Harvest Monday 4/8/13

This week was my biggest harvest so far for the year.  I harvested veggies that had overwintered in the garden to make room for spring planting.

First up is 2 lbs of turnips:

Unfortunately I think I left the turnips in the ground too long- they were a bit tough and fibrous.

Much tastier were the carrots:

Fall planted carrots are always so much sweeter than the ones I plant in the spring.

Next up are collared greens.  These are a first for me to plant because I hate collared greens.  Growing up in the South, collared greens make a regular appearance and as a kid I hated them.  I decided I would give them a second chance after seeing a recipe that didn't seem to turn them into the green mush I recalled as a child.

I only planted two collared green plants, just to be safe.  I sauteed it with garlic and olive oil and cooked it in a quiche.  I can say I don't hate collared greens any more, but I wouldn't say I love them.  I think I'll stick with kale and swiss chard.

Lastly this week was a handful of broccoli side shoots:

Yum!

This week's tally:

Turnip 2 lbs
Carrot 9.7 oz
Collar greens 9 oz
Broccoli 0.9 oz

Weekly total: 3 lbs 3.6 oz

That's all the harvests coming from my garden this week, to see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Babies Waiting for Spring

Seedlings have been growing in the potting shed for the last month and I don't know if it is just me transferring my feelings, but they seem to be impatiently waiting for spring.  The tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper have to wait until mid April for their garden debut. 

I fell for a new tomato hybrid this year.  I usually stick with heirloom varieties such as Cherokee Purple, Amish Paste, San Marzano, Brandywine, and Yellow Pear.  This year my tomato goal is to harvest enough paste tomatoes to make sauce to can.  When I saw Burpee's new Super Sauce Tomato, I couldn't resist trying.  I've never paid $6.50 for 25 seeds before, so these tomatoes better be amazing!  
 

Also growing in the potting shed are some broccoli seedlings.  I will be hardening them off this week!

I can't wait for a growing garden and yummy harvests.  I was a bit (ok, a lot) neglectful of my winter garden, so not much survived to provide fresh produce in the early spring.  However, the bees seem to appreciate my neglect.  I planted pac choi in the fall and never got around to harvesting it.  It is now flowering and the bees are flocking to it.

I'm glad someone can benefit from my gardening neglect!

Harvest Monday 4/1/13

Today was a beautiful, warm day.  March brought temperatures well below normal and it seemed that spring was never going to arrive, but today changed that outlook.  Spring seems to have finally arrived and to celebrate I harvested my first spring salad.  (Well, more accurately this was a fall planted salad that survived the winter and was harvested in the spring.)

My first spring salad consisted of freckles lettuce, radish, some broccoli side shoots, and some mini carrots.

All chopped up and ready to be savored on the back porch on a glorious spring day:

This weeks tally:

Lettuce: 2.4 oz
Radish: 2.2 oz
Carrot 1 oz
Broccoli 0.5 oz

Weekly total: 6.1 oz

That's all the harvests coming from my garden this week, to see what others are harvesting check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.