Monday, February 28, 2011

Harvest Monday - February 28, 2011

I harvested the first head of Sweetie Baby Romaine last Friday, nearly 4 months exactly from the date that I sowed the seeds. I'm trying to keep better track of sowing and harvesting dates this year to see how long it takes to produce a crop of a particular vegetable. Four months seems like a long time to produce a small head of lettuce, but I suppose it's not bad considering that they have been growing out in the open through the coldest (theoretically) and shortest days of the year.  This head came in at 1.25 pounds straight from the garden and after I trimmed off the tough outer leaves it weighed 14 ounces.


That was Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning here's what I found on that little table where I often place veggies straight from the garden for a little photo shoot... snow!


OK, I know, that's not very much. But, if I could remember far enough back to count the number of times I've seen snow in my gardens over the years that I've been gardening it would doubtless take less than all the fingers on one hand, it just doesn't happen very often around here. Here's some Sweetie Baby Romaine looking like they've been made extra sweet with a dusting of sugar. The snow melted as soon as the sun popped up over the hill, but it was fun to see and didn't do any damage in the garden. I was far more concerned when the skies cleared and the cold air mass stuck around. The Meyer lemon tree is shrouded once again with frost cloth.



Speaking of frosty things, I pulled a bag of frozen Chocolate Stripes tomatoes out of the freezer last week. These went into the freezer whole last September the day before I left for a 3 week trip. Tossing whole ripe tomatoes into the freezer is not the optimal method for preserving the harvest but it sure beats leaving them to rot because you don't have time to deal with them.


The tomatoes were used to make Tomato and Rice Soup. It's easy to peel frozen tomatoes, just hold them under some warm water for a few seconds and the skins slip right off, it might take a few turns under the faucet to loosen all the skin. After sitting out for about an hour the tomatoes soften up enough to chop. I seasoned the soup with some of my ground dried Aji Angelo and Christmas Bell chile peppers, cumin, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, and lots of cilantro. It also included onion, garlic, celery root, and home made chicken stock. I used short grain brown rice and enriched the soup with a bit of coconut milk. My husband declared it a keeper so it's a good thing that I took notes as I made it so I can write up the recipe one day soon.

Other than a head of lettuce last week the only other thing that I've harvested in the last couple of weeks is lots of cilantro. I've been weighing it when I pick large bunches, but not every time I harvest it. I tried a recipe for Fresh Cilantro Chutney with Peanuts from Laxmi Hiremath's book The Dance of Spices. It was fabulous, super simple to make, and a great way to use an abundance of cilantro. Basically, you whirl a big bunch of cilantro leaves with a couple of fresh chiles (I used whole frozen chiles), cumin seeds, salt, roasted peanuts, lime juice, a touch of sugar and some water. I served it with some grilled lamb chops - yum! The chutney came out very much like a green salsa but the peanuts were a nice twist on the typical green salsa flavors. A variation of the recipe substituted freshly grated coconut for the peanuts and since I love coconut I'll have to give that a whirl.

Here's the harvest totals for the last two weeks.

Cilantro - 6.25 oz.
Sweetie Baby Romaine - 14 oz.

The total harvests for the year are - 15 lb., 14 oz.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, that romaine looks so pretty, but 4 months does seem quite long. Perhaps when it warms up a bit it will grow faster. I love the freezing whole tomatoes method. Sounds easy.

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  2. Picture of the snow on the romaine is great. THe tomatoes are neat all frosty, too. I bet they made a nice soup.

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  3. The romaine looks lovely and the snow will do less damage than frost - but what a surprise! Strange things are happening everywhere with the weather. Last year we had snow in our village for the first time in 50 years...hope it doesn't happen again this year!

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  4. That's a nice head of lettuce.
    I've seen other people freeze tomatoes whole but I never tried it, I should give it a go this summer, they look so nice and fresh from the freezer.

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  5. That soup sounds delicious! but i think it deserves a better name ; ) How big is your freezer Michelle?

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  6. The Romaine is absolutely beautiful. I think that it is my favorite variety to grow. I really like the picture of the snow on the reamining heads...nice shot!

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  7. That lettuce is gorgeous! We also love Sweetie and it lasts in our zone 5b cold frames until January. Then, we rely on the cold tolerant greens like mache, tatsoi and spinach. Delicious! I freeze our heirloom tomatoes too. We grew 20 varieties last summer and now, it's a treat to take out a bag from the deep freeze to enjoy a taste of summer - even when there is a foot of snow outside! :)

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  8. meemsync, we had a few weeks of really nice weather before the latest cold spell and the lettuce really took off. I hope the current cold weather slows it down! We're going to be eating a lot of salad for the next few weeks.

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    Barbie, The tomatoes were good in the soup, they just melted down into a fine puree but the flavor was still great.

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    The snow was a surprise, although we had a few days warning that it was a possibility. I think it's been about 35 years since we've had sea level snow around here, snow at higher elevations comes a bit more often. I hope that when this cold spell passes that we can get on with spring again!

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    Mac, The freezer trick is a good way to take care of too many tomatoes when you don't have enough time, but I wouldn't make it my primary method of preserving them. They do look pretty though!

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    Julie, I'm not very clever about naming my recipes, got any suggestions? I have a 13 cubic foot upright freezer for long term storage - not too big and not too small.

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    Robin, Romaine and butterhead have become my favorite varieties to grow, although I've got a new lettuce called "Ear of the Devil" that I would grow again just because it's so beautiful.

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    Year Round..., Sweetie is a nice romaine, a nice compact size, good looking, and good tasting. One head is just the right size for a main course salad for two. It also seems to hold up well to heat, very slow to bolt and tastes good even when it starts to bolt. It has taken my zone 9 winter in stride. Wow, 20 varieties of tomatoesI I wish I had room for that, but then I would need a larger freezer as well. :)

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  9. Those snow frosted romaines are just beautiful. It sounds like a really nice variety too.

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  10. ok I will try again. :O). I have tried to grow romaine several times without much luck. Our heat becomes a issue fast here in Texas. But seeing your nice romaine, I have to try again!

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  11. Daphne, snow is pretty, but I'm happy to not have to deal with it as much as you do! I've been really happy with this variety, it seems to do well through whatever weather my climate throws its way.

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    Texan, good luck! Perhaps this variety would do well for you, it's supposed to be slow bolting and heat tolerant (relatively, I'm sure), and it's actually only supposed to take 50 to 67 days to harvest if you plant it at the recommended time.

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