Baby spinach leaves
I didn't expect to have a real harvest this week. But I did. The harvests are all thinnings of the spring greens. The first one above was my spinach. The earliest of the spring planted spinach was thinned out. I like to keep the plants about 6" apart, but I plant seeds about 2" apart. So if I get good germination, I have a lot to thin. I had brought one of those black plastic containers out to put the thinnings in. Then I had to go in and get another and it still didn't all fit. I should have just brought my basket. But I didn't expect so much.
Then later I thinned out the baby Asian greens. Mostly it was tatsoi. The rest didn't come up as well and didn't need thinning. I did get some choy sum however. It didn't grow nearly big enough before it started to bolt. Now you pick choy sum usually when it starts to flower, but in the fall the stems get huge first. Here they were small. I don't think it has liked out hot spring weather one bit. I'm sad. I love choy sum, but this was a little tough. I guess I'll have to wait until fall to get the really good stuff.
I did spend some money. As I said earlier in the week I got a HUGE ball of twine. It ought to last me a while. I really have to stop spending money on the garden if I'm going to get into the black this year. But then I always think that. I don't spend much during the height of the growing season, but in the spring I do.
- Greens 1.22 lbs lbs
- Weekly total 1.22 lbs
- Yearly total 39.34 lbs
- Spent 35.57
- Tally -$535.45
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.
Nice harvest Daphne! I bet you really enjoyed the baby spinach!
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking that I am going to have to stop spending money if I am going to get in the black this year, too. :)
ReplyDeleteYour spinach looks really great! What variety do you grow?
ReplyDeleteI have three varieties. Olympia, Space, and Winter Giant.
DeleteThey are lovely looking greens, I don't grow much in the way of Asian greens; some pak choi and the occasional cabbage is pretty much it, but yours always look so lovely I think i should branch out a bit.
ReplyDeleteI love spinach thinnings. The leaves are so tender. I didn't plant choy sum this spring, because it always seems to get too hot for it here,and it gets tough. I forgot to plant it last fall.
ReplyDeleteFor the past few years I sowed my spinach about 2 - 3 inches apart and had poor germination. This year decided to sow thickly and all germinated, go figure. I now have lots of micro greens to harvest.
ReplyDeleteOh, the spinach and tatsoi look wonderful! I never have much luck with those. Must try again.
ReplyDeleteI'm always in awe of how meticulously you keep track of your harvest. I weighed everything we harvested our first year, but never got around to tallying the totals... 3.5 inches of rain last night!
ReplyDeleteI keep mine in a spreadsheet so I don't have to total it up the spreadsheet does it for me. It also divides it into my categories in the sidebar.
DeleteI forgot the "blogspot" in my address last week....I was out of practice! I am just getting my first Tatsoi sprouts because I have seen so many on all of the gardening blogs but now you have me thinking about this Choy Sum. Hmmmmm. This is why we keep spending!!!! So many options....then this needs a trellis and that means I need to build another bed, etc. LOL!
ReplyDeleteYoung greens are always so tasty - but spinach is by far my favorite. My spinach has been dawdling along because it has been fairly cool up until just recently. Hopefully with the weather temps moderating now, they will get a move on!
ReplyDeleteI always am in the red on the garden economics until July when I turn the tide with the value of the bigger harvests catching up on my spring costs.
July is usually the month that I go into the black too.
DeleteAwesome looking spinach! Mine isn't growing so well right now. I should have harvested some by now; oh welll...there's always fall :).
ReplyDeleteAwesome harvest to have to start with thinking that you wouldn't have one at all! Excellent!
ReplyDeleteNice harvest. I am starting to have little green tomatoes, can't wait until they are red!
ReplyDeleteHow awesome to get so much just from thinnings! It all looks delicious!
ReplyDeletegreat harvest! I have to get caught up on recording my expenses, but I know I'm deep in the red at the moment; hopefully summertime will turn that around.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of spinach! And those asian greens look really good too.
