Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I got my second ever cutting of purple sprouting broccoli last week, followed shortly by another small cutting of more side shoots. I only have two plants growing, so there won’t ever be a huge amount of broccoli, but what we get is a welcome addition to the winter mix of greens I have been harvesting. I roasted these in the oven on a sheet pan, and they had a rich, sweet flavor. Their small size means they cooked in less than 10 minutes.
Santee broccoli
I got a couple of harvests of lettuce from the greenhouse. This one was Pele and Green Salanova Butter. The lettuce is still going strong from a December planting, and last week I got more planted that hopefully will start feeding us in a month or so. I used some of these two to make a salad we had for lunch yesterday. I had some blueberry infused balsamic vinegar I used to make a dressing, then I dressed the salad with fresh blueberries, feta cheese and toasted walnuts. I made crostini with some of my sourdough bread and it made for a light lunch.
lettuce
I started a batch of microgreens earlier in the month and cut them last week. This was a Mild Microgreens Mix I got from Johnny’s Selected Seeds that includes cabbage, kale, kohlrabi and mizuna. It makes a tasty topping for salads and sandwiches, and I started more of it yesterday.
microgreens
On the fermenting front, I started another jar of red cabbage sauerkraut. I made a quart jar last December and we liked it so much I started a half gallon jar this time! I didn’t grow the cabbage myself, but it did lead me to start some seed of red cabbage for growing this spring. I’m going to try one called Omero, which is a midseason type that makes heads up to three pounds. In the past I have had troubles growing the red varieties, so we shall see how it goes this time.
red cabbage for kraut
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!
So many books warn against planting anything in December, but lettuce and spring onions both do pretty well – started indoors – then outside in the greenhouse they put down good roots while light levels are low and then shoot to life in Feb. : All the best – Steve
That describes my winter greens here. They sort of mark time until late winter then take off when the days start getting longer and a bit warmer.
Sadly not joining in this week, though I could have with more curly kale and swiss chard. But failed to take photographs as I was super busy in the garden over the w/e: fixing the greenhouse, then sowing seeds and the potato seeds have gone into the ground. Your greens looks amazing, esp. the PSB. Microgreens are so trendy at the moment, you trendy man!
Microgreens are trendy here too, but also pricey! It’s so easy to grow them yourself.
I’m so looking forward to those first harvests – that lettuce and broccoli look wonderful! I purchased some seeds for several varieties of heading cabbage in Portugal last year – wasn’t planning on growing them this year but your comment about how you were going to try red cabbage again even though you’ve had issues in the past has motivated me to add them to the grow list.
I suspect some of my issues with red cabbage applied to growing cabbage in general. It wasn’t always the easiest thing for me. But now I have good luck with the green varieties, so it’s time to try the red one since that I have something specific I want to do with them. It’s also a good way to add the red/purple color to our plates.
I ought to try growing some microgreens. It’s something at the back of my mind that I never seem to get around to
Congratulation on you PSB harvests. I think it’s nice to add new things to the harvests at any time of year. Like Sue I keep thinking about growing sprouts but never get around to it, perhaps if my winter garden was more limited I would be more motivated.
I do tend to grow them in winter when the other harvests are sparse and even a small amount of fresh greens is welcome.
Your salad sounds delicious and appreciated even more in late winter/early spring. Still admiring your PSB.