And this basket has the last of the Aji de la Tierras, Habanero Long Chocolates, Rocotillos, Christmas Bells, Chihuacle Amarillos, and one green Donkey Ears.
I'm waiting to see how all the pepper plants fared. Sometimes it's just the top growth and outer branches that get frost killed. If the lower part of the plants survive and don't succumb to something fungal there's a chance they might come back in the spring. I'll just leave them in their ugly frost scarred condition for now.
The remaining Aji Angelos also got stripped from the plants but I didn't get around to photographing them.
I was also concerned that the meyer lemons might get freeze damaged so I picked a bunch of lemons from the outer branches.
Some of these have been used to make lemon curd and I'm experimenting with candied lemon peels. There's still loads of lemons left on the tree and they seem to be unfazed by the freeze.
Here's what a lot of my harvests are going to be looking like in the coming weeks - green. This is Portuguese Dairyman's Kale.
And another bunch of Piracicaba broccoli shoots.
There are broccoli buds hiding in all that greenery. I don't strip off the leaves from the broccoli shoots. The leaves are tender and every bit as tasty as the buds so I cook the shoots with all the leaves attached.
If you would like to see what other garden bloggers harvested this week go on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host for Harvest Mondays.
I have just regular broccoli this year, but I still cook the leaves on the shoots. I couldn't imagine wasting them.
ReplyDeleteI'm really envious of all the Meyer lemons I've been seeing on blogs recently. Some year I have to try growing a tree indoors.
The lemons look lovely. We've had almost freezing temperatures here and our pepper season is definitely over too.
ReplyDeleteThe last of the peppers look great. The Purple Marconis and the Aji Pancas are quite cool. Beautiful harvests!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful peppers and lemons. I hope some day to be able to coax a lemon tree indoors, but right now we don't have any south facing windows in our rental.
ReplyDeleteLook at all those peppers, amazing.:) It's really neat that you can occasionally overwinter them in the garden. I am once again trying to do so with a few indoor potted ones. Sometimes it works sometimes is doesn't.
ReplyDeleteAre you on track for a normal winter or is it colder this year? It seems that many people are having an early cold spell. It's been fairly normal for us so far...fingers crossed.
Yummy harvest as usual, although I guess with the cold it'll be reeled in. The peppers are such amazing colours.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, It took a couple of years before I learned how good the leaves are on broccoli shoots. I hate to think of all the good stuff that I tossed in the compost.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the amazing lemons Thomas has been harvesting from his indoor tree, you should give it a try.
Chaiselongue, the meyers seem especially pretty to me, they have such wonderful smooth skins that develope a beautiful shine if you buff them a bit with a towel. I love having a bowl of them sitting on the counter to admire!
ReplyDeleteI'm already dreaming about and planning the pepper plot for next year.
Dan, Actually, I was quite surprised by the good condition and flavor of those early December peppers! The Aji Pancas were so late though, I only got a few.
ReplyDeleteEmily, sounds like you need to move ;> I knew a gardener who chose the house she bought based on the soil! My husband and I chose our current home in large part because we get a lot of sun and face somewhat south. The soil is awful though...
ReplyDeleteMr. H - It's usually just a few pepper plants that survive, but the baccatums are quite cold tolerant and I have hopes for most of those plants. The chinense, on the other hand, like more tropical climates and I've never had one of those make it.
ReplyDeleteSo far winter seems to be pretty normal, including rainfall, which is quite a relief. We've had below normal rainfall for 3 years running and there's been talk of water restrictions and such. A freeze like we just had is not really all that unusual, it was perhaps just a little early. Last year we had a similar freeze a week later.
Prue, oh yes, the harvests are going to much more limited for a while. I've been making good use of all the frozen tomato preparations lately.
ReplyDeleteLook at all of those lemons! How jealous am I???!!! I don't understand why my Meyer lemons didn't look like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThat kale looks really interesting. I've never heard of that variety before...the leaves looks amazingly deep green.
Have you tried salt preserving some of your lemons? Every year, I make a batch of preserved Meyer lemons and use them in all sorts of ways: in the traditional Moroccan chicken, in salad dressings, stir fried with kale and garlic (or pea shoots, fava tops, and garlic--YUM). So good.
ReplyDeleteThomas, I thought your meyers looked just as they should. Not sure why you thought they looked different? You know, they do kind of grow like weeds around here, well, at least something like zucchini, everyone who has a tree ends up trying to give some of them to friends and family...
ReplyDeleteThe kale is one that I got through the SSE, it was brought to California from the Azores. It's very good tasting and grew very well for me. I've got the bare minimum number of plants growing for seed saving so I'm going to let them bloom this coming spring and collect some seeds.
Christina, I haven't done preserved lemons in a long time but I mean to try it again soon. All your suggestions for using them sound so good! I used fava tops for the first time last spring, those are surprisingly tasty, and I bet they are great with the preserved lemons. There's a recipe in the new cook book Ad Hoc for lemon slices preserved in salt and sugar that I want to try also.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great harvest! You could open a farm stand with all of those peppers. It had never occurred to me that one could eat the leaves of the broccoli plant. Is that the case only with Piracicaba variety?
ReplyDeleteSally, I think it's true for most types of broccoli. I've grown De Cicco and Calabrese sprouting broccoli and found the leaves on the side shoots to be good. And Daphne is growing regular heading broccoli and enjoys the leaves on the side shoots as well.
ReplyDeleteIt looks so good, especially the kale. I'm going to have to make a big harvest soon. Things are getting big.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Michelle!
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