Monday, March 26, 2012

Harvest Monday 3/26/12

We've had another unusually warm week here in South Carolina.  I just heard on the news that we've had 9 days over 80 degrees this month and we only need one more to break the record.  The good thing about the weather is that it is gorgeous outside with the dogwoods, red buds, and azaleas in full bloom.  In the garden, the fall and winter crops are bolting as I've started the spring crops.  I'm trying to plant my spring crops in shady spots because I have a feeling it is going to be a warm spring and very hot summer.

I need a drum roll for my first harvest of the week.....

With six cauliflower plants, I have harvested by first and probably last cauliflower weighing in at a whopping 2.9oz:


It was definitely more stem than florets and was probably a day away from flowering.  This was my first cauliflower harvest ever.  Cauliflower doesn't seem to be my forte!

The rest of this week's harvest theme was salads with lettuce (4 oz), radish (5 oz), and carrots (4 oz).  It appears that the kaleidoscope carrot mix I planted only wants to give me white carrots.  However, I love carrots so I will not complain.


After the short journey from the garden they went straight to my salad bowl:


Another new harvest for me this week is Swiss chard (2 oz):


I'll post the recipe for my first Swiss chard harvest on Thursday... stay tuned!

Weekly total: 1.12 lbs
Yearly total: 18.98 lbs worth $36.60

To see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Happy Gardening!

9 comments:

  1. great harvest! Do white carrots have a different flavor? I've never grown them before.

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    1. The white carrots seem to have a mild and slightly sweet taste. I haven't had a chance to taste test the different colors.. hopefully soon.

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  2. Nice harvest! Cauliflower is pretty picky; plant too late they are stunted, plant too early and they bolt. Also there are different varieties for fall planting/overwintering and spring planting/summer harvest. I'm still trying to figure them out myself.

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    1. I don't remember the variety. I got seedlings at a local nursery in the fall. I did buy All the Year Round cauliflower seeds this winter and have couple of seedlings planted for the spring. Perhaps they will do better- if it doesn't get really hot too soon.

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  3. My first cauliflower harvest looked a lot like that too. Since then I have fed them more and given them more room and they have been a lot happier. Dad tried to grow some this summer and they look like yours, so I suspect that is the result of it being too hot. Was it in the ground for long during cold weather? They do seem to need some cold to produce a nice head.

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    1. I planted them in October, so they've had all winter. I think the early and really warm spring made it get leggy. The climate here is just not ideal for cauliflower. I looked up growing cauliflower on the local extension University and it begins with "cauliflower is challenging to grow." Perhaps I should stick with broccoli!

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  4. Beautiful chard. Chard has to be one of my favorite plants. It is just so reliable. And pretty. I'm A bit worried about this summer and how hot it might be. I'm really praying it won't be too bad.

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    1. I just transplanted some of my chard to a shady spot. Our normal summers are really hot and humid, so I'm not looking forward to even more heat. Hopefully the chard will survive longer in the shade.

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  5. Cauliflower are fussy. I don't know when the best time to plant in your mild climate. IN Maine I can get an early variety in the spring with luck, but a fall variety seems to be better.

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