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Monday, March 12, 2012

Harvest Monday

home grown celery
Welcome to another Harvest Monday! Sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions this is a great blog hop to visit with gardeners from all around the world. (you don't have to be a blogger to go visiting, either).

With the lovely warm days and cool but not freezing nights the garden is really picking up, both out doors and in the greenhouse.

Besides my usual salad mix of lettuces, chickweed, lambs quarters, chard, spinach, sorrel, cilantro, I had a few mache plants this week too, just forgot to get a pic of them.

I cut one whole celery plant as a veggie for soup because it looked like it just might be trying to bolt. I haven't bothered with any blanching strategy on this celery, so I don't know if possible bolting or not blanching was responsible for the slightly bitter flavor or something else. But it wasn't bitter in the soup, so it's all good.

tiny broccoli head

The broccoli continues to put out side shoots but they also have just dime to quarter size heads on them. I've decided I don't really care, I just slice up the whole shoot, stem, leaf, itty bitty floret and all. Actually they say the leaves have more nutrition in them than the heads anyway.

snow peas

I've been picking a handful of snow peas every couple of days from the plants in the greenhouse.











greens!
I really love the Giant Red Mustard; a bit too spicy to eat raw in salad, it's wonderfully mild and sweet when steamed or braised. I've been picking mixed greens for cooking a couple of days a week. This photo show from left to right, Giant Red Mustard, a tend tip from wild Lamb's Quarters and some green chard called Perpetual Spinach. I usually chop them all together and braise in chicken stock, sometimes adding a handful or two of shredded cooked chicken meat at the last minute. Some times I also have kale in the mix.

Chicken and greens!


Yellow turnips, white & purple carrots, red & white radishes
There are still a few root crops in the garden, some Golden Globe turnips, some white carrots (maybe Belgian whites), some Purple Dragon carrots, radishes of several colors. The carrots were volunteers at the edge of a bed from plants grown last in 2009. I got busy and forgot about them....





And then I have literally hundreds of baby plants indoors under the lights, you can see some of them here in my post about soil blocks.
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10 comments:

  1. JodyMarch 12, 2012 at 9:01 AM

    You have an amazing harvest this week. I hope ours picks up soon too!

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  2. JodyMarch 12, 2012 at 9:02 AM

    Also, thanks for your recent comment about our soil amending work. It was very helpful.

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  3. Stoney AcresMarch 12, 2012 at 9:13 AM

    The chicken and greens looks really good. We will have to try that!!

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  4. Barbie~March 12, 2012 at 10:30 AM

    AHA! The perpetual spinach! I was wondering why one of my spinach looked so different. I forgot that I had tried that! *snicker* So THAT'S why we are supposed to mark plants?

    Your harvest is lovely!

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  5. diddencMarch 12, 2012 at 12:30 PM

    Cool looking carrots, as well as greens. What do you do with your turnips? My snow peas are on the same schedule as yours, a couple handfuls every few days. Nice harvest!

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  6. Norma ChangMarch 12, 2012 at 1:15 PM

    That's quite a harvest, your celery is lovely. I too prefer to eat the giant red mustard cooked.

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  7. kitsapFGMarch 12, 2012 at 7:59 PM

    Lovely harvests this week. You have a good volume and variety to show. I have come to appreciate celery that is sliced up into diagonal cut chunks and then boiled just long enough (5 minutes) to make it brighten in color and soften up - then sautee it in a half and half mix of butter and olive oil (can add some chopped onion and red peppers too which is nice) and then serve it seasoned to taste with salt as a vegetable side. The pre boiling and sauteeing mellows the stronger flavor of garden grown celery (unblanched) and is really a delicious and simple way to enjoy this plant.

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  8. JennieMarch 12, 2012 at 9:41 PM

    i love the purple carrots!

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  9. LizMarch 12, 2012 at 10:25 PM

    Thats interesting about broccoli leaves having more nutrients than the buds - I will have to stop cutting them off.

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  10. SubUrban Garden DiaryMarch 15, 2012 at 9:10 PM

    What a beautiful harvest! By the way, thanks for your help on my seedlings (the fungus). I have the ones I thought had the best chance out in the greenhouse with the door open in the day (it's been in the 70's), so they are getting plenty of fresh air and sunshine. Most of them are looking a lot better. A couple didn't make it, but I'm glad I might be able to save a few. Thank you again. :)

    Lynn

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