The lettuce and spinach are really coming on strong now. Last night we had a huge wilted lettuce salad with our dinner, tonight we are in spinach overload.
My largest salad bowl, filled to the brim with freshly cut and chilled mixed lettuces and garden onions. We ate so much, I had to serve it in the big soup bowls! These lettuces are so good. Last year I didn't plant nearly enough, so I've spaced out my planting this year to provide us with a steady supply. Most of the varieties grown were given to me by Meredith, from
The Enchanted Earth.
Time to pick the spinach again. There was very little leaf miner damage in this crop.
From now on, I'll be using a clothes basket for the greens harvesting, rather than the colander I was using last week. That's nearly two pounds.....not a bad spinach harvest, huh? I went back to that dollar store that's closing out, and bought two of these baskets to use for picking garden produce for only 90-cents each. Granny's always looking for a bargain ;-)
One variety of carrots (front) germinated well this spring, another variety (center) was a bit spotty, and the third variety didn't germinate well at all. They were all planted the same day, using fresh seed, and given the same care. Who knows....maybe a bad package of seed, or a favorite place for the birds to nibble? Anyway, I planted two more strips of the good germinator, two rows on each strip at 2" spacing. I didn't use the boards on the earlier planting, I was careful to do so this time around.
Look! The Gonzales cabbages are beginning to form little heads, and the Fortex pole beans are up and reaching for their string trellis! I guess you could call this my "Daphne's Friendship Garden", as the cabbage and bean seeds were gifts from
Daphne's Dandelions.
In closing, here is my very first pea blossom of 2010. Finally!
My largest salad bowl, filled to the brim with freshly cut and chilled mixed lettuces and garden onions. We ate so much, I had to serve it in the big soup bowls! These lettuces are so good. Last year I didn't plant nearly enough, so I've spaced out my planting this year to provide us with a steady supply. Most of the varieties grown were given to me by Meredith, from The Enchanted Earth.
Time to pick the spinach again. There was very little leaf miner damage in this crop.
From now on, I'll be using a clothes basket for the greens harvesting, rather than the colander I was using last week. That's nearly two pounds.....not a bad spinach harvest, huh? I went back to that dollar store that's closing out, and bought two of these baskets to use for picking garden produce for only 90-cents each. Granny's always looking for a bargain ;-)
One variety of carrots (front) germinated well this spring, another variety (center) was a bit spotty, and the third variety didn't germinate well at all. They were all planted the same day, using fresh seed, and given the same care. Who knows....maybe a bad package of seed, or a favorite place for the birds to nibble? Anyway, I planted two more strips of the good germinator, two rows on each strip at 2" spacing. I didn't use the boards on the earlier planting, I was careful to do so this time around.
Look! The Gonzales cabbages are beginning to form little heads, and the Fortex pole beans are up and reaching for their string trellis! I guess you could call this my "Daphne's Friendship Garden", as the cabbage and bean seeds were gifts from Daphne's Dandelions.
In closing, here is my very first pea blossom of 2010. Finally!
I really need to find something else to use besides my large metal bowl when harvesting....a clothes basket sounds like a simple idea!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great looking salad Gran. I'm looking forward to harvesting my first head of lettuce in the next week or two. It's definitely a veggie that I could use more of in my garden this year.
Look at all of that bacon! :)
You have LOADS of greens! Way to spot another deal, and CONGRATULATIONS on your first pea blossom! They really are beautiful! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's the way! A clothes basket filled with salad has got to be worthwhile. Get eating, Granny!
ReplyDeleteDrat. The first pea blossoms. My peas haven't started to blossom yet. Your harvests always seem to come before mine.
ReplyDeleteThat spinach patch looks great. I wish my spring spinach would do something, but no such luck.
Funny about the carrots isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe garden really looks great A.G.!
I know what you mean about those peas! I finally have pods, although they aren't plumping up yet - it always seems to take forever when you want those fresh peas!
ReplyDeleteThose clothes baskets are the perfect size for harvesting and only 99 cents! I switch to a big 5 gallon bucket and even a large rubbermaid tote container to hold my harvests when they get more sizeable. The colander always works for the nightly meal time harvests though.
ReplyDeleteI had one round of carrots that gave me spotty germination (or were eaten on - not sure which) and the other one that followed gave me superior germination and emergence. Go figure?! They are in very different areas of the garden - so in my case it could definitely be a function of sun exposure, soil conditions etc.
I do love a good deal too granny! Great idea!
ReplyDeleteThe clothes basket is a good idea, I use a rubber bucket, that's about the same size, which a friend gave me. Carrots take sooooo long to germinate, they drive me mad!
ReplyDeleteThomas, there were four slices of crumbled bacon on the salad, but I didn't use the bacon grease. I kept it semi-healthy by substituting oil for the grease. It was good :-)
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Megan, it takes a lot of greens around here to feed my voracious little rabbit! He only likes mixed baby greens, which are terribly expensive at the grocery stores. What Cookie likes, Cookie gets. Maybe that's why he's lived so long.
