Harvest Monday March 21, 2016

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Some of my harvests may be repetitive from recent weeks, but I am happy to have them. I have really been enjoying the salad greens. I cut a bowl of mixed lettuce leaves from one of the salad boxes in the greenhouse. All this in the below photo was from a Wild Garden Lettuce Mix I planted back in November. I’ve gotten several harvests from this box, and I decided to make one final cutting and then replant it with some new stock.

harvest of Wild Garden Lettuce Mix

harvest of Wild Garden Lettuce Mix

Another repeater harvest was from the True Siberian kale growing in the greenhouse. It got sauteed briefly in olive oil with a bit of garlic added, and made a quick and tasty side dish.

True Siberian kale

True Siberian kale

It’s not all repeats though. Last week I cooked up the dried Trail of Tears beans that I harvested in 2015. It was just over one cup of them before cooking. I love these beans in the kitchen, but they have been fairly shy producers in the garden. I’ve decided not to grow them this year, and devote that space to other beans.

Trail of Tears dried beans

Trail of Tears dried beans

The cooked beans met up with the earlier lettuce harvest and was served up on tostadas.

black bean tacos

black bean tacos

The rest of the beans went in a black bean and quinoa dish my wife cooked up for dinner one night. A little homegrown cilantro and a splash of lime juice perked up the flavor nicely, and a sprinkle of smoked Aji Angelo peppers added a bit of heat.

black beans and quinoa

black beans and quinoa

I saved the best harvest of the week (in my opinion) for last. My wife cut the first spears of asparagus on Thursday. We grilled these and enjoyed them thoroughly!

first asparagus harvest

first asparagus harvest

In other news, our cat Ace and I both celebrated birthdays in March. One of us turned four, and the other one isn’t saying! My wife likes to get us to pose together for a birthday photo every year. He is not camera shy, but he is getting to be an armful to hold.

the March birthday boys

the March birthday boys

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!


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More Seed Starting and Potting Up

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Yesterday I did another round of seed starting, this time with tomatoes. Since I’m growing quite a few different varieties, I chose a 128 cell plug flat to start them in. Once they get a set of true leaves, I will pot them on into individual 3.5 inch pots. I already started a few plants of Spike and Maglia Rosa back in February and potted them up that way back on March 5th. They are growing nicely, and almost ready to move to the greenhouse to harden them off. I’m going to try growing one each of these in containers in the greenhouse, and also in the ground in the main garden area. These are both Artisan Seeds small-fruited varieties with short, semi-determinate vines that are supposed to be good in containers. I’m trying to get a jump on the season and give us a taste of early tomatoes. I will likely move the containers outside once the danger of frost is past.

Maglia Rosa tomato seedling

Maglia Rosa tomato seedling

I also potted up the parsley I started back in February, which had been growing in 6-packs (aka 806 inserts). The varieties I’m growing this year are Giant of Italy, Forest Green, Splendid and Georgian Flatleaf. Forest Green is a curly leaf variety and all the rest are flat leaf types. I picked the best three from each variety and potted them up in 3.5 inch pots. That’s more parsley than I need, but I sometimes tuck a few extras around the flower beds to give the caterpillars something to munch on. I’ll plant most of these in the greenhouse, once the overwintered plants start bolting. Last year that was in early May, though so far things are running a bit earlier this year.

Splendid parsley

Splendid parsley

In the greenhouse, I’ve got a lot of brassicas growing on and hardening off. I’m hoping to get them into the ground by the first of April, if the weather cooperates. The ground is a little wet right now, and we have a chance of frost forecast for the end of the week, so I’m not in a rush to get them planted. That’s Kolibri kohlrabi in the below photo. All the brassicas are now in 72 cell plug flats, where they will stay until planting time.

