Harvest Monday - June 6, 2016

The summer veggies are taking up more space in the garden but aren't producing yet so the harvests are still full of spring veggies.

I can't remember the last time I even tried to grow shelling peas. Sugar snap peas have long been my favorite because of the generous volume they produce for a given space and because they require so little effort post harvest. But this year I had the space to try a low growing variety of shelling pea so I put in an experimental patch. These might do even better if I gave them some support but it's worked out ok to just let them sprawl and support each other. They sure are delicious and I'm thinking I'll devote some space to them again next spring.

Sabre Shelling Peas

Sabre Shelling Peas

Sabre Shelling Pea

Pixie cabbage is back in the harvest basket again. I think this is the 3rd year that I've grown this variety of green cabbage. It is reliable, not too large and not too small, and it's sweet. It's quick to produce also, this head was ready 60 days after I set the tiny seedlings in the garden. I used half of this head in a saute with the first harvest of the Sabre Peas, some Bolero carrots, a spring onion, some Chicken Bacon Rodeo sausage from a local artisan butcher, and some fresh basil.

Pixie Cabbage

Bolero Carrots

Some of the spring carrots are sizing up nicely now. The Boleros are the carrots that I used in that cabbage saute. Later in the week I harvested more carrots. The Nelson carrots went into a second saute of peas, carrots, and cabbage in brown butter with basil and onion.

Nelson Carrots

Pusa Rudhira Red Carrots

Rotild Carrots

Shanghai Baby Pac Choi

I sowed an experimental patch of pac choi back on April 25. These are supposed to be best sown in the fall since they are prone to bolting in the spring, but they did ok for me, probably because we had our usual Gray May cool foggy weather this year, but they were on the verge of bolting when I got around to harvesting them. I haven't gotten around to cooking them up yet, so it remains to be seen if I grow them again since they do have to be tasty to return to the garden.

Speedy Arugula

My latest succession of Speedy arugula produced a generous basket of goodness when I finally got around to cutting it. A few of the plants had started to bolt, but that's ok since Speedy doesn't get too spicy when it decides to bloom.

Tropea Rossa Tonda Onion

Yellow Spanish Utah Onion

Speaking of blooming, I found the first bolting onions last week. The red one ended up in the first cabbage saute. Half of the second one ended up in the second saute of carrots, peas, and cabbage sans sausage.

Buck's Horn Plantain

I shaved another part of the Buck's Horn Plantain patch. It's amazing how the dust sized seeds end up producing really big lush plants. The next time I sow this, and there will definitely be a next time, I have to have a little more faith and sow them more widely spaced. I may try moving a couple of the plants to another part of the garden where I can let them bloom their hearts out since they are supposed to be perennials and the flowers are supposed to be attractive to butterflies and beneficial insects.

Robin Hood Fava Beans

Robin Hood Fava Beans

That's the last 2 harvests of Robin Hood fava beans. Out of curiosity I weighed the beans in the pods that are shown in the first photo, then the shucked beans, then the peeled beans. The results were 12.1 pounds pods, 4.74 pounds shucked beans, 2.72 pounds peeled beans. The yield of peeled beans might have been a bit greater but I harvested a number of beans before they fully filled out because I needed to cut down the plants.

Scarlet Ohno Revival Turnips

Yikes, I could not believe how large the Scarlet Ohno Revival Turnips got while I was not looking. They look good in spite of their size and I have in mind turning them into something mashed and buttery.

White Beauty Radishes

I cleared out the latest bunch of radishes, all of which I've grown and shown before except for the White Beauty. I'll spare you photos of the rest of the radishes.

Palla Rossa Radicchio

It seems that only 1 of the 8 Palla Rossa Radicchio that I planted didn't turn into a round head but came out tall and a bit on the green side, which really isn't bad for an open pollinated type of radicchio.

Chard Rescue Society

The Chard Rescue Society made sure that some of my oversized Italian Silver Rib and Peppermint Stick chard escaped the confines of the compost bin. I won't feel bad if much of it turns into chicken treats, that's a lot of chard! Thanks Catherine and Lee for rescuing the greens...

Monticello Poppy

My patience with the volunteer Monticello poppies has been rewarded, they have started to bloom. The beautiful blossoms are huge and hugely attractive to bees. It's great fun to watch the bees swim around in the blossoms gathering up loads of pollen. If I can spare the space and let them mature I should be able to gather the edible seeds which is what this variety is grown for.

Not photographed last week were the latest lettuce harvests since they were a bit ragged looking and I've shown them before. And there were a couple of very small shoots of broccoli that escaped the camera as well.

Here's the details of the harvests for the past week:

Speedy arugula - 1 lb., 5.1 oz.
Batavia broccoli - 2.2 oz.
Apollo brokali - 1.2 oz.
Pixie cabbage - 2 lb., 4.3 oz.
Capers - 15.7 oz.
Bolero carrots - 9 oz.
Nelson carrots - 7.4 oz.
Pusa Rudhira Red carrots - 5.8 oz.
Rotild carrots - 4.5 oz.
Other carrots not true to type - 1 oz.
Italian Silver Rib chard - 4 lb., (guesstimate)
Peppermint Stick chard - 3 lb., (guesstimate)
Robin Hood fava beans - 19 lb., 12 oz.
Joker Crisphead lettuce - 10.4 oz.
Red Butter Romaine lettuce - 10.1 oz.
Tropea Rossa Tonda onion - 13.7 oz.
Yellow Spanish Utah onion - 1 lb., 8.9 oz.
Shanghai Baby pac choi - 1 lb., 12.5 oz.
Sabre shelling peas - 1 lb., 11.5 oz.
Buck's Horn plantain - 1 lb., 14.8 oz.
Helios radishes - 11.6 oz.
Malaga radishes - 7 oz.
Petit Dejeuner radishes - 10.6 oz.
Pink Punch radishes - 6.9 oz.
White Beauty radishes - 12.5 oz.
Palla Rossa radicchio - 13.7 oz.
Round Red turnips - 6.2 oz.
Scarlet Ohno Revival turnips - 2 lb., 13.9 oz.

Total harvests for the week - 49 lb., 8.5 oz. (22.5 kg.)
2016 YTD - 279 lb., 15.4 oz. (127 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.