It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I managed to get a lot done in the garden last week, and the summer veggies are almost all planted. It’s a good thing too, because Saturday I broke a glass coffee cup in the kitchen and cut my right hand bad enough it needed two stitches. Thankfully it wasn’t any worse than that, but it will be a few days before I want to use a digging fork or a shovel again. Meanwhile the spring veggies continue to keep us well fed, with a few new faces in the harvests. I made another cutting of the spigariello, which I sauteed briefly in olive oil along with chopped garlic and a few hot pepper flakes. I enjoyed it prepared that way, and my next experiment will be to treat it like kale chips and roast the leaves on a baking sheet.
spigariello
I pulled the first of the kohlrabi last week, this variety was Terek. I enjoyed one of them raw for lunch one day, served with a simple yogurt dip. These three were a nice size, and averaged around 8 ounces each. The kohlrabi all has slug damage, but it’s only on the skins and once peeled they are crunchy and sweet inside. The rainy weather has made the slugs more difficult than usual to deal with.
Terek kohlrabi
I also cut the first baby pac choi. Mei Qinq is my go-to variety for a small green stem pac choi that is bolt resistant and cold hardy. I cut two of them last week for a side dish I made for dinner. I have several more growing in a container and sizing up.
Mei Qinq pac choi
I cut these two in half lengthwise, sauteed for 5 minutes in a skillet, then served them up with a warm miso-ginger sauce. The sauce also had mirin, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha sauce and lime juice. I loosely followed this recipe, adding a bit of soy sauce to the dressing and tweaking the other ingredients to taste. It was so tasty I wish I had fixed another pac choi! My wife was out of town and didn’t get to try it, so it will be back on the menu soon so she can get a taste.
baby pac choi with warm miso-ginger dressing
And I got the first garlic scapes of the season on Saturday, before my visit to the ER. These came from the early maturing Turban types like Red Janice, Uzbek and Xian. We typically use these in stir fries, pesto and Daphne’s Garlic Scape Salad Dressing. They are a real seasonal treat for sure.
garlic scapes
I cut the main heads from two Aspabroc broccoli plants last week, and a side shoot from Apollo. I’m trialing several baby broccoli types this spring, and it looks like they are coming on in succession. In addition to my old standbys Apollo and Artwork, I planted Aspabroc, Happy Rich, Atlantis and Burgundy. Artwork will be the next to be cut, with Burgundy and Atlantis just showing signs of budding. Burgundy is listed as a sprouting broccoli that can be grown both spring and fall, so it would be an interesting addition to the lineup if it does well here.
Aspabroc and Apollo broccoli
And I cut more butter lettuce from the greenhouse, including the last of the Mirlo which has done so well for me this spring. The season for lettuce is about over here, as the weather is heating up.
Mirlo lettuce
We had a couple of interesting visitors in the garden last week, one moving a bit slower than the other. A box turtle showed up outside the garden gate, and thankfully I saw it before stepping on it or tripping over it. It was in no hurry to leave, so it was easy to go get my camera and get it to pose. I had to stand still fora few minutes before it reluctantly stuck its head out just a bit.
box turtle
And a few days later, I looked out in the back yard around 10AM and there was a skunk nosing around the grass, looking for food. It was raining at the time, but the skunk didn’t seem to mind. I don’t know if it was looking for worms, or bugs, or what, but it ignored me while I snapped a pic of it. It was moving pretty quickly, and wasn’t in the mood to stand still like the turtle.
skunk in backyard
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 pac choi looks lovely Dave, no problems with slug damage there, I never have such good luck, so I’ve given up on them! We are all enjoying the scapes too, along with the green garlic, although the some of the maincrop garlic isn’t far away now. : All the best – Steve
I had the pac choi in a container, which helped keep the slugs away. They would surely have gotten to it had it been in the ground.
What a great harvest… I planted over 25 kohlrabi’s because i love them… and the rats hollowed out every single one of them. My broccoli’s were beautyfull plants aas well… and there they chewed out all the growing points… now its war … i love the spigariello! I have this in my fall garden… or i will… if i can win from the rats
That’s a shame about the rats! Thankfully they are one pest we don’t have here…yet.
You do have interesting visitors, We call box turtles, tortoises. Do they occur in the wild in your parts? You keep mentioning things that I have never heard of like spigariello?
The Eastern Box Turtle is quite common in our area, and I see them fairly often. The spigariello is not that common here, though popular in Italy.
Well you’re plot visitors are different to ours here for sure! I really enjoy seeing what you have harvested Dave. I shall be sowing kohl rabi again this year after last year’s success inspired by you, and am even having another go at sweet potato…just the one plant… as I am always so envious of your crop!
Kohlrabi is definitely one of my favorite veggies! Hope the sweet potatoes do well for you too.
The Mei Qinq looks great. Around here, it was the worst offender when it came to slug damage, so I stopped growing it, even though I really liked it otherwise – but may give it another go at some point as you just never know. I hope your hand heals up quickly – best not to push it, especially when it comes to working in the soil. I’m always paranoid about infection when it comes to these things, especially after the mom of a friend of mine was hospitalized and almost lost her hand.
The pac choi is a slug magnet here, so I was happy when I discovered growing it in a container helped keep them away. I can thank Norma Chang (Garden To Wok) for that idea, since she grew lots of it that way. I think it was sow bugs that made a few holes on them, not slugs. They are another pesky pest here.
I have been wearing gloves, and keeping antibiotic ointment on my hand. It is looking good, all things considered. I am lucky it didn’t hit a blood vessel, though apparently it came close.
Always nice to learn about new veggies to grow. Spigariello is one of those. Don’t you hate to see lettuce season pass? You might want to try ‘Jericho’ (from Johnny’s). It has done well in our warmer weather without bolting or getting bitter.
Oh BTW, I broke three fingers on my right (dominant) hand three days ago. Tripped on a sidewalk rise when looking at a garden. I can sympathize with the cut to your hand. Unfortunately, I’ll be in splints for 6-8 weeks. One-handed gardening is not easy.
Ouch, sorry to hear about your hand.
I sure enjoy seeing what you are doing in the garden and cooking in the kitchen!
Hope your hand heals quick.
Thanks Leslee!