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Monday, February 2, 2015

Harvest Monday - February 2, 2014

There was one new vegetable in the harvest basket this past week, I pulled a couple of celeriac. These are not the best specimens that I've ever grown, they are small and have a lot of foliage and lots of small roots growing from the main root.

Monarch celeriac

They weren't a total bust though, they were decent enough after trimming and peeling, firm and tasty just small. I'll be pulling the rest of them soon to make way for some different vegetables.


The celery is still producing plenty of stalks.

Dorato D'Asti Celery
And there's still a few fennel bulbs to be gleaned from last year's plants. They aren't perfect specimens, not as big and tender as the bulbs that form on new plants, but they're very tasty when thinly sliced and used in salads or when they are braised in vegetable stews.


I cleaned out the patch of China Rose radishes because nearly all of them were starting to bolt.

China Rose radishes
These radishes are big, and fortunately those big tops are very mild and delicious when sauteed or braised.


There were a few other stragglers in the radish patch that got cleaned out also. I won't be harvesting any more radishes until I can set up a tunnel in another bed.

Selzer Purple radishes

Helios radish
The shoots and main head on the second Romanesco plant started to expand so I harvested everything from that plant.

Romanesco
There's still plenty of lacinato kale to harvest. You can see the variation in the leaf shape from my 4 plants. Most of them produce a long strap shaped leaf with a curl at the end, but one of the plants has a shorter leaf that doesn't have the pronounced curl around the edges that the other leaves have.

Lacinato kale
The spinach doesn't grow very quickly in the short days of January, it was nearly a month from the previous harvest to this one.

Summer Perfection spinach
The lettuce is much faster to size up, here's another round of Ruby Gem romaine that I've been harvesting on a cut-and-come-again basis.

Ruby Gem romaine

The only harvest that I didn't photograph was the big bunch of Speedy Arugula that was the result of cleaning out the patch. It was starting to bolt so I cut all the plants down to the nubs. Speedy is a mild flavored arugula so it doesn't get too spicy or bitter when it bolts so most of what I cut down is usable.

We got through January without a drop of measurable rain. I don't know if it was a record for Monterey as well, but San Francisco had the first completely rain free January since record keeping started in 1850. This drought is really getting to be scary. There's supposedly a chance of rain later this week so keep your fingers crossed, do a rain dance or whatever it takes... just make it rain!

I don't know if it was because of the lack of rain or in spite of the lack of rain or perhaps I just did a better job in the garden, but this January was a harvest record breaker since I started keeping track back in 2010. The total harvests came in at 41.6 pounds, my best January total before that was 20.9 pounds in 2012, 12.7 pounds in 2014, and single digit harvests for the rest.

Here's the harvests for the past week:

Speedy arugula - 1 lb., 6.6 oz.
Romanesco broccoli - 2 lb., 15.9 oz.
Dorato di Asti celery - 15.1 oz.
Monarch celeriac - 11 oz. (trimmed)
Romanesco fennel - 10.3 oz.
Lacinato kale - 1 lb., 1.6 oz.
Ruby Gem romaine - 7.8 oz.
China Rose radishes - 5 lb., 15.8 oz. (including greens)
Helios radish - 1.6 oz.
Selzer Purple radishes - 7.5 oz.
Summer Perfection spinach - 6.1 oz.

The total harvests for the week were - 15 lb., 3.3 oz.
Which brings the total harvests for 2015 up to - 42 lb., 9.6 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. Besides the total lack of rain, another record for January has been set, I think. Soon the reports from NWS will be out, but the daily record reports have indicated many record breaking temperatures for minimum highs meaning the nights didn't get cold. This may have helped the vegetables but is very bad for the so-called low-chill deciduous fruit trees. It looks like another year without blossoms and fruit set. The radishes look like fun. Does each one taste different or do they just have a different color?

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    1. It certainly wasn't very cold around here in January. I read that the local apple growers are anticipating a poor year because of the lack of chill and I'm sure the local stone fruit growers are in a similar bind. Last year the stone fruit crop was down about 90%.

      The differences in the flavors of the radishes are minimal, other than the greens, the China Rose greens are much sweeter than the other radish greens.

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  2. I think Celeriac is one of the most difficult vegetables to grow, so even some small ones can be seen as a good result. Nice Romanesco too. I have only seen it sold like cauliflower - i.e. as one big main head, but I see you have got sideshoots as well from yours. I will try this if I grow Romanesco again, and treat it like Calabrese.

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    1. Most of the Romanesco plants only produce one main head and once it is harvested the plants are done, like cauliflower. Sometimes you get a plant that produces shoots below the main head, but the shoots mature before the main head, so again, once the main head is harvested the plant is done producing. So, it's not actually possible to treat it like Calabrese.

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  3. Lovely harvests. I especially love the lettuce. I really love the look of the red lettuces. Though I tend to grow the green ones. I need to trial more reds to see if I can find some I like.

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  4. Amazing harvests for this time of year! Romanesco is one of the veggies I keep trying to grow from seed without much luck. I love your picture of it. Inspiring

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  5. I can't see enough how much I love that Romanesco ... but unlike Barbara, I don't think I'll try it again as I have been very unsuccessful with it. And lovely radishes - I have cooked radishes before (braised) but never really thought about the leaves. I'll try that this year when I get some of my own.

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  6. So jealous of your harvest. Our ground is completely snow covered will be a while before I can open my garden gate. Is Romanesco easier to grow than cauliflower?

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    1. I would say that they are about the same level of difficulty, but Romanesco has the added challenge of being a space hog, it's a HUGE plant.

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  7. Lovely harvest! all looks so interesting! Especially the romanesco broccoli. Fascinating! It's so much pleasure to follow your blog.

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  8. Congrats on doubling your previous January harvest record! The drought is so worrying - hopefully you get another wet spell like the one in December soon.

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