Green was the color of this week’s harvests. We had 3.5 pounds of green spinach. I sauteed some of it and froze some for later use. I love fresh spinach. The overwintered ones are bolting now, so they got pulled up. Some spring planted ones are just about ready for harvest.
asparagus spears (click on any image to enlarge)
We had lots of green asparagus, 54 ounces of it this week. The warm rainy weather really seems to make the sprouts grow fast. We grilled some of it, and I stir-fried one batch as a side dish to go with Hot & Sour Soup.
stir-fried asparagus with Hot & Sour Soup
Green lettuce also made an appearance, with a little red mixed in also. We used about 2 pounds of it in salads this week. I cut one frilly endive plant for salads as well. I like the bitter taste endive gives to salads, but a little goes a long way for me.
frilly endive and Spotted Trout lettuce
Green onions are available in the garden now whenever I need them. I pulled a few this week for the Hot & Sour soup, and for other dishes. It’s so nice to have scallions ready to harvest as we need them.
some of the week's chard harvest
And finally, I pulled all the overwintered chard in the greenhouse to make room for other things like cucumbers. There was a whopping 4.8 pounds of it, most of which I blanched and froze for later. We’ll have the rest of it tonight with dinner. I have new plantings coming along, so we’ll have more shortly.
Total harvest for this week was 14.5 pounds, the largest so far in 2011. To see what other gardeners are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Mondays.
Wow that is a huge harvest for spring. You are in the same zone as I am, but we haven’t had nearly enough warm weather yet.
I’m interested to know how you specifically keep your chard. How long do you blanch it? Do you have to place it in a cold water bath? If you don’t mind could you fill me in? Thanks.
Katrina, I blanch both chard and spinach for 2 minutes, then plunge it in a cold water bath before draining and freezing. I chop the chard before blanching and tear the spinach a bit if the leaves are big.
What an impressive harvest! Everything looks healthy and delicious. Btw. I’m really looking forward to reading more about your experiences with Asian vegetables.
Gorgeous harvest!! The asparagus looks especially yummy!! I love the spotted trout lettuce! Pretty! I have a thing for pretty lettuce. LOL! I recently bought some seeds while in paris. I just couldn’t resist.
Yum-yum…your plants look so healthy and nutritious. This is the first year I have grown chard, and I am really enjoying it.
Very impressive green harvest! Whoever ate our pea plants, also devoured our scallions, so I’m going to have to replant those. Your overwintered chard sounds like our overwintered kale. I just pulled the last of the Lacinato and Red Russian winter kale last week, and am now scrambling to be creative enough to use it all! Not complaining though…could do much worse than have an excess of kale, or chard! Yum!
I have to say that I am GREEN with envy over your harves 🙂
What a great harvest you have there! Especially jealous of the asparagus. It seems everyone are getting them from their garden. Wish I had grown some…
Beautiful asparagus! Yum!
Mmmmmh – asparagus!
I’m so jealous of everyone who gets to grow asparagus. There’s a field close to my house, and let me tell you, it’s so hard not to steal any! They’re selling it at a farm nearby, too, but it’s only open during my own working hours. 🙁 And I’d so much rather buy local than from the store – who knows where that came from!
That is an exceedingly abundant harvest for this early and everything looks delicious! I am also happy to have green onions available for use now as the stored onions are all but gone now.
How you get this season spinach this early I’ll probably never know. Mine are growing well enough but they are still just babies. You’re harvesting some very heavy hauls this spring. You’re showing the real potential of our humble zone!
Jody, all the spinach I’m harvesting now was planted last October and overwintered in the cold frames. The spinach I planted this February is just now getting big enough to harvest.
Nice harvest, how old is your asparagus patch? My asparagus is so tiny and not worthy of eating.
We planted the asparagus 4 years ago.
Beatiful and abundant. 14 pounds, WOW!~