Harvest Monday March 15, 2021

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The harvests this week are somewhat repetitive but I am thankful to have them. I cut Tokyo Bekana microgreens for an Asian themed salad we enjoyed one day for lunch. Tokyo Bekana is usually classified as a non-heading napa cabbage, and I think it is best used raw or briefly stir fried since the thin leaves tend to just wilt away when cooked for very long. It has a mild flavor when harvested young for microgreens.

Tokyo Bekana microgreens

I made another cutting of Sea of Red lettuce for salads. My last planting of this variey is about all harvested, so I need to start some more seeds. I do have a flat of lettuce ready for replacing plants as they are harvested, but I didn’t sow any Sea of Red in that batch.

Sea of Red lettuce

I also cut mizuna, arugula and baby pac choi for use in a frittata. I have these growing in containers, and they have kept us supplied with a small but steady harvest of greens all winter for soups, salads and other dishes like the frittata.

mizuna and baby pac choi

The Rudolph purple sprouting broccoli has started heading now, the last of the three I planted in the winter greenhouse. We have been eating PSB on a regular basis the last couple of months, and it is surely a seasonal treat. The sprouts on the Burgundy have gotten quite small, while the ones on Santee are numerous and still of good size. I noticed a few of the kale plants are starting to show flower buds, so we should have kale rapini to add to the mix soon.

side shoots of broccoli

Rudolph broccoli

We have several hellebores planted in the shade garden, and they are coming into bloom now. I don’t know the names of most of them, though I believe the dark red one is Anna’s Red. My wife planted most of these and takes care of them and the other perennials we have planted. They are such a cheerful flower, and lovely to see this time of year when not much else is happening with flowering plants.

spotted hellebore

hellebore

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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The Rainy Season

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It is spring, and for us that usually means lots of rain. The last two years we have gotten over six inches of rain each March, and in 2017 and 2018 we got over five inches in that time period. The wet conditions always make spring planting dicey, and has made growing things like potatoes and onions that need early planting quite difficult. This year March started off with rain, and with another soaking we got last night we now have almost 4 inches of rain already. For the last ten years I have been collecting precipitation data for CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network), so the data I have is for our garden specifically and not just our area in general.

CoCoRaHS rain gauge

In addition to the rain, another sign of spring is the daffodils blooming. Several patches of them were planted here when we moved in, and we have added a few ourselves. These short stemmed ones are always the first to bloom.

daffodils blooming in front yard

I can see one bunch blooming outside the window from my computer desk. It reminds me of the aluminum plant where I used to work that had hundreds of daffodils that were planted on the acreage and allowed to naturalize. It was a sight to see when they were all blooming.

daffodils outside my window

My wife has planted a selection of hellebores that are also starting to bloom now. She has a variety of colors and shapes planted, including those with double and single flowers. Many of the plants are still small but they are doing well where we have them.

double hellebore

The rain is keeping the winter greens growing, and they are making new growth with the warmer temperatures and longer days of spring. I have kale and collards growing in the vegetable garden, and they have kept us well supplied with greens all through the fall and winter months. They will begin blooming before long, but we will keep eating them as long as we can.

collards and kale

I hope you have enjoyed this March update, and I’ll be back with more happenings soon.

 

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Harvest Monday Mar 8, 2011

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Harvests this time of year are always small but much appreciated. I grow microgreens indoors under light to help give us a bit more fresh veggies. I started seeds for Red Russian kale and Tokyo Bekana about a month ago, and those greens are more than ready for cutting now. They made a nice addition to a salad and a soup we had last week. I had a question on my Facebook page about how I grow these, and in 2016 I did a post on my Experiments with Growing Shoots and Micro Greens that pretty well describes the process I use.

trays with microgreens

harvested micro greens

I made another cutting of the side shoots of the purple sprouting broccoli in the greenhouse. Burgundy and Santee are doing well, and Rudolph is making heads that should be ready in a week or less. Our winters are too cold for me to grow this crop unprotected, but it has done quite well for me in the greenhouse the last few years.

purple sprouting broccoli

And I made a small cutting of Salanova lettuce last week for a salad. There is more lettuce I’m letting size up, and I also have seedlings ready to set out as replacements. The next couple of months are definitely salad season here, before the weather heats up and growing decent lettuce becomes more difficult.