ReplyDeleteI think you are ahead of me because my new spinach is too small to pick. Yours looks great!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy seeing your weather box when I open your blog. Today, three hours earlier, we're about the same temperature on a foggy, San Diego morning.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the lush green harvest reminds me how fast plants (including weeds) have to grow in cold climates. After all, the season is short and winter is coming. Susan
Great harvest of baby spinach. I wonder how the choi sum tastes. Maybe we'll try it this fall too. I don't understand how you calculate the value of your harvests still. Do you give an average dollar value per pound to every variety across the board, or do you do something else? I'm interested.
ReplyDeleteI use the dollar value of a crop in season at my farmers market. At least if the farmers market sells it. Otherwise I try to find the price elsewhere. And though I grow the equivalent to organic, mostly the price comes from the IPM farmers. I do the in season value. I don't do the high priced value. For instance if they have early tomatoes it is about a dollar higher per pound. I also don't do the special low prices that they sometimes have. I do their base price.
DeleteSo impressed by your organization of tracking everything. Most days I feel lucky just to get the pickings into the house! :)
ReplyDeleteI like green thinnings. Just washed and pop them in the wok with fried rice or noodles. Lots of good thinnings there.
ReplyDeleteThinnings look yummy. Not many green things really enjoyed the dry, hot blast a lot of areas got. I hope you enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteLovely spinach, I have tough time growing choy sum, will try again in the fall.
ReplyDeletelovely harvest
ReplyDeleteDaphne, your weekly harvest totals inspire me! Wishing you a wonderfully bountiful harvest this year!
ReplyDeleteLooks great! My spinach is almost ready:)
ReplyDeleteNice harvest. Your spinach looks great as do your baby asian greens.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we have similar harvests this week! Yum! I love asian greens!
ReplyDeleteI think that your thinnings weighed more than my entire 2011 spinach harvest. Hope your garden fared well during the snowstorm. Oh, and your comment about having to stop spending money on your garden? HAHAHAHA. Like that's going to happen to any of us. We're addicted to gardening, can't stop spending, growing, trying new plants, acquiring new structures, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd another thing. I can't figure out how to subscribe to your blog, nor to other Blogspot blogs. All I see is a subscription to comments using something called Bookmark. Is there some way that I can automatically get emails when you make a new post? I use Wordpress.
ReplyDeleteHmm I've got no clue. I use an RSS feed reader for blogs. I'd go crazy if they all showed up in my email. If I get a chance I'll look into it.
DeleteI think it's in Gadgets; you can add a 'subscribe by email' box or one for 'followers'. When I 'follow' a blog then the posts show up in my google reader. Have never figured out that RSS thing!
DeleteThanks Mary. I'll go try to look for it.
DeleteGot it. Now it is at the bottom of the sidebar.
DeleteI am loving being exposed to all the different greens this year!!! I want to plant more varieties! Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage
ReplyDeleteNice thinnings! Baby spinach is my favorite, bet you'll have lots of yummy salads this week. This is the first year I've kept track of how much my harvests are worth and also my costs. I'm still very much in the red (~$500) and wondering if perhaps I shouldn't keep track!
ReplyDeleteI've got squash!!! (Sorry, but I'm very excited.) My pepper, on the other hand, is confusing me!
ReplyDeletehttp://planetpooks.com/?p=4552
Nice spinach harvest! I wish we could grow regular spinach in Honolulu, I can only grow Malabar spinach.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to successfully grow even a single leaf of spinach. This is also my first year for lettuce and chard. Your harvest is very encouraging and has also helped sell me on the Asian greens. Now it's just a matter of finding space...
ReplyDeleteNot expecting much of a harvest..........what a great surprise all those thinings ! stir-frys and salads?
ReplyDeleteKeeping a track on costs might just surprise me but i don't think it would change my habits...............I just grow what i love to eat and a little extra for giveaways and preserving.
Beautiful garden photos.............I'm hungry now.
ReplyDelete