It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The asparagus slowed down a bit last week, but we’re still getting plenty of it to keep us supplied. We’ve harvested nine pounds of it so far, about on par with last year’s haul. The spears are trending smaller too but still quite tender and tasty.
daily asparagus harvest
Needless to say, asparagus is on the menu often! Asparagus Mimosa is one of our favorite treatments, and makes for a light but filling lunch when served with some of my focaccia bread. We also roast it for a side dish quite often, tossed with olive oil and topped with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.
Asparagus Mimosa
roasted asparagus
The lettuce is hanging in there too, and I cut a big head of Grazion last week for our salads. I am surprised how mild tasting the leaves are, given the sometimes hot temps in the greenhouse this time of year.
Grazion lettuce
I also cut baby greens from our container plants of Green Curls Kale and Miz America mizuna. Both made good additions to salads. Miz America is spicy on its own but adds flavor wherever you use it.
baby kale and purple mizuna
Our salads are never really the same twice. We use what we have available, and often use nuts and cheese for the protein source. Dried and fresh fruit also go on top, and I always make a homemade vinegar and oil dressing.
main dish salad
We’ve had a lot of rain here the last couple of months, historic levels in fact. Thankfully we’ve had no severe weather. But last week we had a thunderstorm that dumped 2 inches of rain in a short period of time, accompanied by half-inch sized hail. The hail did a number on things growing and blooming outside, including my wife’s beloved irises. The tender leaves of the container eggplants took a beating as well. They should recover, but I’m guessing it set them back a bit. It’s hard to do photosynthesis if half the leaves are missing!
eggplant leaves with hail damage
In non harvest news, our baby bluebirds have fledged, and I sometimes see them flying around or at the feeders. This one had its back to the camera, but there’s no mistaking the speckled feathers of the babies.
young bluebird
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 please check out what everyone is harvesting!
Bad luck with the hail Dave, still no rain here so far this spring!
Can you send us some rain. OUr allotmeny is like a dust bowl in parts and like concrete in others.
So nice to see the fledgling bluebirds. Hail can really do damage. We don’t get it often but the tender crops do suffer. Nice salad.
Thanks for another interesting report. I live in the flower/bulb region of the Netherlands. I remember as a child my father was insured with a company called de hagelunie (hail-union). When in spring a hailstorm came the leaves of the flowers were damaged and people did want to buy the flowers anymore, or you got a very bad price at the auction for your flowers because of the leave damage. This was an insurance for that.