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TIG, we ate! and ate, and ate. Freshly cooked spinach tastes so much better straight from the garden. I cooked up the entire bunch last night, expecting to freeze the leftovers. There were no leftovers! Mr. Granny ate two huge bowls of it with his grilled shrimp and roasted potatoes! I may have had a second helping myself ;-)
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Daphne, hee-hee I beat ya! That's OK, first isn't always better. Always remember, I grow lousy radishes.
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Thanks, Kelly. Yes, that was the same variety I planted in AZ, and I had close to 100% germination with them there.
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Erin, it's going to be fun trying to pick my sugar snaps. They've gone and grown into the bird netting while I wasn't looking. I've yet to see a blossom on those, but the shelling pea patch is looking pretty good.
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Kitsap, I think the clothes basket works well, because I can hose off the veggies before bringing them inside, and tip it just slightly to drain. Maybe I'll drill a few drain holes in the bottom. It's also really light weight and easy to carry, and it will sit atop my kitchen scale for weighing.
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Jan, I had an assortment of plastic baskets and pails, but they always fill up to overflowing. When I spotted the clothes baskets at the store yesterday, the first thing that popped into my mind was that they were a perfect size. They are just a bit smaller than a regular (non-dollar store) clothes basket, and made cheaply enough to be very light weight.
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Shawn Ann, Granny raised five kids. I've always been a smart shopper, even now when I don't have to be. Just ask Mr. Granny, who really wants a new car. I say "Why? Our old one runs well, looks good, gets us where we're going, and it's paid for".
That's one heck of a greens harvest! Maybe it's just me but I think that pea blossoms are actually quite pretty. Too bad I can't grow them year round. Maybe we should set up some sort of harvest exchange program. Those that can grow lettuce/spinach can trade with those that have squash/tomatoes/etc. I thinks it's a fantastic idea. Maybe I'll set up a site for it. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteRichard, that would be a great idea if it weren't for the cost of mailing. Don't even get me started on the shipping and handling costs most seed catalogs charge. Or what it costs to send something as small as a jar of jam to a friend. It's ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteI'm having a little (really a lot) of spinach envy here. Yours looks great. Which variety is this one?
ReplyDeleteCheryl, there are two varieties, Melody and Tyee Hybrid. They look and grow exactly the same, but I find the flavor of Tyee to be superior. Melody has more bitterness, Tyee is milder and sweeter.
ReplyDeleteThe salad looks good! I have not picked many greens yet but it can't be long. Is spinach still good once it bolts? I've neglected mine and it is starting to flower now.
ReplyDeleteDan, I've never eaten it after it bolts. I'm usually in a hurry to get it out and replace it with something else. I'm sure it would be edible, but maybe it would start turning bitter like lettuce does. I can't believe how we've been eating the greens! It's just so nice to have delicious salads and steamed spinach, we devour it all like it's going to be taken away from us! In fact, I'm already out of everything but a few spinach leaves, so will have to pick more tonight.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a slacker when I see your garden! (because I sort of am one LOL).
ReplyDeleteOh, Crystabel, you are no slacker! Maybe just a little bit when it comes to blogging ;-)... but you're so busy with everything else.
ReplyDeleteLaundry basket? I love it! Especially since my garden is at work, not home. Genius, i say!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Seriously?, I wouldn't exactly say it's genius, but it does hold a lot of veggies ;-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful greens, Granny! I am just starting to clip some lettuce and spinach for salads this week. I am growing Tyee spinach this year and like the flavor too.
ReplyDeleteThose are great for greens. I also switch to buckets for fruit crops eventually.
ReplyDeleteAs for shipping, I'm liking the flat rate priority boxes. Not necessarily for seeds, but for jam and such to friends, you can fit a lot in for relatively little.
Rachel, I'm really going to concentrate on taste tests this year. I always grow way to much, so I need to cut back and only grow the things we like best.
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Me too, Stefaneener. It's only a problem when I'm in AZ, where our little post office never has the small size box available, so I have to go up to the next size for more money spent.
Wow! Popeye's gonna be knocking on your door if he sees all that spinach!
ReplyDeleteSB, none left for Popeye! Would you believe I cooked that entire batch of spinach, intending to freeze the leftovers, but Mr. Granny and I ate the entire pot full! Of course, once it's cooked it's not all that much....but even so :-) Why is it freshly picked garden spinach tastes nothing like the stuff we buy at the store?
ReplyDeletePhooey, forgot to mention the powder. You asked the other day if it was working. It appears to be, because the other day we had a toad-strangler T-storm that washed off all the powder. We had to go out, so didn't have time to reapply it before it got dark. Next morning, I found holes in my melon leaves. Since I re-applied, no holes. May just be coincidence, but it seems to be working! I think, though, that I could use a plant duster to apply it. Puffing it out of the can is very wasteful. Need to buy more already.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a healthy eater, Annie! Your cabbages are getting heads! Mine are far behind.
ReplyDeleteTatayana, not always a healthy eater...I'm really a cookie monster! I do go on healthy eating binges, but Mr. Granny thinks all good foods are fried.
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