It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. My harvests are repetitive but we’re unlikely to get tired of them anyway soon. I cut more lettuce to go in salads. I’ve still got quite a bit ready to eat from the greenhouse planting, and I now have seeds started indoors to plant a succession crop for spring harvest.
lettuce harvest
lunch salad
The Santee PSB has really grown well in the greenhouse, and the three plants are giving us lots of sprouts right now. It’s such a treat to have this seasonal veggie, especially at this time of year when the harvests are limited. I got a half pound in this latest cutting, and the plants are still going strong though the sprouts get smaller.
Santee broccoli
And there’s still lots of kale for cutting in the greenhouse. White Russian is one of my favorites, and has a sweet mild taste with tender leaves. I also look forward to the kale rapini which will likely come later in March. I’ve got about a dozen kale plants growing and they should keep us well supplied in greens and rapini.
White Russian kale
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!
Here’s a quick update on some of my recent seed starting activities. The parsley I sowed early in February is up and ready to be potted up into individual containers. Parsley can sometimes take a while to germinate, but these were all up in just over a week. I’m growing all flat leaf types this year, including Splendid, Cilician and Einfach Schnitt 3. We use a lot of parsley here, and I try and have some growing year round. Currently I have several plants out in the greenhouse, plus a couple more inside in containers. These will all bolt to flower come spring so I need to have plants ready to replace them.
parsley seedlings
The lettuce and arugula I started in a 128 cell plug tray last week is coming up nicely. I’ll thin it in about another week or so. I’ll let these grow for another couple of weeks before I start planting them out in the cold frame bed and greenhouse, weather permitting.
lettuce seedlings in plug tray
I also started some eggplant that is destined to go in containers. Those are up and also will need to be potted up in individual containers as soon as the true leaves are showing. I can already see the leaves forming so it won’t be long! I’m growing Fairy Tale and Patio Baby, two AAS Winners that do great in containers and should give us an early taste of this heat-loving veggie. Last year I was harvesting the first ones in early June, a full month before the ones planted in the ground started fruiting. I’ll start the rest of the eggplants for the main garden next month.
eggplant seedlings
Next on my to-do list is to start some Wave petunia seeds. I always plant quite a few of these in containers where they will give us color all summer long. It’s also time to start the spring broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi, which I will sow in 72 cell plug flats. I hope you have enjoyed today’s update and I’ll be back soon with more happenings!
It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It looks like my planting of purple sprouting broccoli in the greenhouse is paying off as expected. I cut several main heads from the Santee plants last week, along with a few side shoots that were already forming. I have plants of Rudolph that are starting to head up too, so I think we will have more broccoli to taste soon. I believe I have finally figured out how to grow PSB here in our climate, and it is a wonderful crop to have this time of year when fresh homegrown veggies are hard to come by.
Santee broccoli
And I cut enough of the Dutch heirloom Groninger Blue Collard-Kale for cooking last week. I got this variety from Nichols Garden Nursery, who got their seed from author and vegetable breed Carol Deppe. It’s one of her “eat all” greens that she grows to give her a year round supply of fresh and tender young greens. I let the leaves get quite large to enjoy them cooked, and they were very tender and mild. You can read more about her Eat All growing method in this Mother Earth news article. I grew these like I would any other kale or collard, setting out transplants about a foot apart in the greenhouse bed.
Groninger Blue Collard-Kale
We also enjoyed a bit of the lettuce I have planted in the greenouse. These are Salanova Green Sweet Crisp and Salanova Red Butter, two ‘one-cut’ type lettuces I have growing in containers. I have good luck growing lettuce in containers, which saves my limited bed space for growing things that have more extensive root systems like the kale and broccoli. I have quite a bit of lettuce ready now and I really need to get a plug tray planted with more seed so I have replacements for the next crop. Looking at my seed starting schedule, it will be time to start the spring brassicas next week as well, so it looks like I will be busy!
Salanova lettuces
Salanova lettuce growing in salad box
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!
It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I only had one small harvest last week, even though there’s lots of greens ready in the greenhouse. I cut a small head of napa cabbage that was still growing in the main garden. It never formed a big head, but the leaves were green and edible and I thought it would make a nice addition to a chicken and mushroom soup I made for dinner one night. I did use food from stores though, including sweet potatoes and green beans.
Soloist cabbage
Plus I made an enchilada dish last week from collard green leaves I fermented a few months ago. I fermented these leaves whole in a big crock, then folded them up and put in a half gallon jar in the refrigerator for storage. I used them as wrappers instead of corn tortillas, filling them with refried pinto beans then covering with sauce and baking. I made four each of the enchiladas using collard leaves and corn tortillas so I could compare. I make the enchilada sauce from frozen tomato sauce and homemade chile powder with a medium heat level. The fermented collards make a tasty wrap and I want to experiment with more savory fillings in the future. You could also use fresh collard leaves, but I don’t have any of those at the moment. Topped with melted chihuahua cheese the enchiladas are one of my favorite things to eat.
wrapping beans in collard leaf
collard enchiladas
enchiladas ready for baking
bean enchiladas
Seed Starting Update:
I kicked off seed starting season last week by sowing seeds for parsley, petunia and arugula. I will sow more petunia seeds once my seed order arrives. The petunias go on a heating mat, and all are under my light setup in our basement. Next up will be more greens like arugula and lettuce plus cilantro, followed by the spring brassicas. The Adagio arugula I sowed is already up. Those seeds were from 2016, but I still got good germination. I hope to save seed from that one since they don’t seem to be available here any more and I like the taste of it. While I’m not a big fan of using plastic in general, I do use plastic pots and I find they last for many years plus they are easy to clean and sterilize. I tried making paper pots but that did not work out well for me.
pots of petunia seeds
I also bought a few stalks of lemongrass at a local Asian market and stuck them in water to root. They’re making roots already after a little over a week. I’ll pot them up in soil and plant outside when the weather warms and danger of frost has passed. I sometimes dig the clump up in fall and bring indoors, but I neglected to do that last year. I am missing having the fresh leaves for tea and cooking.
lemongrass rooting
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!
It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Homegrown veggies are always a treat here in winter, and I had a couple of harvests last week. I have one Burgundy sprouting broccoli producing, and it gave me a few more shoots. The other plants of Rudolph and Santee are starting to head now, so I should have more to cut soon. This batch was just enough for a taste of things to come!
Burgundy broccoli
I also made a cutting of White Russian kale to go in a soup I am cooking tonight. I have quite a bit of kale planted in the greenhouse, and it is all ready for cutting now. We also enjoy eating the rapini when the plants begin flowering.
White Russian kale
My wife and I recently returned from a getaway to Cabo San Lucas. We enjoyed a visit to Flora Farms while we were there. They grow over 100 varieties of vegetables and herbs, using sustainable and organic farming practices. Considering the Baja region is classified as a desert, they have an impressive operation there. We ate at their farm to table restaurant, and since they had a wood-fired pizza oven we ordered an arugula pizza. It was piled high with tender and mild tasting arugula they had tossed with a lemon dressing. I love arugula on pizza so this was a real treat for me.
arugula pizza
They also had a market where they sold their herbs and veggies. We picked up kohlrabi, napa cabbage, and snow peas which went into a stir fry I made for our dinner one night. We didn’t get a farm tour, but if we return next year that will be on my to-do list.
Flora Farms market
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!
