Monday, May 25, 2015

Harvest Monday, 25 May 2015

Tarragon

I finished up drying the thyme and the tarragon. The thyme was camera shy, so didn't get photographed. The greens however were not. And they were camera hogs.

Mizuna and choy sum

Spinach from the three beds

Chard

One of two bok choy pickings

And lettuce. I had to pick the lettuce as we are getting weather in the 80s and up to 90 this week and this bed is surrounded by brick so gets hot and stays hot. I wasn't sure how long it would hold. I picked everything in this bed except the romaine that hadn't headed up yet. I kept four heads and gave my townhouse mates two. The heads picked are not small, so I'll be in lettuce for a while. It ought to keep a couple of weeks in the fridge easily. I watered it the day before I picked it and picked it really early in the morning.

The Red Sails lettuce that is marked by little pieces of bamboo will stay as I need to let it go to seed. My seed is getting really old. I picked the best of the plants to save. I'm hoping that it won't suck up too much energy from the melons which will be planted here soon. I probably should have planted one somewhere I didn't care about, but I didn't even think about it until after they were all growing.

Hopefully the romaine that is left will head up before it bolts or has to be pulled. This bed is getting cleared out in two weeks, so it will all be picked then one way or the other.

The second and last sowing of French Breakfast radishes was picked.

And the first of two sowings of German Giant. I find that German Giant is not very giant. Some were starting to bolt. I'm not sure how they taste yet. So the jury is still out. But I like how the French Breakfast grows better. It has pretty sparse leaves and more root. The German Giant need more space as most have lots of leaves. I know radish leaves can be eaten and I used to when my garden was smaller. But as you can tell from the above photos, the last thing I need is more greens. So they got fed to the compost pile.

  • Greens 9.19 lbs
  • Greens, Asian 4.84 lbs
  • Herbs 0.64 lbs
  • Roots 1.93
  • Weekly total 16.60 lbs
  • Yearly total 34.75 lbs
  • Yearly Tally $-185.95

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.

24 comments:

  1. Love how you designed and planted your lettuce bed, we will be experiencing high temp this week also. Hoping for rain, grounds are bone dry.

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  2. I first read that as Red Snails Lettuce - shows how my mind works.

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  3. Just beautiful, Daphne. Jealous as always. You've already got chard, and mine is just seedlings. And you're already taking out your lettuce, while mine is just starting to look like lettuce. How can there be such contrast, and you're only a few miles from me? Skill, I guess.

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    1. And micro climates. I couldn't have done this at my old house. But here in an more urban environment the nights don't get as cold and the soil heats up faster. So things grow faster in the spring. Though the ocean breezes can keep us cool some years. So far we haven't had too much of that.

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  4. My radish leaves wound up tasting pretty strong so they wound up on the compost too. When you let your lettuce go to seed, do you take any leaves from it along the way or leave the whole plant?

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    1. I could take some leaves. Maybe a third of the plant would be fine. I've done it in the past. But I really don't need the extra lettuce right now. So I'm leaving the plant whole.

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  5. Such a beautiful harvest, Daphne! My garden is barely planted and I hope to get some greens this week, but nothing compared to the haul you are bringing in.

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  6. That spinach looks so good! I lost all my spinach to leaf miners - - which was my fault because I should have covered them. And we're supposed to be getting hotter weather as well... I'm kind of looking forward to it, but kind of not.

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  7. Ditto Eight Gate Farm. Everything looks delicious and so abundant! Hopefully I'll be picking radishes by next week; I grew French Breakfast this year as well & can't wait to try one.

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  8. Your lettuce is beautiful. Don't you love the contrast of Red Sails with the solid green of the other lettuce? I've not grown the French Breakfast radishes but maybe will try with your recommendation. The leaf to root ratio sounds appealing and slicing yields more uniform results.

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    1. Just a warning that all French Breakfast radishes aren't the same. I've gotten them from Pinetree and the leaves were too vigorous. The ones from Fedco are great though.

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  9. I've got some Red Sails lettuce started, my first time trying it. There is absolutely no danger of it bolting in hot weather here, we've had much cooler than normal weather for the past three weeks, a warm day lately has been in the mid-60's. We had to go further from the coast yesterday to hike so that I could get a dose of sun, the fog has been so thick and persistent.

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  10. As you say, there are lots of variants of the French Breakfast radish. I am growing one called "Flamboyant 5", but it is basically French Breakfast by another name. I find this type is very prone to bolting, but if you can prevent it from doing so, it produces a really tasty and succulent root.

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  11. So many beautiful greens! I can't wait the spinach to be up and ready for me, yours looks so fresh and tasty.

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  12. Wowsers, that's a good harvest Daphne! I don't really know much about tarragon, so it's nice to see a photo of it.

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  13. What an awesome bunch of greens. Looks like your garden is powering along.

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  14. Daphne-

    Well, it took me a while, but I finally get to participate in your weekly harvest recap this week! As always, your garden looks amazing. So much abundance. I am curious, when you pick as much spinach as you did this week, what is your method for keeping it fresh so you can use it all?

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    1. I don't keep it fresh. As soon as it is brought in, I blanch it. Most of it is frozen for the winter and some is saved for dinner. I do this with all my leafy greens that I freeze for winter - chard, spinach, kale, and mizuana. They just take up too much space in the freezer. I might keep a little spinach or mizuna fresh to make the salads more interesting. Those and things like lettuce and bok choy I keep in large plastic tubs with lids. I use a slightly damp cotton towel to line the bin.

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  15. Oh Daphne, you are making me miss spring! So many glorious greens and those radishes!

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  16. Wow your spinach looks so good - not one blemish or bug bite. The lettuces are nice sizes!

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  17. Wow! Your harvest is gorgeous. Makes my mouth water to look at all those luscious greens.

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  18. Wonderful! Up here in Northeastern Wisconsin, it's a little too early to harvest anything except rhubarb. I have some radishes in containers that might be ready, though. I wonder if I can add the leaves to a pesto or if they'll be better raw?

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  19. Hi Daphne, Everything looks so healthy and wonderful! I am getting a little kale and spinach to freeze. Still trying to learn how to make them tasty in the winter! Nancy

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  20. Beautiful! You are eating well these days.

    I especially admire your mizuna and bok choy--with no signs of flea beetle damage. Ours is holy. :)

    I'm not familiar with choy sum. Will research it.

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