Ah, another beautiful week gone by! Unfortunately, most of it was spent in Toronto on a work trip so I haven't been in the yard much. But there was just enough rain and sunshine to manage without me (except the plants in the greenhouse which needed some help from friends who came over to water for me).
So much on the way, but very little to harvest right now. I finally broke down and harvested a bit of rhubarb. The plants are still small (only planted in 2013) so I've only taken a small amount. I pulled my last bag of strawberries from last year out of the freezer so will make something yummy soon.
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| Rhubarb |
This French tarragon plant has grown very quickly and is threatening to take over the swiss chard seedlings that are just starting to come up around it. The plant is currently 2 1/4 feet tall and about 10-12 inches in diameter - or at least it was that much around before it's trim!
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| french tarragon |
I haven't bothered to weigh up the tarragon pieces as I'm not sure if I'll use it or not (plenty left to worry about preserving later on - this is only one of three plants, although by far the largest!). But maybe some flavoured vinegar?
And this small basket full of greens ended up with only 14 grams of lettuce that was edible.
The kale was pulled from the greenhouse - I started it too late and now it's far too hot for kale to grow. I cleaned it up but it was just too tough to eat, and not at all the dark green it should be. And I thought I could rescue some of the arugula but it has bolted and the stems were too thick (and a bit furry) to be edible. So a very small salad was made with the few lettuce greens I picked.
Please take some time to check out Daphne's Dandelions for other harvests around the globe on this lovely spring Monday.
I love tarragon vinegar, and chive blossom vinegar too. I decided not to cut any rhubarb yet. I planted them last year and they haven't grown that much yet. I still have a bit in the freezer if I need it. Too bad about the greenhouse greens. Ours heats up real fast in spring and it's hard to grow greens once it does. The cukes are loving it though!
ReplyDeleteI was a bit disorganized early in the spring getting the greenhouse ready, but I'll plan to get the kale in earlier - it should have all been harvested by now. Instead it was tossed in the compost!
DeleteI second the tarragon vinegar. My kale is under row cover to keep the bugs away. It gets pretty warm under there on sunny days but so far the kale is not minding it. Grown outdoors, the kale usually survives the summer heat OK. Lettuce is another matter.
ReplyDeleteOK, two votes for tarragon vinegar, sounds like a plan. I had a jar of tarragon mustard a year or so ago and absolutely loved it.
DeleteThat is a huge tarragon plant. I had to move one of mine over this year as the currant was smothering it. Hopefully it likes its new spot. But I'm thinking my other one has to move sometime too. That currant is just getting too big.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather large for french tarragon. Russian tarragon can get very large but it's not really useful for cooking.
DeleteSometimes June is like that - too hot, too soon for the greens. I wish you good luck with the rest of the produce, including the future of your rhubarb!
ReplyDeleteThanks Daisy. Hope the rhubarb starts to produce more within a year or so, hard to wait for it!
DeleteI tried growing French tarragon once but was unsuccessful, should try again. This has been an interesting year so far, I have been alternating between heat and air condition, hope I can turn off my heat for good now.
ReplyDeleteTarragon is one of the few herbs that I will use dried, the flavor is diminished but doesn't really change. And I'll chime in on the tarragon vinegar, it's good. My tarragon has never looked that good.
ReplyDeleteWow - that is some tarragon gone wild! I don't have any tarragon in the garden, but I think I should change that. I remember making some lovely tarragon butter with sprigs from the patch in my first garden. That's too bad about the salad greens - but you know, it's all about learning as we go along.
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