Harvest Monday June 16, 2025

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. Our harvests are getting more and more variety in them now, and last week the first summer squashes were ready to bring in. This batch included the yellow Tempest, Green Machine zucchini and 2025 AAS Winner Green Lightning pattypan. I grated up one of the yellow ones and one zucchini and sautéed in olive oil for a side dish, which is one of my favorite light treatments for the squashes.

summer squashes

squash sauté

In the fruit department, the raspberries are still coming on. I get about a custard cup full every two days, which is plenty for me and my wife to enjoy for fresh use. They are holding up well despite our rainy conditions.

raspberry harvest

I also pulled a few more of the spring planted kohlrabi, this time the purple Kolibri and the white-skinned Beas. The slugs are having a field day with the skins but once peeled they are crisp and juicy inside. We have been enjoying these first ones raw, with a yogurt and garlic dip I make for the occasion.

Kolibri and Beas kohlrabi

The spring lettuce is about done for, but I pulled a couple more small-ish heads last week. It will be a little bit before the summer varieties get big, though I have to say some of the seedlings are big enough to eat! If I have extras after planting I will likely cut what’s left and we can eat them.

leaf lettuce

And speaking of cutting, I cut a generous amount of parsley and one scallion to go in a taboulleh salad I made. We took it on a picnic we had at Lincoln State Park. It went well with my wife’s curried chicken salad and a fresh fruit salad to complete the meal. We take silverware and cloth napkins on our picnics, and reuse the plates multiple times. And the checkered plastic tablecloth has been around for years! I found this photo from 2010 and we were using it way back then.

parsley and scallion

picnic lunch

The smallest harvest last week was likely the arugula I cut to go on a pizza dinner we had. It’s done for now, and I won’t replant until this fall.

arugula for pizza

We also used up the last bits of asparagus for pesto pasta dish we had for dinner. Chicken meatballs served as the protein, and I made pesto using our fresh basil.

meatballs with pesto pasta

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!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Harvest Monday June 9, 2025

Posted on June 9, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. While the asparagus season here is now officially over, new crops are ready to harvest and eat. I pulled the first of the spring planted kohlrabi last week, one each of Terek and Kolibri. In April I set out about 30 kohlrabi plants in this bed behind the greenhouse, and I plan to set heat-tolerant lettuces in there as I pull the kohlrabi. Those plants are ready to go in as soon as there’s a spot for them. I had good luck last year with the summer lettuce, and hopefully they will do as well this year.

Terek and Kolibri kohlrabi

And the first raspberries have started ripening too. It’s a mix of varieties, and I really can’t remember which ones other than Caroline. I know they have been tasty, and we have been enjoying them on our breakfast cereal and muesli.

raspberries

I also pulled a few of the lettuces I had growing behind the greenhouse. They were getting a little long in the tooth, but still suitable for salads. They were colorful to say the least!

mixed lettuce

And salads are on the menu here often. It won’t be long before we have our own  cucumbers and tomatoes to add to them. My homemade bread always makes for some crunchy croutons to go on top.

lettuce for salad

salad for lunch

In non-harvest news, the bluebirds are raising babies now for the second brood of the year. Only three of the four eggs hatched, but all three babies are looking good and starting to develop feathers. Our local bluebirds sometimes get in a third brood, but it will be a week or so before this batch is ready to fly and leave the nest box.

baby bluebirds

And in gardening news, I managed to get the sweet potatoes planted last week before the rains returned. I set out 30 slips in all, and hopefully they will do better this year than last. June looks to be another rainy month, and we’ve gotten 2.5 inches already in the first week. We could do with a bit less, as some of the veggies are drowning in all that water!

sweet potatoes planted

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!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Photo Friday: June Blooms

Posted on June 6, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Today I want to show some of the things we have blooming here in early June. The perennials around our birdbath are beginning to bloom. We have Heliopsis, Echinacea, Catmint, Stokesia and Tall Phlox planted around it and they are beginning to flower.

birdbath

The Heliopsis is stunning, with variegated leaves and golden yellow flowers.

Heliopsis Sunstruck

Several of the tall phlox are blooming, including this Fashionably Early Flamingo plant covered with flamingo-pink flowers.

Fashionably Early Flamingo phlox

We have quite a few Bee Balms planted, and they are beginning to flower too.

Bee Balm Bubblegum Blast

Bee Happy Bee Balm

We have several coneflowers planted in our Sun Garden area, and one called Big Kahuna is flowering now with its mango-orange blooms.

