Harvest Monday November 9, 2020

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We got the predicted hard freeze here last week, so all the tender vegetables and herbs are done for the year. I’m happy to move on to the fall planted crops though, including root veggies like radishes and turnips. I didn’t plant a whole lot of either, just enough for fresh eating and to make some radish kimchi. For the latter, I pulled some of the bigger daikon radishes last week. This year I planted two purple fleshed varieties I have grown before, Sweet Baby and Bora King. I pulled enough for a couple of jars of kimchi plus some for fresh use, and we used a couple of them in a stir fry last week. Both of these varieties sometimes make white roots in addition to the purple ones.

I also pulled a few of the Hakurei turnips for cooking. This is the only turnip root I am growing this fall, though I do have the greens-only variety Topper planted.

I made a cutting of arugula to go on a pizza we enjoyed for dinner one night. I love greens on pizza, and arugula is without a doubt one of my favorite toppings along with spinach. I fondly remember the arugula topped pizza we enjoyed at Flora Farms during our trip to Cabo San Lucas in February. We got back from there just before the pandemic hit the U.S. hard, and I believe it was the last time we enjoyed eating pizza at a restaurant this year! We do make it at home quite often though.

The fall planting of cabbage didn’t do all that well for me this year, but I got one head of Minuet Napa Cabbage last week. It had a lot of slug damage to the outer leaves, but weighed in a bit over two pounds so I was happy to have it. I have hopes that a couple of heads of regular cabbage will be ready soon.

I cut some baby greens for salads last week, including Tuscan Baby Leaf and Mars Landing kale, mizuna and red pak choi. I have these growing in containers in the greenhouse, though I also have them planted outside where I am letting them get full sized. It’s my first time growing the Mars Landing, and this variety from Renee’s Garden truly does look “out of this world” with its dark purple/bronze leaves. The Tuscan Baby Leaf kale also comes from Renee’s Garden, and I am growing their Purple Moon kale this fall as well.

In non-harvest news, I pickled another batch of hot peppers last week, using the mildly hot Malawi Piquante, Aji Golden and Tangerine Dream peppers. We use these on salads and pizza, plus they make a tasty pepper aioli sauce. This is the basic recipe I follow, though I omit the ginger and spices. I soak the peppers in a 10% brine solution overnight, then prepare a sweet brine from white wine vinegar, sugar and water. I add a few cloves of garlic to the jar for added flavor. I began pulling the pepper plants yesterday and adding them to the compost pile.

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!