Where is May going, it's already half gone! And it just wouldn't be May without favas. That's the first significant harvest shown below.
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| Extra Precoce Violetto Favas |
I really amazes me at times how resilient plants can be. This final head of Pixie cabbage came from a plant that spent a bit too much time in a pot before I put the plant in the garden. And then it got a good trim from a rodent. But I left the poor neglected and battered thing in the garden and it went ahead and produced a 1.6 pound head anyway.
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| Pixie Cabbage |
We are enjoying lots of salads with the Queen of Crunch crisphead lettuces. I think I must have blue cheese dressing on hand at all times until the last of the Queens are decapitated. It is the perfect lettuce to stand up to such a thick and assertive dressing.
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| Queen of Crunch Lettuce |
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| Tennis Ball Lettuce |
Tennis Ball lettuce is an heirloom with a long history. There's actually a few varieties of heirloom butterhead lettuces that go by the name of Tennis Ball. William Woys Weaver writes in his book
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening that there are three recognized varieties: white-seeded, black-seeded, and stone. The one that I'm growing has black seeds, but it seems that there are 2 Tennis Ball lettuces with black seeds. It's all too confusing, but what's not confusing is that this is a very good lettuce.
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| Tennis Ball Lettuce |
More snow peas. I'm not sure how long I'll be harvesting the Golden Sweets, the plants are becoming covered with powdery mildew. Fortunately it's the lower parts of the plants that are most infected and the upper parts of the plants where most of the peas are being produced are still pretty clean so I should get at least a few more harvests.
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| Golden Sweet Snow Peas |
Royal snow peas are just starting to pick up the pace, this was one of 2 harvests, the second harvest being larger but with a poorer photo. Royal snow seems to be highly resistant to powdery mildew. The Little Crunch snap peas that are growing next to the Royal snow peas are quickly succumbing to powdery mildew but Royal seems unscathed so far. I did harvest the first handful of Little Crunch snap peas but forgot to photograph them. I don't think I'll be harvesting many more snap peas because the plants are really being overwhelmed very quickly by powdery mildew. I don't think I'll be growing those again.
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| Royal Snow Peas |
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| Baby Shanghai Pac Choi |
The Pac Choi is sizing up quickly. I harvested 2 rounds of the Baby Shanghai variety with one round left in the garden and you can see in the background in the photo below that the Purple pac choi is not far behind.
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| Baby Shanghai Pac Choi |
There's a grapevine in my garden that grows like a weed and I have to trim it back a few times every year to keep it from sending vines up into the neighboring oak trees or scrambling across the ground and up and through the nearby fence. I made the first trim early enough this year to
harvest rescue a big bunch of tender leaves that I used first to make some Turkish stuffed leaves (beef, bulgur, dried split favas, and seasonings simmered in a tomato sauce) and the rest of them are sitting in a jar fermenting. The grapes are never worth harvesting because the vine gets infected by powdery mildew every year which spoils the fruit before it ripens and what does manage to ripen just attracts rodents so I strip the grapes off before the rodents can enjoy a snack. So it was very satisfying to get something worthwhile from the vines other than fodder for the compost bin.
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| Fresh Grape Leaves |
I pulled the first round of scallions. Very nice to have for stir fry with pac choi.
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| Italian Scallions |
And I'm finishing with a shot of one of the best looking loaves that I've baked in a while. Not exactly a harvest unless you count the yeasty beasties that I grow in my natural yeast starter.
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| The Latest Bake |
What else did I cook up this week. I went pantry diving and cooked up a half pound of Greek Gigante beans from the 2013 harvest. I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical about how they would come out but they cooked up tender and creamy in spite of their age. Old beans have a reputation for being impossible to cook up properly, generally remaining too firm to be palatable. I've found that cooking them low and slow and never allowing them to boil reliably produces tender beans that don't fall apart. This isn't the first time that I've rescued some old beans from a dark corner of the pantry and had them cook up just fine with the low and slow method, although nearly 5 year old beans is testing the limits. So those big beans went into a tomatoey stew with some local Chicken sausages and cabbage. I also made a braise of pac choi, snow peas, and favas served with a couple of fried eggs on top. And a stir fry of pac choi, asparagus, and snow peas with grated tofu and shrimp.
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.
How nice. Sincerely. You've still got spring crops. We are well into summer down here, with squash and peppers already pickable and green tomatoes 2 inches in diameter. The bunching onions never grew at all just remained about 2 mm thick. I tossed them. Waste of time. The Portuguese kale is bolting. Your lettuces and cabbage looks so refreshing to me.
ReplyDeleteWe are having a pretty typical May with lots of fog at night and early mornings and a cooling breeze during the day. It's been quite mild and most of the garden is loving it. My tomato and pepper plants aren't even in the garden yet.
DeleteThe tomato bean stew with the eggs, greens, and beans on top sounds wonderful. And your head of cabbage is so beautiful as are the choys. We started doing low carb last week, so I'm completely jealous of your bread.
ReplyDeleteWe're tilling and planting today, I can't wait to get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground.
I try not to overdo the carbs these days, especially sugar, but my husband and I have a major weakness for good bread and I have finally learned how to make really good bread and I can't give it up.
DeleteIt seems that you have waited a long time for your opportunity to till and plant. Have fun!
Delicious harvests - so envious of your lettuce as mine is barely a couple of inches tall. And that's a great tip for cooking up older beans - I've been wondering how long I could keep dried beans. I love practically every variety I try, but I only have so much room for them and it would be easier and more efficient to grow a few varieties but a greater quantity of each (instead of a smaller quantity but greater variety which is what I'm doing now).
ReplyDeleteI have found that the slow cooker overnight on low works well with dried beans with not too much water which dilutes the flavor. Once I cooked pinto beans 36 hours just for a trial. They were delicious, creamy and flavorful.
DeleteYour produce and your bread look amazing! Love the snow pea colors. I grow purple snap and shelling peas. It's so fun to grow different colors! I just hope the heat doesn't kill them off before we get any.
ReplyDeleteThose heads of lettuce look yummy. I may have to try something other than loose leaf, my kids don't seem to be too fond of it. Might be time to try something new!
That's a survivor cabbage for sure, having survived the Attack of the Killer Rodents! The pak chois are perfectly formed too. And I had no idea you could eat wild grape leaves. I have used them to add tannins to pickles, but never ate them. That's a great looking loaf of bread - I can almost taste the crispy crust!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful harvests! The scallions look really appetizing. Good to know that Royal Snow peas are resistant to PM--I have that problem here too. And that bread...it would kill anyone's attempt at low carbs.
ReplyDeleteWe have rampaging grapevines too but I have never used the leaves, maybe I should.
ReplyDeleteI always forget that grape leaves can be used like that... I shall have to think through how to do it... and I am relieved that Greek Gigantes beans a little on the old side cook up well, as we still have some in the garage, maybe three years old. Your harvests all look so fresh!
ReplyDelete