Harvest Monday April 4, 2022

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Lettuce is still our main harvest these days, which is not a bad thing since I love what I call ‘salad season’. I cut a small head of a green oakleaf early in the week for one meal. I am replanting with new plants every time I harvest, so we should be supplied for another month or so.

oakleaf lettuce

I am cutting baby greens as needed. This batch had mizuna, pac choi and Tuscan Baby Leaf kale. I have these growing in containers in the greenhouse, and they do quite well for me grown that way. The baby greens add additional color and flavor to our salads.

baby greens

Later in the week I cut a giant head of Bergam’s Green lettuce that weighed over two pounds! That one fed us for several meals, and I still have a few leaves of it left. One salad creation I made last week had black lentils and pumpkin seeds for protein, and a homemade balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. I topped it with croutons I made from some of our whole wheat bread. The radish was not home grown, though it is about time to sow some seed for it here.

Bergam’s Green lettuce

salad creation

And I made another small cutting of purple sprouting broccoli from the greenhouse plants. This will probably be the last of the season, since I pulled most of the plants during a greenhouse cleaning last week.

purple sprouting broccoli

Speaking of the greenhouse, it is full of seedlings these days, along with plantings of leafy greens and herbs. Some of the Easy Wave Sky Blue petunias have started blooming already. I am staying busy keeping all these babies watered! I plan to do a greenhouse ‘tour’ soon.

Easy Wave Sky Blue petunias

Outside, the hellebores are continuing to put on a show. Along with the daffodils, they are the first flowers to bloom for us here and give us a much needed bit of color early in the season.

hellebore

Anna’s Red hellebore

In other news, I thought that some of my readers might be interested to know that Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds has a Kickstarter project going to breed Bicolor Slicer Beefsteak hybrids. Last year I grew his Benevento hybrid, which is a red beefsteak tomato with yellow stripes that has heirloom flavor along with the vigor of modern hybrids. It was truly a standout in our 2021 garden, and had a starring role in many of our meals. It has great keeping qualities both on and off the vine, and the fruits stay firm yet juicy and flavorful.  Fred is now trying to breed a bicolor beefsteak tomato that will meet the same, exacting standards he had when developing Benevento. For those interested in supporting independent tomato breeders, and a chance to get first dibs on the new Bicolor Beefsteak Tomato seeds from Artisan Seeds, you can do so here: Our Tomato Holy Grail – A Bicolor Beefsteak Slicer.

2021 Benevento tomatoes

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!