young Kolibri kohlrabi plants

young Kolibri kohlrabi plants

The peppers I started last week in a 200 cell plug flat are coming up now. I generally sow two seeds per cell, unless the seeds are in short supply, then thin to one after they germinate. I’ll leave them on the heating mat for a bit longer to give them every chance to emerge. Overall I’m happy with how they are doing, and only one variety (Cayennetta) has failed to come up. I forgot to re-order Cayennetta this year, and only had two seeds from 2013 which have not yet come up after 10 days. Oh well, I will have plenty of hot peppers regardless, and I do have another cayenne type (Maule’s Red Hot) growing. My tastes tend to be pretty wimpy when it comes to hot peppers anyway!

peppers coming up

peppers coming up

There’s no sign of peas coming up yet in the main garden, but with warm temps here the last couple of days I expect to see them up any time now. I do hope the garden starts drying out as my onion plants should be here this week and I would like to get them in the ground ASAP.

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Harvest Monday March 14, 2016

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. We’re still enjoying the spring greens here, mostly harvested from the greenhouse beds. I cut a head of Tango lettuce last week for my wife to make a taco salad. I threw in a few sprigs of cilantro to go with it. Tango is a frilly oak leaf lettuce that sort of resembles a curly endive, though the taste is certainly mild. I sometimes harvest individual leaves of it but this time I cut the whole head which was just the right size for two servings.

Tango lettuce plus cilantro

Tango lettuce plus cilantro

I also made a cutting of a few leaves of Mizspoona to add a little green to a frittata we had for lunch one day. Mizspoona Salad Select is good for salads when young, but it’s also good anywhere you might use mizuna once it gets full sized.

Mizspoona

Mizspoona

It may be a green, but the leaves of Western Front kale have some reddish purple going on. I only have one plant of this growing in the greenhouse, but it gave me enough leaves to saute for a side dish last week. It’s a Red Russian type that is supposed to grow during the winter months, and it has done just that in the protected greenhouse environment. I think next time I will set out more than one!

Western Front kale

Western Front kale

Also last week I made another cutting of salad greens from the greenhouse. It’s a mix of spinach and Mizspoona plus lettuces like Radichetta, Jester, Outstanding and Tango. It made for a nice main dish salad one night. All the greenhouse greens are especially tender since they aren’t toughened up by the wind or weather. The spinach is Giant Winter, and despite the large size the leaves are still tender enough for salads.

salad greens from greenhouse

salad greens from greenhouse

I’ve still got two of the Thai Rai Kaw Tok winter squash in storage, and I decided to bake one and puree it for later use. These squash are usually good keepers, but we don’t have a lot of puree left in the freezer and I wanted to replenish our supply before I lost the squash. It wasn’t quite as flavorful as the ones from 2014, but it will be fine for custard, soups, pasta sauce and other similar uses. This one weighed over seven pounds before cutting up and cooking. The deep orange flesh makes a lovely colored puree. I’ll cook the other one up soon.

Thai Rai Kaw Tok squash

Thai Rai Kaw Tok squash

And in late breaking news, yesterday I found the first asparagus spear poking up out of the ground! That’s a full three weeks ahead of last year, and much like 2012 when we got our first harvest on 3/16. Looks like my wife got the old foliage cut back just in time about a week ago.  Asparagus is a good harbinger of spring, though I have seen a few spears get frozen early in the season. Regardless, the first spears are an eagerly awaited annual event here, and I look forward to that first harvest.

first asparagus of 2016

first asparagus of 2016

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!


