Harvest Monday

This week I harvested the last of the broccoli. The plants were so big and weren't producing side shoots...so, I pulled the plants also. The snow peas have come to a halt. I only harvested 2 oz. of them this past week. The "Little Marvel" peas are producing very well though. I hope that they produce longer then the snow peas.

We are still enjoying a lot of Spring lettuce. Our weather was so so hot over the weekend that I'm sure that it will bolt soon. I did start some more varieties of lettuce this week. I am hoping that they will germinate quickly and we won't be too long without fresh greens.

All of the garlic is almost ready. I harvested two of the heads this week that looked like they were ready. They are a nice size. Hopefully, some of the tomatoes will start to ripen soon. I've had tomatoes on the plants for several weeks now....can't wait!

Two small heads of Broccoli

Nice fresh mixed lettuce salad

First two heads of Garlic

Harvest Total: 5.94 lbs

Broccoli - 9 oz.

Garlic - 7 oz.

Herbs - 4 oz

Lettuce - 14 oz.

Peas - 2 lbs. 2 oz.

Snow Peas - 2 oz.

Strawberries - 1 lb. 9 oz.

Around the Garden

The cauliflower seems to be doing well.The heads are growing nicely. I harvested the remaining broccoli heads. I had left a few of the plants in the ground for side shoots. They really weren't producing any shoots. So, I pulled the plants out. The cabbage is not doing very well. It looks like only two of the plants are going to form a head. We had such erratic weather and they really bolted. I will plant more later in the season  for a fall crop.

Largest head of cauliflower is about 5"

The beans are growing and survived their pill bug encounter.

The cucumbers are developing their true leaves.

We finally took the bay leaf tree outside. I purchased this tree 5 years ago. It was only about 3" high when I got it. It is much happier outside and is producing new shoots.

I dug up two of the garlic plants to see how the heads are forming. They are almost ready to dig up. I think that I will give them about two more weeks. Unless the leaves turn completely brown before that. I could really use the room. I have an entire 4 x 10 bed planted with garlic.

This is an Asiatic Lily planted in one of the perennial beds. I am going to start taking pictures of all of the different daylilies that I have planted and do a post on them. I believe that there are at least 20 different varieties. The tags have some how disappeared...so, I don't know how many names I will have with the photos.

Now I'm going to show Erin mine :)

Here's my compost bins and my fork. I was never able to get the "Little Helper" to pose for a picture with our fork.....so here it is. The fork was my grandfather's. He passed at 96 and farmed his entire life. I have no idea how old it is.

Peas & Pests Post

Yes, I am marveled by the Little Marvel English peas! I picked my first peas yesterday.

I wonder how much I will get from 8 oz?

Well, I think that I have the pill bugs under control. I never had the chance to put beer in the garden the other night due to the rain. I think that the diatomaceous earth worked. I guess it just takes a couple of days. I haven't seen any bugs in that bed for two days now.

Harvest Monday

We had a pretty good harvest this week. The spring spinach is finished. It really starting bolting with all of this hot weather we have been having. I am really pleased with the amount of spinach from this planting. I think that I will plant some heat tolerant spinach this week and see how it does.

We also had a very nice harvest of snow peas, some broccoli, lots of herbs, lettuce, scapes, one lone leek (overwintered by mistake) and strawberries.

I have already started to dry some herbs and have been freezing some of the vegetables and strawberries. I have found that drying the basil and parsley in the oven on the lowest temperature with the convection setting, is working really well. The parsley & basil have never dried with such a nice green color.

Basket of mixed lettuce, broccoli and wonderful snow peas!

Salad of mixed lettuce, strawberries and roasted almonds.

We had dinner at my sister-in-laws this past week. She made a really nice dressing with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, strawberry honey (from Italy) and a little sugar. It was great on this salad!

Ahh.....mojito made with fresh mint, nice on a hot day!

 Harvest total for the week:  9 lbs. 15 oz.

Broccoli - 9 oz.
Herbs - 9 oz.
Leeks - (overwintered) 6 oz.
Lettuce - 1 lb.
Scapes - 12 oz.
Snow Peas - 2 lbs. 2 oz.
Spinach - 1 lb. 3 oz.
Strawberries - 3 lbs. 6 oz.