What's In Season

I thought I'd do a quick rundown of what we're eating right now.  Last weekend, Jonathan and I went out and picked some snow peas.  He ended up eating two-thirds of the bowl. 

I've grown 'snowbird' for the past three years and it always seems to produce a ton of pods each spring.


The broccoli is about ready as well.


I tend to get smaller crowns in the spring.  The fall ones are usually twice this size.  I've grown 'Bonanza' for the past couple of years and it has proven to be very reliable from germination to harvest.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen this variety for sale lately and my seed stash is running low so this might be the last year I'll be growing it.


My 'Winter Density' lettuce was on the verge of bolting so I picked it.  It has a slight bitter edge now but not too bad.


Finally, 'Hakurei' are my favorite turnips to eat.  They are very mild, sweet and perfect simple steamed with a bit of butter or sauteed.

The Last Big Harvest of the Year

I meant to write this post earlier in the week. Unfortunately, I'm still recuperating from some surgery I had performed on Monday and haven't had the will or strength to do so. Before the snow storm hit, I spent a day cleaning up the garden and harvesting a ton of veggies. These will keep well in the fridge as the garden becomes a less hospitable place to store food.

I would consider this to be the last great harvest of the year. I still have some odd and ends left out there but for the most part, this accounts for the bulk of this year's fall garden. When it comes to growing fall beets, I still have a lot to learn. They took much longer to grow then my spring-sown beets and produced only small roots that were a bit gnarled. Still, they'll be good peeled and steamed.


The mice were beginning to show interest in the carrot bed so I went ahead and pulled every single last one. Last fall, I lost my entire fall crop to them. This time around, I was feeling less than charitable so up they all went. Most of them could have spent more time in the garden but young carrots are better than no carrots.


I also picked enough celery to last us all winter. These were HUGE. We don't eat celery raw so what won't be cooked within the next couple of weeks will be chopped and frozen for later use.


A bowl of Chinese broccoli, wild arugula and Winter Density lettuce. Out of all of the lettuces I planted this fall, Winter Density is the only variety that hasn't turned bitter from the cold.


More leeks - the bulk of these will be chopped and frozen as well.


Tatsoi, broccoli shoots and Yukon Gold potatoes. The potatoes were from my two buckets. Unfortunately, they were riddled with holes and had to be tossed.


Finally, I waited as long as I could to harvest my lemon grass. I grew these from five cuttings I'd purchased and rooted from the Asian market last spring. These turned out much better than I had anticipated and will store will in the freezer. I use lemongrass to flavor grilled meats, soups and curries.

Random Happenings...and Non-Happenings

Looks awful doesn't it? For some reason, I can't seem to find the motivation to start the fall cleanup. And it's not helping that the garden is covered in mud right now. It's always hard getting started but ultimately, I do enjoy tidying things up and putting the garden to rest for the winter.

The only things blooming in our garden right now are the Asian greens that have bolted prematurely. In this case, it's the Napa cabbages. The honey bees seem to appreciate them so I think I'll wait to pull them.


The wild arugula seeds that I sowed last fall never took so I'm happy to see that it did this time around. The leaves are very pungent so a little bit goes a long way in a salad or sandwich.


Broccoli side shoots - one of my favorite things in the fall garden. I love a veggie plant that keeps on giving.

My two Brussels Sprout plants - I'd cut off the tops but I'm wondering now whether I should remove more of the leaves to coax the plant into putting more of its energy into maturing the sprouts.


The four chrysanthemum tea plants that I transplanted into the garden in 2010 have since taken over their bed.

It won't be long now before they begin to bloom. And if we can avoid a hard frost anytime soon, we might just get a decent crop of flowers this year.

A Mid-October Harvest

Is it really mid-October already? In a lot of ways, it feels more like Spring as we've had so much precipitation lately that the garden is now covered with mud and standing water. This generally only happens in early March when the ground is still frozen and the water has nowhere to go. The soil in my growing beds resembles a saturated sponge. Hopefully, our veggies won't rot from the excess moisture.

Another great week for harvesting carrots and turnips - these have been very tasty roasted.


I harvested half of my cauliflower crop this week - 4 heads. They're not huge but are still the best I've grown so far.


I love cauliflower simply steamed and finished with a bit of butter. When you have veggies this fresh, it doesn't really make sense to add too much seasoning.


The broccoli is starting to produce a generous amount of side shoots. I like to harvest the young leaves as well as they are very tender.


Salad greens - I didn't grow a mix this fall like I did in past years. This time around, I just walked around the garden and just sniped what looked good - several varieties of lettuce, beet greens, baby spinach, basil, parsley and some Red Russian kale.


Yesterday, I found this little guy tucked away in the melon patch. I didn't have much hope that it would be any good but I picked it anyway.


To my surprise, it was ripe when I cut into it. Aside from having somewhat of a hollow heart, it was actually quite good. In fact, I dare to say that it was one of the sweetest and crunchiest melons I picked all year long. It was indeed an unexpected delight.


