We continue to get rain. And I'm actually getting tired of it. Precipitation totals in some parts of the state have broken records, the most recorded since record keeping began over 100 years ago. The Governor has declared the drought to be officially over in the state with the exception of 3 counties and I don't live in any of those three. So I am officially complaining about the rain.
All that rain has contributed to the poor health of the onions because of a
nasty bout of downy mildew. I've sprayed the patch twice with Serenade and trimmed out the infected leaves only to find the infection spreading through the patch again. The good news is that downy mildew infects the oldest leaves first so I can trim those out and still have a good amount of greens. So I've started to pull the onions and plan on pulling the entire patch. That bunch below was the first
harvest rescue. So far I've pulled over 7 pounds of spring onions but there's still a lot left.
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| Mixed Spring Onions |
One of the first things I did with the bounty of onions was to grill up a bunch and then use them to make something of a salsa which was a tasty topping for goat cheese and avocado toasts.
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| Gangbusters Spinach |
The Gangbusters Spinach also demanded my attention because it was starting to bolt. I harvested all of it and blanched it and ended up with 2 pounds of spinach in the freezer divvied up into 1/2 pound portions.
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| Palla Rossa Radicchio |
My gamble with sowing radicchio in January seems to be paying off. I cut the first head this week and a few of the remaining plants look like they're developing some decent little heads too.
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| Helios, Malaga, Pink Punch Radishes |
I harvested a few radishes and then noticed that most of them were bolting so out they all came.
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| Golden Chard |
The overwintered Golden Chard is showing the first signs of bolting so I cut most of the leaves. The stems were big and succulent, too good to let go to waste and I wanted to find a new way to use them so I tried a recipe that I found at
Food 52 for Grilled Chard Stems that turned to be quite good. I made a modified version of the anchovy vinaigrette which was delicious (my modifications were to add some red wine vinegar and I substituted anchovies packed in olive oil). I also made a
romesco sauce with some homegrown peppers from the freezer for those who don't like anchovies. And can you guess what else we had with the grilled chard stems? More grilled spring onions, of course.
Also harvested but not photographed was a big bunch of Pink Plume celery, which is most decidedly bolting too. Tis the season.
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.
You can beam those onion-goat cheese-avocado toasts down to me if you would please. I haven't had breakfast yet.
ReplyDeleteThe Los Angeles area has only gotten a little above average rain in total. You can send some more of that down here, too.
My onions in the ground - ornamental and edible - look just awful, too. I don't what's the matter; no aphids, though, which is usually the problem. I don't think they appreciated what rain we did have.
The aphids found my one small patch of garlic chives, they always do, but they don't usually bother the onions.
DeleteWhere did I hide my transporter...
That gangbuster spinach certainly lives up to its name. And a lovely bounty of easter style radishes for the weekend.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of spring onions! Are those from seeds or plants? My spring plants are nowhere near ready for scallions yet. I do feel your pain with all the rain. We've had two wet summers in a row, and overall the garden did not like it. You can always add water in a dry year, but you can't take it away, and it sure leads to disease and rotting issues. Also, I had a lot of tomatoes but many of them were blah tasting due to all the rain.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mix this year, I started some plants from seeds and shared an order from Dixondale with a friend. You tried so many new tomatoes last year, what a shame that they weren't at their best. Let's hope for less soggy weather for both of us this summer!
DeleteIt's beencold and drizzly here but in the whole we haven't had a great deal of actual rainfall.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the rain Michelle. I know how much it is needed, and how it will prevent fires this Summer, but goodness how I need a sunny warm week!Of all of your amazing harvests this week, I was really taken with the Golden Chard. what beautiful plants! Besides always making delicious recipes, you get the award for growing the pretties veggies!
ReplyDeleteLovely radishes!
ReplyDeleteLove the look of those onion cheese toasts and your radishes are a fantastic mix of colours, which makes me wonder why I mainly grow only red ones lol. Kathy
ReplyDelete