Monday 21 July 2014

Harvest Monday: July 21, 2014


Lots of new items coming out of the garden this week .... just when I thought I'd have nothing to post but greens again!

I have many ideas for cooking some of these up which I'll share throughout the week.  I have already used up some of the harvest including last night's beetroot risotto (with beet greens and goat cheese). Delicious, but I think I need to rework the current recipe as the pinkish colour is maybe not as appetizing as it could be (it usually comes out much more vibrant red; I suspect I just need to use more grated beetroot early on).


I pulled the remaining garlic and, although not very big, at least most of them came out okay.


But there were another four with a similar problem to before ... in fact, three of them had such soft heads that the stalk slid right off.  I suppose I'll have more than a few volunteers next year unless I do a good job digging up the garden this fall.


I'm glad to have enough beans to do something substantial with ... maybe not enough to pickle?  Well, maybe a small batch. And some lovely ripe tomatoes with a few more ready to be picked.


And speaking of pickles, I have been picking several cucumbers each day.  I now have enough to make a batch of my quick dill pickles.

 I was looking for some of the Russian Blue potatoes and accidentally pulled a red potato plant first.  Not really a big deal as I love eating baby potatoes which is why I grow so many potato plants!  More than half will be harvested early so I don't get that many fully sized at the end of the season.  The carrots and beets were only picked to thin out and make some space for the rest to get bigger.  Although, admittedly, I've never gotten very large beets but I do what I can to help them out!


Once I've sent this post off, I'll be heading over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what other gardeners are pulling up (or off) this week.

And here is the rest of the harvest ... the usual variety of greens and herbs:

Rainbow Swiss Chard (given to a friend as I have too much already)

Assorted Lettuce Greens, Thyme

Basil and Thyme

Arugula, Basil, Cukes

11 comments:

  1. What a lovely and diverse harvest!

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  2. Your harvests we certainly colorful this week. That's one thing I love about this time of year.

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  3. Beautiful harvests with so much variety! Whenever I see others potatoes I am envious, especially as I keep hearing how wonderfully they taste. I must squeeze them in next year.

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    1. No question for me ... if I could only grow one crop because of the difference in taste and texture of homegrown versus grocery stores, it would be potatoes. Or maybe tomatoes. And fresh garlic. Beans? Hmmm...

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  4. Lovely harvests! I love baby potatoes too. I grow lots of fingerling types for that reason.

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    1. Yes, I accidentally dug up a fingerling plant that had nothing on it. Broke my heart wasting it like that but I have a few more thankfully. Definitely my favourite potato - fingerling!

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  5. What wonderful and varied harvests this week. And even if those carrots are just thinnings they look quite delicious.

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  6. What a great variety in your harvest. And nothing wrong with a lot of greens. Your garlic does look troublesome. There are a lot of garlic diseases and some will persist in the soil for 20-40 years, making it unplantable. It might be a good idea to figure out exactly what the problem is. Do you have an ag extension you can query? Meanwhile, I wouldn't replant any of that garlic.

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    1. I've only moved here recently and this is my first garlic crop ... you might be right, there may be something in the soil. I won't replant for sure, but in the meantime, I'll take your advice and find someone who can identify what happened.

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  7. I like the artistic way in which you present some of your harvests. Showing them off in a basket is so much more attractive than just placed on the counter top! I have a collection of baskets that is growing all the time. I normally buy second-hand ones from charity shops.

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  8. Yep, me too. I buy baskets at thrift stores for a few bucks each and I never seem to have enough!

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