It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I’ve been busy with gardening chores this week, as well as watering all the seedlings I have growing in the greenhouse right now. We’re still getting plenty of greens for salads, and since my wife and I try and eat what’s in season we have had salads quite often lately. I have a mix of red and green leafed lettuces growing, and last week I cut Tango, Navara, Salanova Green Oakleaf and Bergam’s Green. The spring lettuce crop should be good for another few weeks, until it gets too hot in the greenhouse for it. At that point I will wait until cooler fall weather to plant again.
Tango lettuce
Navara and Salanova Green Oakleaf lettuce
Bergam’s Green lettuce
I have lots of other greens growing in containers in the greenhouse, and we add them to our salads along with the lettuce. Purple pac choi, mizuna and sorrel all add both color flavor to the salads. The Red Veined Sorrel is striking, and the leaves have the same tangy flavor as green leafed sorrel. The leaves are best when young as they tend to toughen up with age, so I cut this one often.
mixed greens for salads
Red Veined Sorrel
Our salads usually have a variety of greens, with beans and/or nuts and seeds for protein. A recent lunch salad had flageollet beans and pepitas, along with a few raspberries and a homemade raspberry dressing. With piece of crusty bread on the side, that makes a light but filling meal for me.
lunch salads
Our asparagus patch continues to produce a few spears each day. But the harvests add up, and before long we had enough to make asparagus mimosa. This is a seasonal treat for us, and made for another light lunch yesterday.
homegrown asparagus
asparagus mimosa
In non-gardening news, we had an Eastern Box Turtle in our back yard on Saturday. We see them from time to time, though I suspect they’re always around and we just don’t see them. This one didn’t mind the paparazzi and our cameras, but it was on a mission to go somewhere, and eventually it wandered off. I believe it is a male, based on eye color, but I am no turtle expert!
Eastern Box Turtle
box turtle on the move
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 guess that your turtle was looking for a lady friend. You can’t wait for cooler weather whilst we long for warmth
Do any of the more heat tolerant lettuce varieties like Jericho grow in light shade for you? I hate to be without garden lettuce. Lunch salads like yours a staple for me.
I have tried heat tolerant varieties like Muir and Cherokee, but wasn’t happy with the results. Finding a shady spot is tricky, unless I make a spot on the east side of the greenhouse to take advantage of afternoon shade. I do have seeds for those plus Tropicana, so I might give it a try again.