny heads of savoy cabbage, 2 big heads of bok choi, a few tiny beets, a giant bunch of kale, and 4 or 5 big heads of frizzy escarole.

There was snow still in the center of the bok choi, left over from a light dusting we got last night. The air temp was right about freezing as I harvested, 33*F, I think. The ground is not yet frozen, but is icy cold. My hands got very chilly and muddy as I harvested. I took my time and enjoyed what is probably my last day out in the garden for a while.

After wandering and admiring this and that, oblivious to everything else, I realized Skippy had stolen my mittens. He snuck up to the chair where I put them and took both of them. Then he left the garden quickly with them and started barking at me. That teaser! I was taking way too long and delaying his walk. I chased him a while - we both had fun. I eventually got both mittens back, warmed my hands AND Skippy got a nice walk.

My harvest filled 3 grocery bags quite nicely. As I left with my bags, I was thinking how I enjoy this so much more than going to a grocery store.

Now all that's left outside in my gardens is kale. Our forecast is for more chilly weather to come.

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Thanksgiving brussels sprout harvest

For Thanksgiving, I harvested my first ever crop of Brussels sprouts. They were tiny, the size of marbles. And not very many of them. We added some store bought sprouts and my sister made a nice dish of them for our feast day.

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thyme harvest

I picked a big bowl of thyme the other day. My thyme patch has grown rampant in the past year and is overtaking the blueberry and bean space. I let the bunch dry about a week and now I am working on separating the dried leaves and stems. I'd like to have enough for my for winter use (and maybe for holiday gifts in pretty little jars.... I found some nice jars at Ikea....).

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today's harvest

Today I harvested big and baby bok choy, tiny heads of red and savoy cabbage, a lot of lettuce and escarole, a big bunch of parsnips, and one overlooked carrot.

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butternut squash harvest

My squash box is FULL!

From 6 plants that I trained up and over my trellis, I got a total of 17 squash, adding up to 44 lbs. That's about 3 squash per plant. The biggest squash is 4.4 lbs and the smallest is 1.4.

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today's harvest

Ahh, the greens in the garden are super now. I picked red and green lettuce today for our salad, escarole frisee too. And so many peppers! (Peter Piper picked a peck ...)

My spring broc's are still producing tons of side shoots - they get smaller and smaller, but still yummy. (Fall broc's are coming.)

I stir-fried a mix of bok choy and mini broc-sprouts for dinner tonight in bacon fat with garlic. I also made pork fried rice, with egg, Thai hot pepper and lots of onions. Fresh garlic in both. We added a chilled Chardonnay. It was a nice Monday evening dinner.

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today's harvest

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today's harvest

Lots of bounty today!

Tons of cukes. I am going to look back at all the great cuke recipes I collected a month ago. Maybe try some cucumber gazpacho and some pickles. A bunch of these cukes are overgrown. The yellow ones are overgrown North Carolina pickling cukes. They are best picked smaller when they are creamy white. They still taste good when they are big and yellow, not at all bitter - just a bit seedy.

I am continually surprised by my broccoli this year. I think I already wrote this, but it seems once a week I am picking more side shoots. This variety is Diplomat.

And, I am a chicken and afraid the squirrels will get at my tomatoes, so I am still picking them as soon as they show a hint of color. I have been watching that giant one, and couldn't resist picking it today even though its not yet coloring up.

The carrots don't look so good because they were sown in seed cells than transplanted. One of my learning experiences this year. I have a crop growing in the garden now that was sown in the garden directly and I am looking forward to some nice long, "unfurcated" roots.

And my celery is terrible, tough and bitter tasting, though it smells wonderful. It's the first year I've grown celery. The stalks are small and the crowns hollow. I found a very nice article (Mother Earth News: Celery Can Be a Cinch) and will book mark it for advice for trying again next year. I think my biggest problem was likely not feeding it and not giving it enough water.

I have 6 little eggplants in the middle of the photo, 3 Tiger and 3 Black King. I have a recipe I'm looking forward to trying with these tonight.

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freshly dug potatoes

My husband and I dug potatoes today. 20 lbs - a good haul. Mostly Burbank Russets. A few Green Mountains and Adirondack Reds.

I start digging potatoes, as we need them, a couple weeks after they flower (mid July). I plant the early Reds, Fingerlings, and Butterballs at the front of the bed. I start digging here and then gradually move to the back of the bed to where I planted the keeper potatoes, the Russets and Green Mountains.

My Russet tubers are small - as usual. I plant them close together (about 9 inches). With a small space, I like to squeeze in as much as I can. If I spaced the seed potatoes more, I'd have bigger potatoes, but I'm not sure if the total yield (weight) would be more. I figure that this year I got 40 lbs of potatoes from 35 square feet (a 10 x 3.5 foot bed, with six 3.5 ft rows).

I've found that small baked potatoes are really nice. Perfect for a single serving. They bake up fluffy inside and crisp skin outside. Ahhh....

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today's harvest

This is what I picked from the garden today. Lots of tomatoes.

The blight is hitting my tomato plants hard now, so I picked all of the tomatoes that were anywhere near pink. I pulled off all of the blighted leaves from the plants. The stems are nearly bare now with a bunch of green tomatoes hanging, hoping to ripen. I went ahead and sprayed again with Copper fungicide, as I have been doing weekly, even though there wasn't much there to spray.

And I was surprised by finding a bunch of broccoli shoots today. I almost pulled all of my broccoli a few weeks ago, after I picked the first, big heads. They didn't seem like they were producing any side shoots. But now, all of a sudden, I have lots of side shoots.

The two summer squashes in this harvest, a Zephyr and a Starship pattypan, will likely be my last of the season. I can't say I am sorry. I think I've eaten a million summer squashes in the past couple months. They were yummy, but I'm looking forward to moving on to another vegetable.

Two days ago, my sister and I used a giant zucchini and made zucchini bread. The one zucchini made about 8 cups of grated squash. I use 3 cups per my 2 loaf recipe. We made a 1x recipe, and then a 1.5x recipe, ending up with 3 loaves, 1 Bundt cake and two giant muffins. My sister took a loaf to work with her and I froze two loaves. It really came out nice and we have been enjoying it.

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edamame

I am starting to harvest my soybeans. They are still a bit small, but really really tasty. My sister couldn't believe how good fresh edamame tastes.

Soybeans all ripen at once, so I just pull up the whole plant then pick off the beans.

I was impressed to see all the nitrogen-fixing nodules (rhizobia) on the roots.

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today's harvest

Potatoes, peppers, summer squashes, broccoli, bok choy and cukes. And lots of green tomatoes underneath.

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today's harvest

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onion harvest

I pulled these yesterday before the rain. The rain cleaned them for me. I'll let them cure in the sun here a few days so they store well. Most are not as big as I hoped since I let the big volunteer squash grow in the middle of their bed.

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