Harvest Monday - June 30, 2014

It seems that every week there is a new vegetable being served up from the garden - I had actually never noticed this before I started to keep track of my harvests from week to week.  I think that paying attention to what is being harvested in this way makes me appreciate what the garden is producing that much more.

The newcomer to our table this week is Swiss chard, which has really taken off.  I had a bit of an issue with leaf miners earlier this month but have had no problems since.  I did sprinkle the bed with diatomaceous earth, but I believe that leaf miners are only active at certain times, so the lack of miner damage recently may be more an indication of their life cycle than anything that I did.


Swiss Chard - "Fordhood Giant"
 
I decided to pull the remaining spring planted lettuce (Pinares & Sierra MI).  Surprisingly, Sierra MI still tasted wonderful – Pinares was just starting to develop a slight bitter edge to it.  I will be filling this section of the bed with new lettuce seedlings this week.  This bed gets a bit of shade in the afternoon & I am using a shade cloth which protects it from the intense mid-day sun, so I’m hoping that this will give us summer long lettuce harvests (fingers crossed – we do love our salads!).  The new seedlings can take their sweet time filling in as we are swimming in lettuce now - LOTS of salads are on the menu for the next couple of weeks.

Over 3½ lbs. of Sierra MI Lettuce
 
I have harvested quite a few more scapes and I think that the June bearing strawberry plants are at their peak of production.  The Fort Laramie everbearers are only trickling in right now.  I am really looking forward to making some strawberry jam later this week & have been freezing some of the berries for this very purpose.
 
Scapes & Strawberries

I also harvested rapini this past week.  Last Harvest Monday, I talked about how I was harvesting rapini by cutting the stem off just above a pair of leaves in the hopes of getting some new shoots.  It looks like I may indeed get some tender morsels while I am waiting for the next round of transplants to be ready.
 
Rapini Shoots
 

And lastly, I harvested a bunch of basil & made a lovely basil salad dressing from it.

Basil Salad Dressing
 
I will post the recipe later in the week.

My harvest totals this week were:

Scapes – 116 grams (0.26 lbs)
Rapini – 600 grams (1.32 lbs)
Strawberries – 1,164 grams (2.57 lbs)
Swiss Chard – 710 grams (1.57 lbs)
Lettuce – 3,014 grams (6.64 lbs)
Herbs – 46 grams (0.10 lbs)

Total For Week – 5,650 grams (12.46 lbs)

Total To Date – 16,199 grams (35.71 lbs)

To see what everyone else has been harvesting over the past week, head on over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Mondays.

Till next time…

Comments

  1. Lovely harvests. I used to leave my chard uncovered and just pick the leaf miner eggs off the back when they showed up. If I remember correctly I'd get about three weeks maybe of not getting miners in the chard or maybe it was three weeks between attacks. They do have quite a few generations in a year. I got tired of picking off eggs though and switch to a row cover for them. Though this year I had some miners under the cover for a bit. I think I've got it under control now as no new damage has shown up since the last attack which was really minor.

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    1. Several generations? That's discouraging.. Well, I think I will keep an eye out and if I see more damage I will likely cover them back up.

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  2. Bugs has been nibbling on our chard but it hasn’t been bad enough for me to do anything about it. Yours looks great. Something took a bite out of all our strawberries this year. We thought it was a rabbit, but a friend said it could have been a turtle.

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    1. It's funny you should mention the strawberries - I had a gap on one side of the netting that covers the strawberry bed and wouldn't you know it, a few of the berries were half eaten - for us the culprits are the birds. Before we put netting up, they would get the harvests, we would get the leftovers!

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  3. Your chard looks very nice. Mine has been nibbled and nibbled, but I'm still going to use it. Good harvests. This is a very satisfying time of year.

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    1. It really is a wonderful time in the garden. And I must say, your garden looks likes it's bursting. I burst out laughing when I read your post - "what is it and why can't I find it" - just hilarious! So sorry about your squash & pumpkins though :(

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  4. Nice harvest. I will be looking out for your basil salad dressing recipe. It looks beautiful!

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    1. Thanks Thomas - I'm hoping to do the post in the next few days.

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  5. I agree that keeping track of harvests makes you realize how many delicious veggies you really get out of your garden. That basil dressing looks good... can't wait to see the recipe. I've never noticed leaf miners on my chard. I tend to get some larger holes in the leaves, not sure what does it, but at least they leave enough for me!

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    1. It's funny about the miners - I didn't really have an issue with them on the chard last year. You just never know - every year seems to bring something new to the garden (both good and bad!).

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  6. Nice to see that the rapini are forming some bonus shoots. Your basil dressing looks great, I bet it would be good on zucchini.

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    1. I never thought of that - great suggestion! Now if you could just send some zucchini my way, I would be all set ;)

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  7. Lovely greens, and that basil dressing is perfect! I'm growing Sierra here too, and it is looking good so far. Slobolt also usually holds up to heat fairly well here.

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    1. Thanks Dave! I was really impressed with the Sierra lettuce - great taste & wonderful, crunchy texture. It is a definite keeper. I'm on the lookout for good lettuces for summer growing & will put Slobolt on the list.

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  8. Beautiful harvest! Most people cover chard and beets in my area with row covers, to try and protect against the leaf miners. I think you have to cover them upon sowing and then only barely open the cover to harvest. I've been lazy about covering my beets this year - - I waited until the leaf miners attacked before covering and I didn't do a good job at securing the edges. But I'm still getting lots of nice beet greens. I cannot wait for your basil salad dressing - - sounds delicious!

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    1. Thank you Fern! I did cover the chard when I first noticed the miners, but then I kept seeing flies inside the netting. I wasn't sure if these were miner type flies that had perhaps emerged from the soil so I just took off the netting - and so far so good.

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  9. Nice harvest!! I'm currently having trouble with leaf miners. I forgot to put up the row covers so have been hand picking eggs when I'm able to.

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    1. Thanks Holly - I did a lot of hand picking initially too before I put the row covers on. Thankfully the eggs are super easy to see - and get rid of!

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  10. I have never tried rapini. What does it taste like? Do you use it in salads? Hope your swiss chard problems are over now! I also will be interested in seeing your basil dressing recipe! Nancy

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    1. I love rapini - It has a pretty strong flavour - I hear that it is similar to mustard greens although I have never tasted those. It is used as a side dish or incorporated into other dishes much the same way that any other cooked greens are (it is never eaten raw, as far as I know). I always tell people that it is one of those foods with no middle ground - You either really love it or really hate it. And I hope my chard issues are over too!

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  11. Your chard looks wonderful, as does the rest of your harvest. Keeping track of the harvest is why I began blogging back in 2009. I don't weigh my harvest, but I like looking back from year to year to see what was harvesting when. I too am looking forward to your basil salad dressing.

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    1. Thanks Rachel - It's quite wonderful to see the progression of harvests throughout the season and to compare how different methods, etc., impact what comes out of the garden from year to year.

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  12. Very lovely harvest of greens, and nice for second helpings on rapini!

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