Monday, May 26, 2014

Harvest Monday 26 May 2014

I had two big harvests this week. I picked all of the radishes as they were full sized. And radishes don't keep in the ground well. They turn hollow in the center and get hot. It seemed like a lot of radishes to eat, but I got two containers filled with them, and I've almost finished the first one. I'll miss them when they are gone, but hopefully I'll have salad turnips by then.

The other big harvest was the kale harvest. I didn't pick this for fresh eating, but for freezing for the winter. This is the Winterbor kale. I still have the Blue Curly kale left to pick when the blossoms start to peter out. And yes I am eating a lot of kale blossoms now. I have enough to eat them almost every day. They are so delicious. They remind me a lot of garlic scapes in a way. They are one of those foods that most people haven't heard of much less eaten, but they are such a wonderful seasonal treat for gardeners.

Then I had three baskets of greens. Lots of lettuce and kale blossoms. With the first of the boc choy, Fun Jen, and tatsoi. I'm also picking a bit of mizuna for my salad. Soon I'll have to do a large mizuna harvest and will have enough to cook with. And I had the first few leaves of spring spinach. I hope it grows fast. I need this bed in two weeks. Usually I get two harvests out of the spring spinach, but I think this year I'll only get one. So sad. Usually I share it as there is so much, but this year I won't be sharing pounds like last year.
  • Asian Greens: 2.54 lbs
  • Greens: 4.13 lbs
  • Herbs: 0.08 lbs
  • Roots: 2.56 lbs
  • Weekly Total: 9.34 lbs
  • Yearly Total: 15.49 lbs
  • Yearly Tally: -455.62

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.

16 comments:

  1. Bountiful and varied harvest, love how you stage the radishes. Have you tried cooking radish? Even the "hot" ones become mild and sweet after cooking.

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  2. Such a colorful harvest. I have no harvest post this week. Though we've been enjoying the lettuce still, my efforts have been in my perennial garden which I have been posting about.

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  3. So nice to see all the green. Would like to hear more about kale blossoms and how you use them.

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    1. My number one way I love them (but can't eat them that way right now sadly) is to sautee them in oil then toss in some rice wine and oyster sauce. Butter, white wine and lemon juice isn't bad either. You can also just steam them. Or you can use them in any way you use broccoli. Though kale blossoms have thinner stems and more leaves on them than broccoli does.

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  4. So.much.green! And those radishes! Last night I went to a book signing and one of the tasty treats they had available was toasted and buttered heirloom grain bread with shredded radishes on top. It was so simple and so completely delicious! Now, I just have to wait for our radishes to be ready ;-)

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  5. It's amazing how quickly the greens have grown in your garden, it seems like you just planted them! They are really beautiful and so are those radishes.

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  6. those serried ranks of radishes have real appeal!

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  7. Your greens are so beautiful greens and have so very little pest damage. Mine are just beginning to put on some growth and I was able to thin some. Of course the Pak Choi is bolting already ::sigh::. I don’t know why I bother with it.

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  8. I just love the tatsoi - the rosette is so beautiful! I had never heard of eating kale blossoms but they do sound delicious, especially how you describe preparing them in the reply to "Edible Gardens".

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  9. Mighty impressive haul of radishes you have there, Daphne! Ours are yet so few, we're saving the greens...

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  10. That is a lovely display of radishes! I never got around to planting any this spring so I will just have to enjoy looking at yours instead. No kale blossoms here either, as ours didn't overwinter. But I did plant some kale this spring, and we had our first taste of it yesterday.

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  11. Wow, your radishes and greens are picture perfect!

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  12. Lovely radishes and kale! You sure are getting enough greens now to make up some nice salads. My spinach has already been going to seed so won't be getting much more. Will have to plant a larger patch next year earlier. Nancy

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  13. Wow, I'm super impressed by the variety of greens you grow. I'm going to have to branch out a bit next spring, we are getting tired of just lettuce and spinach!

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  14. Those are beautiful radishes! My radishes were a flop this spring because of the hot weather, but I'll try again in the fall. You definitely have a huge variety of greens this week and those boc choy look perfect!

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  15. The amount of greens the garden produces this time of year is both a blessing and a curse. I feel like our meals consists of either salads for stir-fries. It would be nice to mix it up a bit.

    That's a lot of radishes. Hopefully one day I'll be able to develop a taste them.

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