Big Kahuna coneflower

The red flowered yarrow is blooming too, and ones with yellow and pink flowers should be opening up soon. Common Yarrow can spread and be invasive, but these newer cultivars are more well-behaved in garden settings. Ours are reliably hardy and early summer bloomers.

Sassy Summer Sangria yarrow

Spiderworts are native to our area and much loved by bees and other small pollinators. We have several planted, and they are very bringing some early color to our gardens. One of these came from my wife’s garden before we were married, and another one was given to us by a friend. They are reliable and easy to grow in our area.

spiderwort

another spiderwort

Our other irises are done blooming for the year, but the variegated Japanese iris has just opened up its buds. The variegated leaves are pretty even when it’s not flowering.

Japanese iris

Also blooming now is another taller Japanese iris called Fortune. The plants are loaded with buds, so it looks like it will put on quite a show this year.

Fortune iris

And not all of our blooms are strictly ornamental. The bush squashes are blooming in the vegetable garden, and the containers eggplants are blooming too. Both should give us some early harvests here soon.

squash blossom

eggplant flower

I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the things we have blooming here in early  June. I will be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

Posted in Photo Friday | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Harvest Monday June 2, 2025

Posted on June 2, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. It was a busy week here for me, and I got a lot of gardening done and more plants in the ground. I also got the climbing pole beans sowed, just before it rained again and gave them a good soaking and got them off to a good start. We wound up with 7.6 inches of rain in May, which came on the heels of over 11 inches in April. The ground is still quite wet, but I hope to get the rest of the vegetable planting done in the next week or so. That said, the lettuce in the greenhouse has been sheltered from the weather, and continues to give us big and tasty heads for our salads.

Grazion lettuce

And speaking of salads, I have been enjoying my salad bowl creations lately. With lettuce and other salad greens on the bottom, and topped with cucumbers, fruits, beans and cheese for protein they make for a hearty and filling meal. My greenhouse planting of cukes has begun blooming, and we should have our own here soon. I did not get around to sowing radish seeds this spring, however I have a lot of kohlrabi planted which will give us crunch for our salads soon.

lunch salad

We made the last cutting of asparagus here last week. It has had a good run this year, and we got almost 16 pounds of it in all. I used some of the smaller spears in a stir fry last week that we served up over black rice.

last asparagus harvest

asparagus stir-fry

And I made another cutting of the Green Curls baby kale I have growing in a container. I am quite happy with how this one has done for me this year, and it has proven to be very useful in the kitchen as well.

Green Curls kale

In the future harvests department, the container eggplants are beginning to bloom. They typically keep us well supplied until the in-ground plantings begin bearing. I have six plants this year, two each of Fairy Tale, Gretel and Icicle – all AAS Winners and favorites of mine.

Fairy Tale eggplant bloom

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!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Harvest Monday May 26, 2025

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. The weather here has been cool but mostly dry this past week, which has made for pleasant working in the garden. I have been busy getting the beds ready for planting, and last week I got most of the tomatoes planted. Next up will be peppers and eggplant, followed by the pole beans, winter squashes and then sweet potatoes. Rain is forecast for here later today and for tomorrow, so I might get a rest day whether I want it or not. Meanwhile, it is still asparagus season and we have harvested 14 pounds of it so far. On Saturday we made Asparagus Mimosa for what will probably be the last time this year  since we will stop cutting it soon.

daily asparagus harvest

Asparagus Mimosa

And it is still salad season here as well. We are enjoying the lettuce on salads, wraps and in salads. We make a meal from some salads, while others are side dishes.

lettuce from the greenhouse

salad for lunch

We used some of the Grazion leaf lettuce for my wife’s wilted lettuce salad, which is always a treat. It served as a side dish for a meal last week.

wilted lettuce salad

I pulled some scallions I had growing from sets in the greenhouse to make room for other things. They were all sizes, which is not a bad thing since all will be useful in the kitchen. I don’t generally grow these into full-sized onions anyway, usually harvesting on an as-needed basis at whatever size they happen to be.

scallions from sets

In non-harvest news, the giant Pileated Woodpeckers are daily visitors to our suet feeders. I often hear them before I see them, and a friend calls them ‘monkey birds’ because their loud chattering does sort of sound like monkeys.

Pileated Woodpecker

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!


Posted in Harvest Monday | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments