Harvest Monday - October 6, 2014

Not a whole lot to report this week – I have a feeling that this will be the standard theme until winter sets in.

One notable exception to the same ol’ same ol’…another first for me.  Broccoli.

First Head of Packman Broccoli

Not the biggest head, that’s for sure, but so very exciting nonetheless!  I don’t know what it is about certain crops, but it almost seems a bit magical when they produce.  I felt this way when the onions bulbed up and now when the broccoli formed a head, small as it may be.  Or perhaps it’s not the crops themselves, but more the fact that it’s the first time I’ve grown them.

I harvested a tiny bit of Tyee spinach from the plants that I had meant to pull a while back but never actually did it.  And good thing too as this bit of spinach is especially welcome, considering I never did get around to doing that fall sowing like I was supposed to.  The spinach was teamed up in the basket with some lovely Russian Kale:

Russian Kale & Tyee Spinach

I harvested a couple of the bunching onions that had signs of leek moth* damage.  I'm going to try to leave those with no (visible) damage to overwinter for next year.


Perennial Bunching Onions

The whole point behind perennial bunching onions is that you only sow them once.  They overwinter, coming back year after year, and they multiply at the base.  You simply pull out what you need, when you need it, leaving the rest to continue to multiply.  But I am finding that this particular variety grows very large before it starts to multiply.  And then the “multiplier” portion is also very large, right from the start.  Here is a photo of the same onions that I pulled, once they have been cleaned up:

Bunching Onions - Cleaned Up

The onion on the right is almost 1½” across & weighed in at 190 grams (6.7 oz)!  To me, that's the equivalent of 3 or 4 "regular" bunching onions.  I prefer green onions to be on the smaller side, like those on the left.  Around ½” would be ideal.  The smaller onions in the photo are singles from the original spring sowing that have not grown large enough to start multiplying yet.  I have to investigate to see if there are any varieties that are smaller than these.  But if this is how all varieties are – or those that are hardy in my area anyhow – then they will have to do.  I love the whole idea of having a perennial green onion patch, even if the onions aren’t exactly the size I would have liked.

Also harvested but not photographed was a good picking of Pak Choi and a bit of lettuce.  I suppose one of the good things about the temps getting consistently down to 5°C or so (41°F) is that the slugs will hopefully leave the greens alone now.

My harvest totals this week were:

Broccoli – 130 grams (0.29 lbs)

Chinese Cabbage – 610 grams (1.34 lbs)
Kale – 284 grams (0.63 lbs)
Lettuce – 38 grams (0.08 lbs)
Bunching Onions – 304 grams (0.67 lbs)
Spinach – 40 grams (0.09 lbs)

Total for Week – 1,406 grams (3.10 lbs)

Total to Date – 214.45 kg (472.78 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…

*I originally thought that the alliums were being attacked by onion maggots but have subsequently realized that, in fact, I was dealing with leek moths so have adjusted this post accordingly.