My First Harvest

After 3 days of rain and a spike in heat this weekend, it was time to harvest the cold weather crops. I didn't want the heat to cause the heads to flower.


Kale, 6 brocolli heads, parsley - You can harvest the outer pieces of parsley and as long as you leave the baby growth in the center of the parsley (the heart), it will keep producing. This is awesome because parsley takes weeks to germinate and then it grows all at once when the heat spikes up. Buying nursery started parsley allows me to use it in recipes for a longer period of time. Truthfully I don't use a lot of parsley in the summer because we're grilling. My mom freezes it, so I'll try that too and reserve my parsley for when I make our special Seafood Sauce.


I read that broccoli is harvested at 4-6". On the plant, the head didn't look that big but once I cut it from the plant, the head was quite large as you see in the supermarket. I took this same picture 5 days ago and you can see the difference in growth in as little as 5 days.

Celery - I'm going to make soup with this! I read that you can havest the outer stalks and leave the center for a longer harvest. I thought the celery was very leafy. I think I was suppose to "blanch" them by burying them in a trench as it grew.

One last look at the garden bed before I harvested my broccoli and kale. I moved things around and planted my tomatoes finally. Broccoli really sucks the nutrients out of the soil, so I'm going to pick up some more organic humus to side dress my tomatoes. I moved my Kale and Eggplant around, because the kale was blocking the sunlight and shadowing my eggplants.

Bright Lights swiss chard - I have gotten a bunch of yellow colored ones so far and 1 red one that didn't make it. I really want to get a pink or fuschia one in the mix to brighten up the garden bed. I'm going to sow some more seeds and see if I can get some pink ones.

Since we are now safely out of danger of frost or really bitter cold weather, I am going to transplant all my squashes, peppers, watermelon and sunflowers. I also need to harvest my spinach and other greens and replace them with my herbs. I'm going to plop some Nasturtium seeds and marigold seeds into the garden bed as well. I'm going to start some more Dill near my cucumbers. I hope they reseed for next year too. The zinnias are doing fantastic! I'm looking forward to this summer!

Broccoli

Each day I am amazed by the growth of these plants. They are huge. The cool rainy weather is helping them too by buying more time for them to develop. Now I know why people were at the nursery so early when the weather was only 45F or so. Next year, I'll start these even earlier. Fortunately, my tomatoes aren't complaining in their pots.

Broccoli head from below. Side shoots with smaller heads of broccoli are beginning to develop too. After I harvest the main head, the smaller heads will develop further for more broccoli goodness.

The heads are measuring 3-4" in diameter now. Some are bigger than others.

I hope we can harvest them soon.

Broccoli Heads

I was wondering when the broccoli would start forming heads since I really need to make room for my tomatoes. I stumbled outside today and to my surprise, they have heads!


I have 8 plants. Once I harvest them, I'm going to thin them out to maybe just 1-2 plants. I'm going to keep the 1-2 plants for the side shoots which form more baby heads of broccoli. I'll freeze them for the winter.


Pickling type cucumbers. I thinned them out to 4 plants. I don't know where I'm going to plant the English cucumbers this year. I also have Armenian cucumber seeds too. Oh my!


Pole beans are really developing. I'm not sure if I'm suppose to cut the first two sets of leaves back to promote upper growth. I'll have to look into that.


Here are the Patty pan squash, yellow squash, watermelon and sunflower seedlings. When the squash get a real set of leaves, I'll plant them out into the garden. I'm not sure where yet either. They get so wide that there is never enough room.

Happy Hump Day

It's rained and it's chilly! It's a good thing I haven't put out the summer seedlings yet. The cold weather crops are doing great!


Kale and peas. I harvested some kale for dinner last night. It was delicious!


Escarole - They are about 8" in diameter now with lots of leaves! The little 4 leaf seedlings next to them are zinnias.


Broccoli is getting really big. I noticed some holes in the leaves. I'm not sure what to do about them. I read I can use row covers. I might do that.


Radishes and lettuce.


Bok choy - They are starting to look like bok choy now.


Spinach

My tomato and pepper plants inside the house are doing well. The tomatoes are really tall. The peppers are still slow, but they seem to be doing better since I gave them a larger pot. I'm sure the heat that we're getting this weekend will help.

Happy Hump Day

We had a quick down pour of rain this week which helped move the veggies along in their growth. It looks like they had a growth spurt.


No tour is complete without a cameo by Basil. That's a raspberry plant next to him. They grow like wild fire, so I'm going to keep it in a large pot.


Pole beans are coming around. I staked them with a 6' pole which isn't enough. I just assumed it will go up and across the fence.


Broccoli plants are getting pretty big. They are about 10-12" across now.


My neat line of sugar snap peas. That's garlic in the very front of the photo.

I Cheated

For those of you who thought this was a post about how I had some torrid affair with some young, hot piece on the side, shame on you! Just kidding. Sorry to disappoint.

Yes, I cheated. I bought nursery starts. There is nothing wrong with it. Do you hear me rationalizing this? I think I deserve it after starting my own seeds these last 3 years and caring for them ever so lovingly for weeks on end. Or at least until "the soil temperature has warmed to 50F" as those seed packets tell me (those dictators!). Actually, there's nothing wrong with using nursery started plants. It doesn't make you less of a gardener. The reason you should buy nursery starts is because these are cold weather crops so they need to go in now and you had to have started them 8 weeks ago already.


Okay, how cute is my dog Basil?! I know you're all envious and want a dog named after an herb who licks and poses for his mommy while she's acting like a crazy person at the garden nursery.
He's guarding my kale, brussel sprouts, parsley, cabbage, escarole, celery and broccoli. He even tasted the celery and gives his approval for my choice of lover.


Close up of the broccoli seedlings. See how the roots have wrapped around. That's what is known as being "root bound". The roots are literally bound up which can be a real problem if they were really dense. This is nothing compared to say a Mum you might have bought one year as a drive by gift when you had to go to dinner at someone's house. Do you recall that it dried up and died right away? That's because it's root bound and can't soak up any water you give it. The solution is to cut away at the roots. I didn't have to do that here since the roots are very tender and will easily make it's way through and acclimate to my soil.


Close up of the Kale. I have never grown or eaten Kale before, but I often see it on Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals. I like the sound of the word "Kale". Kaaaaaaaaale. I think I like the way it's going to cook down and make hearty meals. The word even sounds hearty when you say it. Kale is also full of vitamins.


From front to back, I planted Kale with 2 rows of sugar snap peas. I will trellis them as soon as they begin to germinate. In the center bed, I planted the broccoli and celery in a "yin yang" pattern just to change it up. In the very back bed, I planted escarole. This weekend, I will plant more peas and sow some carrots. I am thinking of planting the cabbage and brussel sprouts in the back of the yard since they need a lot of room.



Close up of the broccoli. I am going to plant some 'bright lights' chard in between the broccoli. As the broccoli matures, the kale will fill in. When the broccoli is read to harvest, I will replace them with the eggplant plants. In the back corner, I will plant some pole beans and zinnias. I left room along the front edge of the bed to plant nasturtiums, bush basil and marigolds.