Harvest Monday - December 24, 2018

There's a little more to show this week than last because I actually took some photos.

I thinned out the daikon radishes again and found some promising roots. The photo is deceiving though, those smallest roots are barely the size of a salad type radish. All those greens were pristine, tender and green with barely an aphid to be found. I blanched the greens for future use. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the Bora King and Mini Purple radishes other than size and the fact that Bora King tends to throw off a few more off-type white roots. They're both good and I'll happily continue to grow both so long as I still have viable seeds.

Bora King and Mini Purple Daikon Radishes

My second harvest of Amsterdam Prickly Seeded spinach was thankfully less infested with leaf miners than the first harvest. I didn't think I was going to be able to use these right away because we had planned a trip over the holiday so I blanched and froze them. As it turned out we ended up cancelling our trip so we could have enjoyed fresh spinach but it is nice to have some spinach handy in the freezer for quick meal prep.

Amsterdam Prickly Seeded Spinach

This will be the last arugula harvest for a while since the whole lot was starting to bolt. I'm not surprised considering I sowed this round in September and then we had a long warm fall so I was expecting it to bolt even sooner. The weather has stayed mild so I took the chance of sowing more seeds. Normally I don't bother trying to sow arugula in December because the cold weather seems to stunt the plants but I've noticed that some cress that volunteered is growing better than expected so perhaps the arugula will too. I've got more than enough seeds and space in the garden so it is worth the effort.

Speedy Arugula

Our last round of rain was not kind to the butterhead lettuce, it was starting to get some rot, so I harvested the 2 worst looking heads. Fortunately the rot was confined to the outer leaves and I was able to salvage quite a bit so it wasn't too much of a loss. More rain is due tonight so I should go rescue the last 2 heads today.

Three Heart Butterhead Lettuce

I did not grow any squash this year and this is not a squash that I purchased, it's a Terremoto squash from 2017. These are long keeping squashes and this one was the champ, it only started developing a soft spot this past week. The only problem with keeping a squash so long is that it loses it sweetness. I prepared one quarter of it by roasting slices and topping it with a cilantro salsa and yogurt and the lack of sweetness marred the dish. Another quarter went into a pureed soup with Asian flavors which turned out to be quite delicious because I was able to adjust the balance of flavors. I'll roast the rest of the squash, puree it, and freeze it for future use.

Terremoto Squash from 2017

Not pictured are some Sugar Rush Red and Sugar Rush Peach peppers that came from plants that I cleared out of the garden. Pepper season is not over here yet but I just didn't feel the need to take yet another photo of yet more peppers. Maybe next time.

That's the latest from my garden, head on over Dave's blog Our Happy Acres to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately. And my warmest wishes for the holidays to those of you who celebrate.