Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We’re still enjoying the spring greens here, mostly harvested from the greenhouse beds. I cut a head of Tango lettuce last week for my wife to make a taco salad. I threw in a few sprigs of cilantro to go with it. Tango is a frilly oak leaf lettuce that sort of resembles a curly endive, though the taste is certainly mild. I sometimes harvest individual leaves of it but this time I cut the whole head which was just the right size for two servings.
Tango lettuce plus cilantro
I also made a cutting of a few leaves of Mizspoona to add a little green to a frittata we had for lunch one day. Mizspoona Salad Select is good for salads when young, but it’s also good anywhere you might use mizuna once it gets full sized.
Mizspoona
It may be a green, but the leaves of Western Front kale have some reddish purple going on. I only have one plant of this growing in the greenhouse, but it gave me enough leaves to saute for a side dish last week. It’s a Red Russian type that is supposed to grow during the winter months, and it has done just that in the protected greenhouse environment. I think next time I will set out more than one!
Western Front kale
Also last week I made another cutting of salad greens from the greenhouse. It’s a mix of spinach and Mizspoona plus lettuces like Radichetta, Jester, Outstanding and Tango. It made for a nice main dish salad one night. All the greenhouse greens are especially tender since they aren’t toughened up by the wind or weather. The spinach is Giant Winter, and despite the large size the leaves are still tender enough for salads.
salad greens from greenhouse
I’ve still got two of the Thai Rai Kaw Tok winter squash in storage, and I decided to bake one and puree it for later use. These squash are usually good keepers, but we don’t have a lot of puree left in the freezer and I wanted to replenish our supply before I lost the squash. It wasn’t quite as flavorful as the ones from 2014, but it will be fine for custard, soups, pasta sauce and other similar uses. This one weighed over seven pounds before cutting up and cooking. The deep orange flesh makes a lovely colored puree. I’ll cook the other one up soon.
Thai Rai Kaw Tok squash
And in late breaking news, yesterday I found the first asparagus spear poking up out of the ground! That’s a full three weeks ahead of last year, and much like 2012 when we got our first harvest on 3/16. Looks like my wife got the old foliage cut back just in time about a week ago. Asparagus is a good harbinger of spring, though I have seen a few spears get frozen early in the season. Regardless, the first spears are an eagerly awaited annual event here, and I look forward to that first harvest.
first asparagus of 2016
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 share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
The salad leaves that I planted last autumn in the greenhouse are ready for picking now.
That asparagus looks amazing! Have you ever grown it in a pot? I’ve got some in a large planter but I only put it in last year but I have some reservations about how well it’ll do..
I am drooling over your stalk of asparagus. No harvest as yet but soon, perhaps, as the weather has been way above normal so far. Hopefully it will remain that way and we do not experience a sudden drop.
Lovely greens, I hope I get some soon! And how exciting to see the asparagus. It will definitely be a few more weeks for me to get asparagus, but I do expect an early year here as well with the recent weather.
How wonderful to already have asparagus peeking its head to welcome in Spring! Of course, the greens are wonderful, too 😉
What kinds of temperature fluctuations are you seeing in your greenhouse this time of year? Our temps have been all over the place, with our greenhouse sometimes hovering around freezing in the early mornings and spiking as hot as 90* one warm day…I am hesitant to put anything out there yet, but would love to get some of our starts out of the bathroom 😉
We have a lot of temp fluctuations in the greenhouse too. Our temps have been a bit more moderate than yours, but I still have both a heater and a fan in there depending on whether I need to heat it up a bit or cool it down!
Aha! Brilliant! We’re not quite that sophisticated yet, but your successes are great motivation! Thanks, Dave!
Red Russian kale has been one of my favorites with colors influencing my opinion. Isn’t that magenta veining gorgeous? I love to put it next to red cabbage. And I agree, asparagus poking through is a harbinger of spring wherever you live.
Asparagus season has started here, although not from my garden since I don’t grow it, but we’ve been feasting on local stuff from the farmer’s market. Another beautiful kale! I remember not very many years ago when kale selections were pretty limited and boring, now there’s too many to choose from if you grow your own.
OMG – look at that HUGE asparagus spear! I’ve pulled back the straw on my beds, but no sign of them yet. I’m not overly concerned at this point, as I did cover them with a good couple of inches of compost when I cut them back in the fall and we did have a very mild winter – couldn’t have come at a better time as I’ll be much less worried about the asparagus overwintering once they become a bit more established this year.
Wow, everything is looking great!! I will catch up here in a few weeks, we are still pretty cold! We did get our peas planted over the weekend!!
That’s a nice haul! I really wish I had some lettuce.
Ooh, I should look and see if I have any asparagus spears. I have a bed I’m abandoning but it might still produce a few spears.
How exciting to have asparagus coming up. That’s still on my list of things to plant.. I’ll get to them someday until then I can just drool over yours! All your greens look fabulous too.