Spring harvests are pretty much over in the garden now and the summer ones are just getting started. It will be some time though before the colorful summer veggies like tomatoes and peppers make an appearance.
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| Aspabroc, Fioretto Cauliflower, Romanesco Zucchini |
I harvested the final little head of stick cauliflower and most of the last of the Aspabroc shoots. The final 2 heads of lettuce also had to be cut but escaped the camera. The annual zucchini glut is about to start - the always reliable Romanesco zucchini has started regular production. I'm going to have to pull out my trove of zucchini recipes.
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| Batavia Broccoli |
Broccoli is a year round producer in my mild climate and I harvested the first 2 main heads of spring sown Batavia.
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| Yellow Finn Potatoes |
I dumped another 3 containers of Yellow Finn potatoes and added 3.5 more pounds to the total spud harvest. The latest harvests were prettier than the first but the yields varied quite a bit - 13.5, 18.7, and 23.7 per pot, each one started with one mini tuber. I only photographed the first 2 pots, but the third round looked much the same as these ones.
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| Yellow Finn Potatoes |
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| Purple Sun Carrots |
The last of the spring sown carrots had to be pulled to make way for melons and winter squash.
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| Starica Carrots |
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| Corsican Basil |
The basils are growing like weeds now, they and the rest of the summer vegetables loved the heat wave that we recently experienced. We escaped the worst of the heat here, the hottest it got here in my microclimate in the past week was 87ºF. The water in Monterey Bay and along the coast has been cold, in the low 50º's, and that cold water and accompanying fog has helped to keep the temperatures near the coast in a more comfortable range than what inland areas have had to endure.
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| Italian Mountain Basil |
I like to cut bunches of basil and bring them into the kitchen so that I can use it frequently without having to run out to the garden. I put the cut stems into a container of water and drape a plastic bag over the bunch. It will stay fresh on the kitchen counter for days that way and if it sits long enough (rare) some of it may even root.
One notable dish that I concocted last week was a sort of gazpacho that used up a half pound of the glut of lettuce that I harvested the previous week and some dried tomatoes and peppers from last year. It turned out better than expected and because I kept notes as I made it I was able to write up the recipe and post it on my recipe blog
here.
I've had some harvests that I've not bothered to photograph, they are so ugly and disappointing - onions. All of the onions are uniformly ugly and small, but they taste fine and one side effect of their suffering seems to be that they don't have the energy to bolt, I've not found one flower stalk in the patch yet.
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.
Your harvest are still very colorful, despite lacking tomatoes and peppers. Those are good results for potatoes. You must have scrubbed them, they can't grow that clean, can they? If scrubbed, you have to use them right away, don't you? The bouquets of basil are really special.
ReplyDeleteFine looking heads of the Batavia broccoli. I've never seen carrots with such a deep purple color.
ReplyDeleteThose spuds are really pretty, nice and clean looking and I bet they cooked up nice and tender. It's funny you should mention gazpacho. One of our friends was demoing it Saturday at a farmer's market (she works for the extension office) and after tasting hers I decided to put it on the menu this week. We bought a couple of fresh tomatoes at the market, and I have cukes and onions plus basil and a mild California Frantoio olive oil on hand. I do have a bit of the spring lettuce that needs to be pulled so I will try adding that to the mix.
ReplyDeleteSome very similar things to the things we harvested last week
ReplyDeleteOur pimiento de padrons are coming in nicely right now. We did get the big heat blast here so tomatoes and basils and straight neck yellow squash (my fave) are leaping up and out. Cooler for a couple of days now.
ReplyDeleteGood looking potatoes, and what a lovely row of carrots!
ReplyDeleteGood gracious! You grow the cleanest root vegetables I've ever seen!
ReplyDeleteWow, your carrots look massive and it's so interesting the two purple ones that grew entangled with each other. But that's too bad about the onions and mildew.
ReplyDeleteI do like the look of that Corsican basil... amazing colours!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely try that approach with keeping basil as I find it starts to brown quickly once it's harvested and have never really found a good method. I love the pic of the purple carrots as I've just seen it on your instagram account. So envious of your potatoes, I think I will wait a few weeks to try for even some small early taters.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks really great, especially the carrots and basil! The basil has huge leafs and thanks for the tip to keep it fresh longer
ReplyDeleteThose potatoes are gorgeous! I'd say that's a good yield for only a small seed potato in each pot. I'll probably try growing potatoes in pots at some point, but I think we get too hot around here during the summer and they likely wouldn't do very well. And that's a great tip about placing the bag over the cup of basil - I'll be trying that!
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