Harvest Monday - March 21, 2016

The winter veggies are disappearing from the garden. Most of the lettuce is starting to bolt, I harvested the last 3 heads of Winter Density and 2 of the 3 remaining heads of Three Heart butterhead. The lettuces will keep well in the fridge if I wrap each head in a paper towel inside of a plastic bag so we will be able to enjoy these over the next couple of weeks.

Winter Density Romaine

Three Heart Butterhead

The celery and celeriac were also starting to bolt so I harvested all of those. These also store well in the fridge if most of the leaves are removed.

Dorato d'Asti Celery

Monarch Celeriac

The celeriac wasn't exactly regal size wise, the total for the 6 roots was about 1.5 pounds so after trimming it might be enough for one dish.


The Rishad cress and Speedy arugula were going the same route as the lettuces and celery so I cut them down. These don't keep all that well so I've been using them up first in my nearly daily lunch salads.

Rishad Cress

Speedy Arugula

It was past time to give the Summer Perfection spinach a haircut, though the plants hadn't actually sent up up flower stalks yet it seems like they are on the verge of doing so. I used some of the spinach paired with some Petaluma Gold Rush beans and some cubes of leftover pork chops. We got double duty from that dish, first as a warming stew and then mashed up and used as a filling in warm whole wheat tortillas with cheese and shredded lettuce.

Summer Perfection Spinach

I've harvested most of the winter sowing of radishes also. They are almost all gone now. Radishes also keep well if their leaves are removed so I'm nursing them along, slicing up 2 or 3 to put in my salads.

Malaga Radishes

Petit Dejeuner Radishes

Helios Radish

Pink Punch Radishes

One unplanned but much appreciated harvest was the tops of the pea plants that I had sown as part of the cover crop for the future solanum bed. The peas are a variety that I grew a few years ago and saved seeds from but decided to not grow them again because they too susceptible to powdery mildew. The young plants are unaffected and the top shoots are very sweet and tender if they are harvested before the tendrils fully develop. I used the bunch in a stir fry with asparagus, scallions, lettuce, and tofu, seasoned with ginger and dried maitake mushrooms. Delicious!

Pea Shoots and Spring Onions (scallions)

There's a few winter veggies left in the garden but not for long and the veggies that I sowed in late January before I left for vacation were stunted by the unexpected dry weather so I pulled them out and started over, so I may have a gap in the harvests while I wait for the March sown veggies to mature.

Here's the harvests for the past week:

Speedy arugula - 8 oz.
Dorato d'Asti celery - 3 lb., 9.2 oz.
Monarch celeriac - 1 lb., 8.8 oz.
Rishad cress - 1 lb., 8 oz.
Three Heart butterhead lettuce - 12.9 oz.
Winter Density lettuce - 3 lb., 5.3 oz.
Spring onions - 5 oz.
Pea shoots - 2.6 oz.
Helios radishes - 1.7 oz.
Malaga radishes - 4.7 oz.
Petit Dejeuner radishes - 2.2 oz
Pink Punch radishes - 4.8 oz.
Summer Perfection spinach - 2 lb., 15.4 oz.

Total for the week - 15 lb., 8.6 oz. (7 kg.)
2016 YTD - 72 lb., 9.1 oz. (32.9 kg.)

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