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Planting Peas and Starting Peppers and Petunias

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

March is always a busy gardening month here, with lots of seed starting and planting activities going on. This year I am growing edible podded peas for the first time in several years. To make planting easier, I prepped the spot for them last fall. It’s at the end of the bed where I planted garlic back in November. The soil was already worked up, so I went ahead and added a trellis for the peas, and covered the soil with straw to keep down weeds and to keep it from washing out over the winter.

planting peas

planting peas

I’m growing Avalanche and Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas and Sugar Ann snap peas (1984 AAS winner). The fall prep made planting the peas a snap, pun intended. The soil under the straw was still loose, so all I had to do was dust the seeds with some inoculant and push them down into the soil at about two inch intervals. Once the seeds are up and growing I’ll spread the straw as a mulch around the base of the vines.

pelleted petunia seeds

pelleted petunia seeds

If planting the peas was relatively easy, then starting the petunia seeds was certainly a bit more of a challenge. Petunia seeds are tiny, dust-like little things, and are almost always sold pelleted. But even pelleted, they are still quite small, as you can see in the above photo. You can read about how I grow the petunias with my 2010 post Do The Wave. This year I am growing five varieties: Easy Wave Red, Easy Wave Red Velour, Wave Blue, Wave Purple Improved and Tidal Wave Hot Pink.

peppers in plug flat

peppers in plug flat

Peppers seeds are definitely larger than petunia seeds, and a lot easier to sow. The only complicating factor for me is I grow so many varieties! I used the 200 cell plug flat to accommodate all the seeds. There’s not much room for roots in that size tray, so I’ll pot them up into bigger quarters in about three weeks. I wound up with right at 60 varieties, and it took a while to get everything labeled and then planted. I had a few empty spaces left so I started a couple of eggplants as well. I’ll keep the flat on a heating mat until the seeds are up. Since the cells are so small I have to water every day.

I also moved all the brassicas out to the greenhouse, where they are basking in the relative warmth out there. Next up in the seed starting activities will be tomatoes and the rest of the eggplants. You can see my general timetable in my Seed Starting & Planting Schedule.

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Harvest Monday March 7, 2016

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. If I could sum up my recent harvests in one word, it would be “green.” As the days get longer, it seems the greens planted in the greenhouse and cold frames have picked up the pace of growing. Last week I made a cutting of the True Siberian kale I have growing in the greenhouse. This is my second year growing it in there, and it overwinters quite well, giving us a taste of kale early in the year.

harvest of True Siberian kale

harvest of True Siberian kale

I paired it with some Runner Cannellini beans for a main dish meal. I braised the kale in a little olive oil, and it was tender in about five minutes. It’s a simple treatment, just the beans and kale, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a little crispy bacon on top when I plate it.

Kale and Cannellini Beans

Kale and Cannellini Beans

I had enough of the kale to make a second meal out of it, as a lunch side dish for me. I cooked it briefly in a little olive oil along with mushrooms. It kept its green color, and was sweet and flavorful. There is such a difference between homegrown kale and what you buy at the grocery, and I suspect more people would like it if they grew it themselves.

kale and mushrooms

kale and mushrooms

Also in the greenhouse, I made a cutting of mixed lettuce and spinach. We made a meal off the salad I prepared with them, adding a little hard boiled egg for protein plus some homemade whole wheat croutons I made with a bit of leftover bread. To make the croutons I cut the bread into cubes then bake until crispy. I also sometimes use the dehydrator if I am making a lot of them. At any rate, it was a simple, light meal where the lettuce and spinach were the the real stars.

lettuce and spinach for salad

lettuce and spinach for salad

And speaking of spinach, the spinach planted in the greenhouse has really taken off. I have three varieties planted in there, Viroflay, Giant Winter and Space. All the spinach was started indoors in plug flats, and transplanted to the greenhouse bed in December. It’s mostly Giant Winter in the below photo. It went into a pot of bean and barley soup.

spinach from the greenhouse beds

spinach from the greenhouse beds

I also pulled the first of the green garlic that I planted back in December. This one came from a container planting I made that has overwintered in the greenhouse. It was showing quite a bit of green leaf, and made a nice garlicky addition to a tofu and veggie stir-fry I whipped up for dinner one night.

green garlic

green garlic

I’ll close with a welcome sign – the early daffodils are blooming! I don’t know the cultivar, as they were already here when we bought the place. That’s a good sign that spring is right around the corner, isn’t it?

early daffodils blooming

early daffodils blooming

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!


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