Harvest Monday

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions each week. It's a great place to go and see what people are harvesting in their gardens this week! This is the second week I'll be joining in the fun.
This week was a good week for harvesting with a lot of firsts. My first cauliflower, admittedly small and starting to button already. Believe me, my photos make everything look a lot bigger than they are. A lot! On the plate beside the cauli are some broccoli "heads" the size of a single spear and a kohlrabi.

 My first cabbage! Looks good, doesn't it? It is the variety Farao, which I've had a lot of luck with. I have quite a few more coming in. Does anybody have any good cabbage recipe ideas besides coleslaw and sauerkraut?

 My first beets of the year. Can you tell which one is the Cylindra? These will be roasted and eaten in our salads.

 I've started digging the soft neck garlic, the smaller ones that have flopped over and gotten brown. This is the first year I've grown soft neck garlic and I didn't know you really shouldn't bother planting the tiniest cloves, so I have a lot of very small ones but they are still good for cooking with! The larger softnecks and all the hardnecks will likely be harvested next week sometime. I love homegrown garlic and it amazes me how many people around here think you can only grow it in California!

 This week the swiss chard really started coming in! I freeze a lot of it and use it all year, but it tastes so much better fresh and steamed. Of course, all vegetables taste best fresh, no doubt about it.

 Kale too! This batch was soon turned into kale chips. Addicting way to get in some extra greens.

 Finally, some broccoli. They were yummy! My heads are always verrrrrry small, but they are a good treat in any case. I just wish I could grow larger heads!

 More lettuce. Our lettuce is winding down now and we will miss it, but I must say I won't miss the vast quantities I was having to pick and wash. I still have quite a few romaines growing and a new wave of heat resistant varieties waiting in the wings to be planted out.

 The ubiquitous peas of three varieties. Snow peas in the red bowl, just hitting their stride. Sugar snap peas in the basket at their peak. Shelling peas in the white bowl at the end of the line. I'll be pulling the shelling pea plants this week and prepping the bed for something new.

The one big downer of the week was that with all the severe wind on Friday and then a strange, dry wind front that came through to our surprise on Saturday, I found one of my big healthy summer squash plants snapped off at the base. Oh, that made me sad! Still, there are plenty of other ones and it looks (though I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch), it looks... like I may have my first ever good year of zucchini and yellow squash. Won't that be nice!
Hoping all you gardeners out there are enjoying the bounty of your labors!