Harvest Monday - May 27, 2019

The last couple of weeks have been weird, it's been raining, and raining, and raining. Not a deluge, but it has been persistent. The garden has been loving it, everything has been growing like crazy. It has not rained so much that it would make it difficult to work in the garden but I've not been able to keep up because I've been laid low by a very nasty respiratory bug. At least the weather has not been gloriously sunny and warm while I've been laying in bed or reclining in my comfy chair in front of a crackling fire. I did manage to get in a few harvests before I was laid low and then after I was over the worst of it. Here's a sample of the most significant harvests.

I celebrated this first harvest of favas. Last year at this time I was ripping out all the fava plants because I couldn't keep the rodents from eviscerating all of the pods. This year the plants are still standing and I'm looking forward to a few more harvests.

Extra Precoce Violetto Favas

The one Pixie cabbage that I managed to get into the garden produced a very fine head.

Pixie Cabbage

I've started harvesting the Yellow Potato onions as spring onions. But it looks like my search for an onion that will do well in my garden will be continuing.

Yellow Potato Onions

Most of the onions are doing this.

Here's one of the harvests of snow peas from the last couple of weeks. We've been enjoying various stir fry dishes featuring them, the latest was with a couple of heads of choy, Yellow Potato onions, tofu, and shrimp with a simple sauce of fish sauce and sherry.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas

The garden also gave me more Yellow Heart Winter Choy, lettuces, and chard. The weather is supposed to become more warm and sunny as this week goes on so I hope I'll have the energy to get out to the garden and get some work done. If you would like to see what some other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately then head on over to Dave's blog Our Happy Acres, the home of Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - May 13, 2019

The harvests are definitely in spring mode now with no roots and plenty of greens. First up is the winter sown Tronchuda Beira (sown 1/29 and set out 2/22). I wasn't sure if the timing would just push them to bolt before they produced very many leaves but so far they don't look inclined to bolt. I used those leaves in a soup with some of the last of the parsnips and rutabagas.

Tronchuda Beira

I experimented with an early spring sowing of some winter choy. This variety is supposed to be very cold tolerant and should develop a yellow heart but the spring weather was too warm to make the center leaves turn yellow. I harvested these two heads just as they were starting to bolt. I used them in a stir fry with some snow peas and sweet onions. The spring weather did not have a detrimental effect on the flavor. Now I have a reason to look forward to winter, I want to see if it's cold enough here to make the hearts turn yellow and perhaps make them even more tasty.

Yellow Heart Winter Choy

Here's one of the last of the overwintered vegetables, the Italian Silver Rib chard was starting to bolt so I cut most of it down. This is still in the fridge awaiting some inspiration.

Italian Silver Rib Chard

The lettuces are sizing up now, especially the Three Heart Butterhead. Some of the Red Butter Romaine lettuces are getting a bit leggy so I've been cutting those small.

Three Heart Butterhead and Red Butter Romaine Lettuces

The snow peas are coming in quickly now. The disadvantage to growing a shorter variety like Oregon Sugar Pod II is that they have a shorter more intense harvest period. The tall growing Frieda Worlds snow peas that I grew last year had a nice long less intense harvest period. I would rather stretch out the harvest since I don't try to preserve the harvest and just want to eat them as they come in. But the disadvantage to growing the taller slower producing peas is that it's more difficult to protect the plants from the critters.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas

Those are the latest harvests from my garden. 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.

Harvest Monday - May 6, 2019

There's some new things coming out of the garden now. The Oregon Sugar Pod II snow pea plants grew so fast once they finally started going that I only managed to get one harvest of pea shoots and now the plants are starting to produce pea pods. That's the larger of 2 harvests for the week.

Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas

I got almost a half pound of baby kale which I used to make a Kale Caesar salad. This particular variety was bred for the baby leaf market so I've got about 2 dozen plants growing. The leaves can be harvested on a cut-and-come-again basis.

Tuscan Baby Leaf Kale

The lettuce is finally large enough that I can start to thin out the extra plants that I squeezed in to harvest as baby heads.
 

Queen of Crunch and Red Butter Romaine Lettuce

The last head of winter sown Three Heart Butterhead lettuce was ready to harvest also. My lone bunch of chives is blooming and I find the blossoms add a nice oniony punch to our salads.

Red Butter Romaine and Three Heart Butterhead Lettuce

The overwintered chard is showing signs of wanting to bolt so I've started to clear it out. I used this bunch in a braise with some of the last of the celery and some garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and there may have been some fennel in there too. Unfortunately I didn't write up any recipe notes but I do remember that I used some of my fermented sweet pepper paste.

Peppermint Stick Chard

It was time to clear out the end of the bed where I want to grow some sweet peppers this year and that meant that the 2-year old Orion fennel plant had to be dug out. The final harvest came to 6 pounds after trimming off the ferny tops. It's hard to believe that all of that came from one plant.

Orion Fennel

Orion Fennel

That's the latest harvests from the garden. I've been working on a garden tour post but just not been able to get around to finishing it. Things are changing fast in the garden so I'll have to finish that post and start the the next tour in quick succession.

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.