Salanova Red Butter lettuce

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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Harvest Monday March 1, 2021

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s hard to believe it’s March already. I have been busy starting seeds though, and March is usually one of my busiest months for seed starting. I did manage a couple of harvests from the greenhouse. The Burgundy and Santee purple sprouting broccoli is producing a small but tasty amount of shoots for us. There’s no sign of a head on the Rudolph plants yet, which is usually the latest maturing variety of the ones I have planted.

purple sprouting broccoli

I also made a cutting of Western Front kale. This selection from Adaptive Seeds is a super hardy Red Russian type kale that keeps growing for me throughout the winter months in the greenhouse. It also makes a lot of rapini when the plants start blooming.

Western Front kale

I baked up a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread last week in my Pullman loaf pan, using a King Arthur Flour recipe. This one has 20% whole wheat flour, and made for a sturdy and tasty sandwich bread. The dense texture meant I was able to get 16 slices out of the loaf, not counting the two crusty ends which were used for snacking. I bake all of our bread, and generally try and keep an assortment of types in the freezer for when we need them

No-Knead Sourdough Sandwich Bread

No-Knead Sourdough Sandwich Bread

We enjoyed this bread for several meals, and it made a good base for tuna salad sandwiches we had one day for lunch. Even the humble tuna salad is elevated when served on a sourdough bread with a piece of homegrown lettuce, though I think my wife’s tuna salad is anything but humble.

tuna salad on sourdough bread

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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Late February Garden Tour

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Before the month is completely gone, I thought I would give a quick tour of the garden here in late February. It’s hard to believe we had ice and 8 to 12 inches of snow covering everything about a week ago, and the thermometer didn’t get above freezing for over a week. But warmer temperatures have now melted the snow, and you would hardly know it ever happened! I was surprised to find the collard greens had survived all the bad weather. These are growing uncovered in the main vegetable garden, and survived temps that got down to 3°F one morning and 4°F on two others. They are a little limp looking  but otherwise in reasonably good shape, all things considered.

bed of collard greens

I have harvested quite a few of the leaves on many plants, but there are still many plants left with leaves. The hybrid Tiger is variety with deep green leaves that has held up quite well.

Tiger collards

Hen Peck is an open-pollinated heirloom variety that I have harvested quite a bit already. There are still a lot of young leaves on the plants though, and hopefully they will begin growing again as the weather continues to moderate and the days lengthen. Eventually all the plants will bolt to flower, but last year that didn’t happen until sometime in April. I will likely try and save seed from some of the plants this year like I did in 2020.

Hen Peck collards

The heirloom Purple has been highly variable in size and shape for me. One plant turned out short and wide last fall, with large rounded leaves. They were covered in frost this morning when I was out with my camera. The one plant has more than enough leaves for a meal or two for us.

Purple collards

Behind the greenhouse, I have a cold frame bed planted with kale. The cold frame is covered only with bird netting to keep the deer from eating the plants. The Starbor curly kale has held up well, and I haven’t harvested any of it yet. It will be ready whenever we need it.

Starbor kale

The Mars Landing variety is also in the cold frame bed. I have cut some leaves from it already, but it is making new growth and there should be more for cutting in a few weeks. It’s my first time growing this one, and it appears to be quite hardy in our area.

Mars Landing kale

But vegetables aren’t the only things we grow here. We have several beds with perennials planted, including ones for both shade and full sun. Daffodils are one of our earliest flowers to bloom, and I found a few leaves poking up out of the mulch already. We have several different patches of them planted here, including one that was here when we bought the place. The early ones typically begin blooming in March, although in 2017 we had a few that flowered in Februray.

daffodils emerging

We have quite a few ferns planted in the shade garden area, and a couple of them have stayed green all winter. I don’t know the species on this one, but it emerged unfazed from the snow covering when it melted.

ferns

We also have quite a few different hellebores planted. I found buds on several of them, so they should be blooming even before the daffodils flower.

hellebore bloom

Over in the sun garden area, the irises have new leaves coming up. It will be April or May before most of them flower, and they usually put on quite a show since my wife has quite a selection of them planted. We always look forward to the annual iris show here, and I am guessing the 2021 version won’t disappoint.

iris foliage

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of our garden in February. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

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