Harvest Monday - June 2, 2014

The harvests are slowly increasing and I added two more veggies to our table this past week.

First we have collards.  I am growing two varieties this year, Vates & Beira Tronchuda.  I took a photo of these two just before harvesting some leaves:



Beira Tronchuda on the Left; Vates on the Right
 
You can see that, at this point, the Beira Tronchuda is quite a bit larger than the Vates.  I sampled each in its raw form and they were both tender, but the Tronchuda also seemed to be a tad sweeter.



Harvested Collards
 
Next up is the Chinese cabbage.  The variety I am growing is Pak Choi.  I LOVE Chinese cabbage.  Whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant I always scan the menu for any dish with “Chinese Greens” which is always some form of Chinese cabbage, usually bok choy.  So, not surprisingly, I often use it in stir-frys.  One of my favourite uses is in Thai curry.  I find Thai curry to be so incredibly versatile – you can use almost any vegetable in it.



Pak Choi
 
I am swimming in lettuce – in a good way!  I had a large harvest from all of the leaf lettuces, just like the week before.
 
Mix of Leaf Lettuces
 
I also started to harvest from the romaine & Batavian lettuces.  I’m not sure how large to let the romaine grow – the leaves I am harvesting are about 7"-8" tall. 
 
"Pinares" Romaine Lettuce

The Batavian lettuce is a beauty.  It is halfway between a crisphead & leaf lettuce. Its leaves are thick & it has a sweetness to it coupled with a tiny bit of sharpness – I’m quite taken by it.


"Sierra MI" Batavian Lettuce
 
I only have one variety of lettuce that has not yet been picked, the “Rougette de Montpellier”, which is a butterhead type.  In the past, I have treated it just like the other lettuces - as a cut and come again crop.  Out of all the lettuces that I grew, this was the least productive.  I’m thinking that this year, I will leave it and pick the entire head once it matures.  Now the only trick will be deciding when that is.

I also had a couple of spinach harvests plus I am harvesting chives.  I harvested a larger amount for a salad dressing I made, which I included in the tally.  Smaller amounts harvested here & there throughout the week are not included.

My harvest totals this week were:

Collards – 500 grams (1.10 lbs)
Chinese Cabbage – 984 grams (2.17 lbs)
Spinach – 158 grams (0.35 lbs)
Lettuce – 892 grams (1.97 lbs)
Herbs – 28 grams (0.06 lbs)

Total For Week – 2562 grams (5.65 lbs)

Total To Date – 3486 grams (7.69 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 greens. I wish I'd picked the rest of my lettuce in the circle garden today. I was hoping it wouldn't get too hot, but it was hotter than they predicted (of course). I watered them to make sure they would have a chance, but I fear they might be bitter tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uh oh - I didn't think about that. Our temps got to 30°/86°F today. I'm going to give my plants an extra drink right away & cross my fingers they are ok!

      Delete
  2. All your greens look delicious! I need to pick a bunch of lettuce too. I'm hoping my makeshift shade cloth will keep it from getting bitter. Enjoy all your salads and Chinese cabbage!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Julie! I think I will be getting out the shade cloth this week too.

      Delete
  3. Nice harvest. I've never grown collards before...or tasted it for that matter. I've always heard it was bitter. Hmmmm...now you've peaked my curiousity. Maybe I'll add it to my grow list next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, not bitter at all. It's very similar to kale in terms of flavour. I use them mainly for a Portuguese soup called "Caldo Verde" or "Green Soup" - it's delicious!

      Delete
  4. Your greens look lovely! I am always fascinated by the beauty and colorations of mixed lettuce leaves. As far as the Romaine type lettuces, it depends on what you want to use it for. I tend to harvest all my lettuces the same by trimming the outer leaves. However if you are more patient than I am, allowing Romaine to grow will produce a very stout lettuce with a crisp texture. Romaine hearts are also delicious grilled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rachel! I'm not exactly a patient person when it comes to the garden - I do try though :) I usually stick to salads when it comes to lettuce; a grilled romaine heart - that is something I will definitely have to try.

      Delete
  5. Your greens are beautiful. I always look forward to that first salad. Now if they'd only come up with a tomato that's ready when those first greens are-LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, wouldn't that be nice :) I saw that you have been busy this month too. Wish I could establish some blueberries - it's hard to be patient when you want everything NOW! And your gardens beside the driveway look wonderful!

      Delete
  6. Very beautiful greens! Have you tried Chinese kale? It's variety of brassicas that has similar taste to Pal Choi, turns bright green in cooking and retains some of the crunchiness and gets sweeter in stirfry. I tried it in Thai dish and now grow it and very happy with it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried Chinese kale. It does sound yummy, so it is now on my list - Thanks Jenny!

      Delete
  7. The Beira Tronchuda is one of my favorite greens, and of course I don't have any in the garden at the moment... soon! Lovely lettuces you have there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle! From how well it's growing and its wonderful taste, I have a feeling that Beira Tronchuda will indeed become my go-to variety in terms of collards.

      Delete
  8. All of your greens look so healthy and delicious. I grew Pak Choi but ended up giving most of it to my daughter as did not like it that well and I don't seem to stir fry for some reason. I have never tried to grow collards. I grew up on a farm mid way in Michigan and my Mom never grew collards either. I don't even know what they taste like! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would say that kale & collards are very similar so if you like kale, you will probably like collards. And it's an AWESOME producer in the garden - it just keeps going all summer long (well, that was my experience last year anyway!).

      Delete

Post a Comment

I appreciate and thoroughly enjoy all of your lovely comments :) Please note that in order to foil those pesky spammers, comment moderation has been enabled for older comments.

Popular Posts