We have been eating a lot of salads lately and there's plenty more material coming in from the garden for many more. I'll start with Dave's favorite salad green of all - butterhead lettuce.
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| Three Heart Butterhead |
That big beauty (over 1 pound) is big enough to make at least 2 good sized salads. It was the star in a salad last night that also featured a peach, grated carrot and radish, dried I'Itoi onion greens, Italian Mountain basil, and a vinaigrette made from Late Harvest Honey Viognier vinegar and EVOO. I particularly like the combination of peach, radish, and basil with the sweet-tart vinegar.
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| Joker Crisphead |
Another big head of lettuce from the garden last week was a full sized head of Joker Crisphead. I've already forgotten what I used to doll up the first salad from that head.
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| Speedy Arugula |
I had to harvest all of the cutting salad greens because they were already starting to bolt, although they did get to be good sized before doing so. One of the things that I love about Speedy arugula is that it stays mild even when it bolts.
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| Ruby Streaks Mizuna |
Dave doesn't like these "funny greens" so I enjoy these in big salads for my lunch on most days.
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| Tokyo Bekana Napa Cabbage and Batavia Broccoli |
Tokyo Bekana is mild enough for Dave, even when it starts to bolt. Batavia broccoli is still producing...
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| Pink Lettucy Mustard |
Mustard greens are another no-go for Dave, but I like their spicy bite, especially in soup. Lately I've been enjoying them in simple soups with either shrimp or sausage and Vietnamese rice noodles. I keep the seasonings simple - coconut milk, fish sauce, dried green onions, dried brown mushrooms, basil, and toasted sesame oil.
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| Rotild Carrots |
Many of the spring sown carrots have fattened up and are ready to pull. Rotild has done well for me as an overwintered carrot and as a spring carrot. It has a nice sweet crunch and generally produces a nice clean root.
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| Black Nebula Carrots |
That's the last of the Black Nebula carrots. They have a strong tendency to fork and the roots get to be quite hairy - I gave those a shave before putting them in front of the camera. Some of them get some nice purple coloring in their foliage as well as you can see below.
There were a few other harvests that I didn't photograph. I cut down the last of the Mizunarubasoi to make room for the spreading Romanesco zucchini (which is sporting it's first blooming zucchini). And some runty Yellow Granex and Top Keeper onions got rescued from the onion patch.
I'm not reporting harvest weights on my harvest posts these days, but if you are curious I've got a link at the top of my sidebar to a copy of a detailed spreadsheet that shows harvest totals monthly and to date for each veggie that I harvest. I update the spreadsheet every week or so, whenever I get around to it. I won't put a link here because it changes every time I update the sheet.
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 have some monster lettuces growing in your garden, and your carrots are doing amazing. The Speedy Arugula sounds delicious, usually arugula is a bit harsh tasting to me but that might have just been the variety. Spring greens are such a gamble in our climate, but I'm so glad I planted a few things this year.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of variation in flavor from one variety of arugula to another. Speedy is a nice mild flavored one and my absolute favorite. It also lives up to its name and is quick to grow.
DeleteWhat beautiful lettuces to choose from with for salads! and thanks for the heads-up about the Speedy arugula too
DeleteYup. Noodles of any kind with greens or broccoli, but especially Asian noodles and Asian greens. My standard additions are soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, red pepper flakes or sriracha or serrano and crunchy peanut butter. I know PB sounds weird but tastes great. Yum-yum
ReplyDeletePB doesn't sound weird to me at all, it sounds great. I'll have to try that in the next batch. The June Gloom is so thick here today that it's raining. I'll be having more soup for breakfast!
DeleteIt all looks and sounds so good. I really would like to try that mustard green soup, but since I didn't grow any, do you think turnip greens would work?
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents: radish tops work very well, as do the radishes, in this kind of soup.
DeleteTurnip greens sound like a great sub for the mustard greens, as do the radish tops and roots that Jane suggests. And while we're at it, the turnip roots should be good in there too.
DeleteI've had to pull my mustard greens again due to bolting - only my second year and no luck yet. I think I'll try them in the fall later this year and see if the weather is better suited.
ReplyDeleteI also love butterheads, and wow, what a wonderful selection of greens you have. Your salads always sound so delicious and very inspiring!
We are hoping that our second sowing of carrots will actually germinate and avoid the slugs and snails.
ReplyDeleteYour Three Heart lettuce is beautiful! Mine did not like our hot weather this spring, but I will try again this fall. Joker is colored up a lot like some of the other Wild Garden lettuces, and I can imagine it made for tasty salads.
ReplyDeleteOh, to have some fresh salad greens - those lettuces are gorgeous! Other than the last of the spinach in the fridge, I'm limited to kale and mizuna at this point since my lettuce is still sizing up after getting a haircut from the local bunny.
ReplyDelete