It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We are getting a bit more variety in our harvests these days other than the spring greens. I made the first cutting from the Apollo sprouting broccoli plants last week. I sauteed them for a side dish and they weren’t quite as tender as the ones from Happy Rich I cooked up the week before, though still tasty. The Artwork plants are heading up too and should be ready soon. I set out eight plants of broccoli this spring, two each of the varieties mentioned above plus two of the purple sprouting type Burgundy.
Apollo broccoli
I cut a huge head of napa cabbage last week from the Soloist variety that weighed right at four pounds. That is enough to make a half gallon of kimchi, which is what I plan to do with this head. The slugs had a field day with the outer leaves, but it will clean up nicely and once fermented any holes won’t hurt the flavor any. I also have a variety called Wah Wah Tsai planted which is supposed to make smaller heads. Unless I am fermenting it, I really don’t need giant heads of cabbage for just the two of us!
Soloist cabbage
I also pulled a few more kohlrabi that the slugs have been feeding on. Slugs are truly the number one pest we have for the early veggies, and I always struggle to keep them under control. There was over three pounds of them in this batch which was enough for fresh use plus a quart jar of fermented kohlrabi pickles.
kohlrabi harvest
I got the first zucchini of the season from my Astia plant I have growing in a grow bag. There are quite a few of the summer squashes starting to set on in the main vegetable garden, so it won’t be long before we are up to our ears in them. I freeze a lot of it for later use, where it finds its way into soups, stocks and even my morning smoothies.
Astia zucchini
I still have a few heads of spring planted leaf lettuce sizing up in the greenhouse. I pulled one head of the Bergam’s Green last week to use for a wilted lettuce salad. The quality is still good on this lettuce despite the hot conditions in our early summer greenhouse.
Bergam’s Green
Every year I start several different colors of Wave petunias from seed. They give us color in the summer months, plus they get visited by butterflies and hummingbirds. Easy Wave Berry Velour has rosy-red flowers and does quite well for me in containers. I set out these plants by our driveway where they brighten up the otherwise drab concrete. The Wave types don’t need deadheading like many petunias do, though I do usually cut them back in mid-summer if they start getting a bit leggy.
Easy Wave Berry Velour petunias
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!
I tend to harvest my first few zucchini when they are about half that size, my theory being that it accelerates growth, but it’s probably as much to do with getting an earlier harvest. Great to see you catching up with me now, to soon zoom ahead!
I do SO agree about the slugs! We only just planted our courgettes/zucchini last week. Funny how we use the French word and you the Italian. I’m guessing thee are more Italians than French in the US.
It’s funny that Soloist is billed as a “personal-sized” cabbage at 1 to 2 pounds. I’ve had many that well exceeded that, but not 4 pounds like yours! Nice job. I’m trying “Minuet” from Johnny’s this year. Good to see you get a nice-sized zucchini so early in the season. My plants are still quite small, though one is putting out male flowers. Where did you get the Wave Petunia seeds?
According to my records Will, I had one of the Soloists get almost that big in 2019. I’ve grown Minuet too and I think I will switch to it next year.
I’ve been getting my Wave petunia seed from Stokes, but they stopped selling to home gardeners this year so I ordered what I needed from Harris Seeds. They generally stay viable for at least two years for me.
I miss having broccoli. Enjoy yours. Slugs, earwigs and sow bugs are bothersome. Slugs show up mostly during our rainy season but we have sow bugs and earwigs year-round. Lately, I’ve had success placing a tuna can level with the soil then filling with cooking oil and a splash of soy sauce for flavor. It’s been quite a kill, especially for sow bugs around my lettuce and earwigs around the strawberries. I wonder if it works for slugs.