Harvest Monday - December 28, 2015

It's hard to believe that the year is swiftly coming to a close and that this is the last Harvest Monday post for 2015. Looking back at the December harvests for 2014 reveals some failure on my part to get a proper fall/winter garden going. I would typically be harvesting broccoli, celery, cabbage, kale, lettuce, perhaps some chard and spinach. This December the harvests have been dominated by broccoli, with parsnips playing a supporting role, and snow peas making cameo appearances. Although, I am expecting to show off my first winter spinach harvest next week!

So, the broccoli harvests last week...

Batavia broccoli

At least the broccoli has not been disappointing. Batavia is a new variety in my garden this year. The basket above has three large side shoots, actually secondary heads, and a few side shoots that sized up after I cut a previous secondary head. Those secondary heads came in at 9.9, 9.6, and 6.3 ounces.

I used one of the larger heads to make a version of Grilled Broccoli and Bread Salad, but since it was too cold and wet to fire up the grill outside I roasted the broccoli and bread in a 400ºF oven instead and it came out great. The Apollo brokali shoots shown below were simply steamed and served with a topping of a pork sausage and chanterelle ragu that included canned tomato, tomato paste, and sweet pepper conserva from my preserved harvests - no recipe, it was something I put together with ingredients on hand. The Di Ciccio broccoli is destined for a fritatta.

Di Ciccio broccoli  has been a regular in my garden for years. It has been a reliable producer of leafy shoots over a long harvest period. Apollo brokali is a relative new comer, I tried it a couple of years ago and it's back again for the fall. It produces nice shoots but over a shorter period of time.

Di Ciccio broccoli (left) and Apollo brokali

Golden Sweet has become my favorite variety of snow pea. The tall vines produce pods over a longer harvest period than any green variety that I've tried. I like being able to harvest a handful at a time instead of being inundated with peas for a couple of weeks. And they're good tasting and beautiful too!

Golden Sweet snow peas

Here's the details of the harvests last week:

Apollo brokali - 10.3 oz.

Batavia broccoli - 1 lb., 13 oz.

Di Ciccio broccoli - 3.4 oz.

Golden Sweet snow peas - 1.3 oz.

Total harvests for the week - 2 lb., 12 oz.

2015 YTD - 1228 lb., 12.7 oz.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog Our Happy Acres, head on over there to be inspired by what other garden blogger have been harvesting lately. 

Starting next Monday I'll be standing in for Dave as host of Harvest Monday. Dave is taking a break from hosting for the month of January, so head on over here to link up, you'll find Mr. Linky up and running. And you won't have to wait until Monday morning Pacific Standard time, I'll be scheduling my posts to go live at midnight Sunday PST, but don't expect a visit from me until I've had a chance to imbibe my Monday morning cup of coffee...