It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. April finds us healthy and well fed here, and that’s no fooling! My wife and I have been keeping busy with gardening work outside, and going for almost daily walks. Lynda takes care of the perennial beds like the asparagus, blackberries and blueberries. She has the asparagus patch weeded and mulched and looking great. We are checking the beds daily as we eagerly await the first spears poking up. We use cardboard covered in straw between the rows, and she used some old tree branches in places to hold down the mulch until it gets settled in and stays put.
asparagus beds after mulching
Veggies in the greenhouse continue to keep us well supplied. The purple sprouting broccoli shoots are small in size but still numerous. And the kale rapini is still going strong. Several of the kale plants haven’t started blooming yet, so that harvest should continue. In a few week I will need to pull the broccoli to make room for a a planting of cucumbers. Those seedlings are up and growing already.
purple sprouting broccoli and kale rapini
I made a cutting of the True Siberian kale last week. I’ve been growing this variety in the winter greenhouse for several years now and it always does well. Even the older leaves on this one cooked up tender and mild. It makes a good number of rapini too, which is an added bonus.
True Siberian kale
I’m growing Emerald Fan lettuce for the first time, and I believe it made some of the deepest green leaves of any lettuce I’ve grown. I has an upright shape like a romaine, and the ruffled leaves are sturdy but very tender. I look forward to growing it again this fall once weather cools off. I had this batch growing in a box planter where it did quite well.
Emerald Fan lettuce
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!
Your asparagus is pretty big Dave, do you eat it all fresh or preserve some of it. My patch is about a third the size of yours and we are just putting in a second bed : All the best – Steve
We freeze small amounts of it for soup, but most is consumed fresh. In a good year we share with asparagus-loving friends.
Asparagus is one thing we don’t grow except for a couple of roots which we grow for the fern
Emerald Fan lettuce looks like a nice variety. We’re all hopeful this will be a productive season in the garden. I find myself doing some things differently this year to maximize production.