It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Salad season continues here for us, though the cool temperatures have also put soup on the menu. I made cuttings of Oscarde and Navara red oakleaf last week, along with a green oakleaf I’m growing for the first time called Kiribati. All three are doing quite well in containers in the greenhouse, and are helping keep us well supplied with leaves for salads.
Oscarde lettuce
Navara lettuce
Kiribati lettuce
leaves of Kiribati lettuce
I cut leaves of mizuna and Red Veined Sorrel last week to go along with the lettuce. Central Red and Miz America mizuna are mild tasting with purplish red leaves. I have the Miz America growing outside in a bed behind the greenhouse, and the wide burgundy leaves are stunning in salads and other raw uses.
mizuna and sorrel
Central Red, Miz America and Red Veined Sorrel leaves
Our salads generally start with a lot of fresh greens, with protein in the form of egg, cheese, nuts or beans. Fresh fruit also shows up frequently, and soon we will have our homegrown blueberries to add. By the time our cucumbers are coming on, it will likely be too hot for lettuce here so we enjoy cukes from the grocery sometimes on salads.
salad creation
It is still asparagus season here too, and I made a seasonal treat one day for lunch with almost a pound of the spears. Asparagus Mimosa is a simple dish that makes for a light but filling lunch. I steamed the asparagus then topped with grated hard boiled egg and capers and drizzled with olive oil. We paired it with sourdough crostini, which I keep in the freezer pretty much at all times.
Asparagus Mimosa
In the future harvests department, I am pleased with how the pawpaw trees are doing so far. They appear to have set numerous fruit clusters, aided somewhat by my hand pollination. This tree is native to the Eastern U.S. and makes large fruit with a flavor that is sometimes described as having a tropical mango-banana flavor with a smooth custard texture. Last year our trees had no fruit, but a friend gifted us with a bag of his. We had them in 2019, so I am hopeful I can keep the raccoons and opossums away so we can enjoy them ourselves. One of the trees is pretty much full sized, and that is where most of the fruit has set.
Pawpaws
Another future harvest will be the pie cherries. Our little tree has a decent fruit set, and if we can keep the birds away we should enjoy a cobbler or two in about a month.
pie cherries
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!
We just harvested our first full batch of salads from our outdoor kitchen garden beds, including Canasta, which was as good as ever : All the best – Steve
Your salads just keep on giving – I like the look of the salad creation. How exciting to have the prospect of paw paws.
Excellent greens, and that salad looks awfully tasty. I’m really intrigued with the asparagus dish–it looks like a winner, and I will have to try it. Good luck with your fruit trees.
Salads here too… but certainly no Pawpaw!! That is something to look forward to alright, Dave
Keeping the birds away from the cherries is indeed a feat that I haven’t been able to accomplish yet. We had one good harvest in the first year, but once the birds found the tree, that was it – it’s been pitiful since. What tactic will you be using to foil the birds?
I plan to cover the tree in bird netting. Since the tree is fairly small, that works.
Dave – is yours a dwarf tree? I would love to have one, but the ones my neighbors have had required a ladder to pick the cherries! What is your variety, and do you need to have 2 trees for pollination? Thanks!
Susan, it is a Dwarf North Star Cherry and is about 9 to 10 feet tall. You do not need two cherry trees for pollination, but you may get better yields if you do. We also have a dwarf sweet cherry tree, though I don’t recall the variety.