It seems like we’ve had a lot of new items ready for harvest in the last week or so. At least, new for 2013 items! The first blueberries were a welcome sight indeed. The bushes are loaded this year, and if early harvests are any indication it will be a banner year for them. We got two quarts this first week alone, and those are coming from just two bushes. We’ve already started freezing them. And I’ve been enjoying them for breakfast in the morning on my muesli.
first blueberries of 2013
fresh blueberries on Muesli
Also making an appearance were the first cucumbers from the greenhouse. Manny was first to give us fruits, but Tasty Jade will not be far behind. Both of these are lovely varieties of cukes, and do well in the greenhouse environment or outside. I think I see a Saturday Spotlight on one or both of these!
Manny greenhouse cucumbers
The first ones went into some Quick Refrigerator Pickles. And so did the second batch, and the third! I will probably make some bread and butter pickles when the cukes in the main garden start coming on. It will be at least a couple of weeks before they are ready. The ones from the greenhouse should keep us supplied until then.
Quick Refrigerator Pickles
Another first harvest this year was some Golden Purslane. I’ve got it planted in a decorative container in the herb garden area. It has slightly tart, fleshy and crispy leaves that are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. We enjoyed it in a salad, topped off with some of Daphne’s Garlic Scape Salad Dressing. I also have a green leaf purslane growing in another planter.
Golden Purslane
salad with lettuce and purslane
I cut the last of the garlic scapes this week too. There was a little over two pounds of them this year, which is about the same as last year. It is enough for plenty of pesto and salad dressing, plus I made some aioli sauce with some too.
some of the 2013 garlic scapes
The daikon radishes are getting big now. This one in the below photo is April Cross, a variety that is suited for spring planting and less likely to bolt. The smaller red radishes are Shunkyo.
Shunkyo and April Cross radishes
I also got quite a few kohlrabi this week. I harvested the last of the green Winner and purple Kolibri varieties. I have yet to harvest any of the Kossaks, which take a bit longer and get quite a bit larger. We’ve enjoyed all of these kohlrabis raw so far, served with a yogurt dip of some kind. I do want to make some kohlrabi slaw this week to go with some planned BBQ chicken. Would that be called ‘kohl-slaw’?
Winner and Kolibri kohlrabis
One big harvest this week did not come from our garden. My wife and I went to Farview Orchards for a cherry-picking party. We came home with about 15 pounds of both tart and sweet cherries. That will supplement our meager haul from our own trees this year!
cherries from Farview Orchards
I hope you have enjoyed seeing what we are harvesting here at HA. To see what other gardeners are bringing in from their gardens, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, where Daphne hosts the Harvest Monday series.
Oh man…blueberries AND cukes! We are so far behind you! Congratulations on a great harvest week!
Beautiful cherries and blueberries! I tried growing diakon but it never formed root for some reason and went to bloom instead. Will try again in the fall.
April Cross is one that is good for spring planting. Most daikon types do best in fall though.
Wonderful – and I’m SOOO stalking to see what all you do with those cherries… YUM!
Barbie, I see pies, cobblers, and smoothies in my future. I made a cherry crisp last week with some of the sweet cherries.
Oh you’ve got lots of good stuff coming out of your garden! But I’ll pass on the purslane, not one of my favorites, it remains a “weed” in my garden. Kohlslaw indeed. 🙂
Oh I am jealous of those Blue Berries. We love blue berries but unfortunately the soil here in Utah just won’t let us grow them here!! 🙁
Blueberries are good in so many foods. I doubt if my pH 7.6 soil would support them. I hope you publish the recipe for bread and butter pickles if you haven’t already. It looks like I’ll have a glut of Picolino cucumbers this year and I was thinking they are perfect for b&b pickles.
I will be making the bread and butter pickles soon, and post the recipe!
You are killing me with the cucumbers. I so want to have cucumber salad. But I’m going to have a wait a long times since I’m planting late this year. Today was hot and humid so it would have been a perfect day for it.
Great harvest! I am getting cucumbers this week too. I planted them inside early to try to beat the bugs.
What a beautiful box of cherries!
Will be a while before I get any cucumber, yours are beautiful. I gave up trying to grow blueberries, didn’t want to fatten the birds anymore.