It's been quite awhile since I've joined in posting for Harvest Monday and there's a lot to show and tell this week as the season of growing heats up (literally) here in Connecticut. I have lots of pictures today!
Swiss chard and sugar snap peas were big winners this week. The snap peas have peaked I think and there will be smaller harvests in the coming days. I can only hope the chard stays healthy this year! I also harvested the last of the Little Marvel shelling peas and only have Tall Telephone left to give me any more shellers. I plan to try planting some fall peas this year, but have never yet had success with them.
I love to plant many different varieties of each vegetable and the beets are no exception. I was surprised to get those bright orange beets in the mix, but when I checked out the variety I'd ordered called 3 Root Grex I discovered it grows several colors. Do I not read those catalogue descriptions carefully or what? Well, it was a fun surprise anyway.
I have no idea how to rotate the picture above, but it is my very first cabbage of the year, a Farao which is a very tender and delicious early type, though the heads are smallish. This one is just one and three quarter pounds.
I managed to plant the celery out this year! Yay! Most of it is in the garden, but these four that I planted in a window-box planter are doing the best. Which is odd, because I am a complete failure when it comes to container gardening. Usually what I plant in a container dies a quick and ugly death.
These are the last of the garlic scapes. The es-scape-ees actually. I planted way too much garlic and thought I had removed all the hardneck scapes weeks ago, but found this little batch had gotten overlooked. Garlic should be ready to dig up soon.
There was a huge harvest of lettuce earlier in the week. Many of the early varieties were starting to bolt. The ones that weren't bitter yet were harvested to eat along with the maturing second planting lettuces. We have been in salad heaven!
We also got a great batch of broccoli this week. Broccoli is probably our favorite vegetable and I have high hopes for lots more to come. This year I finally grew some large heads, although I'm still getting my share of small ones too.
And, finally, here are the first kohlrabis. The variety is Kolibri. I have to say I am not impressed with the kohlrabi this year. They were early on the victims of cabbage worm attacks and few of them are really bulbing up like they should. Perhaps in the fall there'll be more.
That about covers this week's harvest. Harvest Monday is hosted by
Daphne's Dandelions where you can see what gardeners all over are getting from their gardens!
Your broccoli harvest is simply gorgeous! Well done! The cabbage, greens, and snap peas are pretty amazing too. I have found that celery and onions actually grow much better in containers. I think they like the lighter soil structure and they both appreciate being kept in moist soil - so containers that get watered often seem to be an ideal place for them.
ReplyDeleteHi Kitsap! Thanks for the encouragement! I keep trying containers and you're right, I probably don't water enough. They seem like a good solution to certain problems if I could get the technique down.
DeleteYou had some really nice harvests this week. And that is one huge basket of peas.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne! I usually have pretty good luck with peas.
DeleteI, too, have been picking a lot of lettuce lately because they have been bolting. I love lettuce, and we eat a lot of salads. Your harvest is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! There's just two of us, so keeping up with the lettuce can be daunting. I gift a lot of it to friends!
DeleteI cna't tell you how many times I've gone back to read the description afterwards and thought, Huh - so THAT's why!
ReplyDeleteBarbie, I'm glad I'm not the only one, lol!
DeleteReally jealous of that broccoli and peas! Last year we had 20 lbs of peas but this year animlas got most of it and we got leftovers. :(
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame about your peas Jenny! I've had trouble with animals at times but they have always left the peas alone. So far, anyway!
DeleteOOO....Oooo...I get to be the first poster?? Maybe. lol
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and have added you to my blogroll. So there. Now you have 4 followers. lol (Many more, I'm sure you were exaggerating.)
Love the look of your gardens. We have a half acre of land and most of it is in fruit and vegetables. I'm in south central Illinois, minutes away from the Mississippi River. You are harvesting a lot of stuff--we're just starting, late planting due to monsoon conditions this past spring. Even today is weird, not even 75 degrees, and 3 more days of rain forecast. last year we had a drought.
Glad I found you via Daphne's blog!!
Welcome Akannie! My brother lives in northern Illinois and I lived there a few years when I was in late high school and college. One thing you Illini have is amazing soil! I remember my mom planting a garden there and doing almost nothing yet getting the most beautiful harvest! We sure are at the mercy of the weather aren't we? Good luck with your gardening, I will check your blog out. Thanks for your kind words!
DeleteOh how I wish we had that many peas! Bunnies got to most of mine. All we had were the shelling peas from my daughters pot. Good looking harvest!
ReplyDeleteSorry about your peas Shawn Ann! Darned bunnies! Thanks for your encouragement!
DeleteBeautiful harvest! I'm so jealous of your broccoli! Well, I'm jealous of your beets, too. OK, and your sugar snap peas ;-)
ReplyDeleteHa-ha, Granny and I am jealous of practically everything you harvested this week! Let's do some trades! Thanks for always being so encouraging!
DeleteWow, look at that outrageous amount of lettuce and peas!
ReplyDeleteMy container plants usually die a slow thirsty death. Even the hardy mint looks like it's struggling.
Thanks for stopping by Phuong! I believe that was about 8 pounds of lettuce and I was looking for people to give it away to! At least the peas can be frozen! Glad I'm not the only one who is lethal to container plants, lol!
DeleteI thought that was a fat carrot hanging out with the beets.. I've never seen an orange beet! Very nifty! That broccoli looks delicious and what will you be doing with all that lettuce?
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, thanks for the comments! I only wish that was a carrot as mine aren't doing too well this year! I give a lot of my lettuce to friends only I hope it doesn't get to the point where they run when they see me coming with it!
DeleteMy kolibri did not do well this year either. That's quite a basket of sugar snap, home grown are so much more tastier than store bought.
ReplyDeleteFresh sugar snaps really are a great treat! Hopefully fall kohlrabi will do better for us!
DeleteYour harvest is looking great! Nice Swiss chard and sugar snap peas. I had never heard of an orange beet. Does it taste the same? Your cabbage is looking great and that was a lot of lettuce! Nancy
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy! It's been a good year so far. Orange beets do taste about the same and after cooking they don't look as orange.
DeleteHoly cow! I don't even know where to start with all that bounty! How about the peas? I don't think that I have, in a combined total over the years, ever harvested so many peas! That basket would be like heaven to my pea loving heart! Congrats on so many great harvests!
ReplyDeleteWell, thanks for the encouraging comments Bee Girl! I do tend to plant a lot of peas because I like them and they are good for my soil, which I'm trying to build up. We seem to have the climate for peas, now if only my tomatoes would do as well!
DeleteLove your spacious garden! We've never had success with fall peas either, which is a wonder since you'd think the conditions would be perfect here in New England, especially where you are!
ReplyDeleteThank you! You know I think it's our darned hot humid Augusts and sometimes even Septembers that keep the fall peas from sprouting and growing strong healthy plants.
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