I also picked too lovely heads of tatsoi. The slugs have had a field day with my Asian greens this fall but these two have made it through relatively unscathed.


Finally, these Poblanos are undoubtedly the last peppers of the year. They're too small to roast and peel but will be tasting sliced and cooked in a stir-fry.

The fall growing season is just flying by. I can't wait to see what you all are harvesting this week!

Fall Garden Tour

Now that summer is coming to an end, here's a preview of this year's fall garden. All in all, I was good about getting our fall crops started on time. In a few weeks we'll have to break out the row cover at night, but nonetheless, I'm hoping that we'll be able to harvest continually from the garden until at least early December.

In no particular order, here is what we'll be eating (hopefully) during the next few months:


The fall beets (lower right) are slowly sizing up while the fast growing Tokyo Market turnips should be ready in a couple of weeks.


The spinach is practically ready for us to harvest. The winter carrots (right) on the other hand will be pulled in December and January, that is if the voles don't get to them first.

Red russian kale in the background and gai lan (Chinese broccoli) in the foreground. I have another bed of gai lan that should be ready in a week or two.


Here's a bed of Asian greens.


I am growing a ton of leeks this year and they are looking really good. They are much fatter than last year's crop.

I have two Jade Cross Brussel sprout plants that survived the groundhog attacks earlier this year. Can we defeat the cabbage worms and actually get a harvest this year?


My fall carrots should be ready in another month or so.


The Bonanza broccoli is doing well and should be ready soon. On the other hand, I'm worried that our cauliflower won't head up in time.


This will most likely be my last year of growing Napa cabbage. It's impossible to keep the slugs away from this plant. Also, our fall crop has bolted prematurely due to the sudden change in temperatures. I think I'll stick to other Asian greens that are easier and faster to grow.


I don't expect much from our fall snow peas but that won't stop me from trying to grow them.


Finally, I have several varieties of winter lettuce this year. These will have to be harvested by early December their quality quickly diminishes after that point.

In addition to this, I sowed some mache, claytonia and French Breakfast radishes the other day. What's growing in your fall garden?

This Week's Harvest - Disappearing Greens

This week's harvest was a mix of odds and ends. At the moment, we're waiting for the next big thing to come along. A few weeks ago, it was the Asian greens. I'm guess pretty soon, it will be either the cucumbers or zucchini. But for now, I'm expecting our weekly harvest to remain pretty modest.

The broccoli harvest from our nine plants has been decent, but nothing extraordinary. They along with our remaining Asian greens account for most of the veggies on our present dinner plates.


I picked the first of our snow peas a few days ago. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them in the weeks to come. Snow peas have proven to be a fairly reliable crop in our garden.


On a sweeter note, the wild strawberries are pouring in. I'm glad I planted them last year. Hopefully, I'll be saying the same thing about our Seascape strawberries this time next year.


This is just to give you a sense of how big they are. As you can see, it'll take more than a few to satisfy one's sweet tooth. However, what they lack in size, they more than make up for in flavor.


On a sad note, the last six heads of lettuce in our garden have turned bitter. It was bound to happen sooner or later but I was hoping for the latter. My plans to have a consistent supply of salad greens this summer has come to an abrupt end. I started two heat-tolerant varieties (Manoa and Anuenue) a few weeks ago but it will be a while before they're ready. I guess we'll be relying on our local farmer's market for salad greens this summer.

This Week's Harvest - June 5, 2011

When I look at this head of lettuce, I'm can't help but be reminded of nature's diversity.


Lately, it has become a race to eat all of the spring sown lettuce and Asian greens before they reach for the sky. The cleared space will be replanted with more beans and heat-tolerate varieties of lettuce. Our fridge is pretty much patched with greens at the moment. I decided to harvest all six heads of Napa Cabbage as they are beginning to show signs of bolting. Unfortunately, I had to throw about two thirds of each head of cabbage straight into the compost pile because they were covered in holes and slug poo. I must have found at least two dozen baby slugs when I inspected the leaves. I'm starting to question why I even bother to grow it.

In my experience, growing organic Napa cabbage takes a lot of discipline - more than I have apparently. I've been really bad about reapplying the Sluggo every week. Then there are the cabbage worms. I hate to have my beds covered with fabric row cover but when it comes to most brassica vegetables, I'm becoming convinced that it's the only option.


On the bright side, I think this has to be one of the most finest heads of lettuce I've ever grown. This is an Italian variety called 'Lollo Rossa'. It's pretty mild tasting and the leaves hold up well under the mid-day sun. I will surely grow this one again.


Late this afternoon, I noticed that my Pskem River hardneck garlic had produced scapes. Still no signs of them on my other two varieties (German Extra Hardy and Bogatyr).


I also picked the first of this year's broccoli. These crowns aren't quite as big as the ones I got last fall (probably because I planted them much closer together) but I'm still happy with the results. The plants are already sending up plenty of side-shoots. I have nine plants but now I'm wishing that I had grown twice as many.