Harvest Monday - May 31, 2010

Garlic Scapes -- the bottom white part is most tender and sweet.

Use a sharp knife make an incision from the top.

Cut all the way down to about 2" from the base,

pull the scape out toward you

through the incision and break it off.

It's a mess, but they will live until the garlic bulbs fatten up.

If the incision is too deep you'll split the scape like this,

another reason why I am not a surgeon.

(A) If the scape makes a loop or too young -- you'll get less white.

(B) and (C) -- best time to pick, more white and tender scapes.

Garlic scape kimchi (last year's photo).

The bud is the most pungent part of the scape, 

I saute the tender part with olive oil or sesame oil 

plus whatever I have on hand at the time.

This week's harvest :  mixed greens 15.8 oz, garlic scapes 5 oz.

Total 1.30 lb

  Visit the host of Harvest Monday Daphne's Dandelions 

and see what other gardeners harvested recently.

Have A Nice Memorial Day Weekend

Cilantro Flowers

Bean Issues - What's Going On?

A new dance step?

Another dance step?

Deformed leaves.

Can't wake up.

Just one leaf?

I'm having lots of issues with beans this year, our spring weather has been cold and windy, and I waited 3 weeks past our normal planting schedule to sow the beans.  Bush beans Rolande took more than 2 weeks to germinate (only 40%), pole beans Kwintus were no show except 1 seed germinated after 3 weeks. Yes, just "one seed" broke through the soil!  The bean bed was covered with netting and it wasn't the birds' fault, I dug around and didn't see any beans, they must be rotten and disintegrated into the soil.  I'm going to wait until a week or so before summer solstice to resow the pole beans and see if they can make it this time.
Ah~~~~patience patience patience!


Did you plant beans this year and how are they growing in your area?

Please Help - Leaf Diseases?

Cherry Tomato

Paste Tomato

Potato Leaves

I'm guessing these are fungi, maybe too much water and not enough air circulation, what do you think?  How do I get rid of them?  What would you use for spray?

Your opinions are welcome and thanks for your help.

Harvest Monday - May 24, 2010

Dwarf white stem bok choy 18 oz, Shanghai bok choy 11 oz.

Total for the week 1.81 lb

Harvesting one box at a time.

Mixed greens, they will be picked for coming weekend's BBQ.

The red nets on the right are mini Napa, I'm trying to blanch

the interior leaves without using pots, it's getting warm here,

I don't want to cook the leaves.

Shishito peppers -- I can't believe they are the first to set fruits.

These pepper plants have been through several big wind storms, 

hail, snow, and low temperatures in the mid-twenties.

  This is a keeper!  It deserves a permanent place in the garden.

Visit Daphne's Dandelions to see other gardeners' harvests.

Wordless Wednesday

Mini Rose

Harvest Monday - May 17, 2010

Folks, I'm still in green mode, just throw in some red for color.

Spinach 33 oz, Shanghai Bok Choy 7 oz

Total harvest this week 2.50 lb

Store bought red potatoes growing in a 15 gal bag.

This is first for me, I've never grown potatoes before,

Lou and Jane inspired me to try the Smart Pot,

it seems like a good idea not having to dig trenches.

Snow Peas

This is where I picked pea shoots for salads in the past, 

but I'm letting it grow now, hopefully it will set some pods.

Celtuce -- it's a lettuce, but it's grown for the crunchy
sweet stems,  I won't use the leaves for salad, but some

people use the leaves for stir fry.

French filet beans Rolande are emerging, there is no sign of

pole beans Kwintus, both of them were sown the same day.

Most of my greens are grown in containers during spring-summer,

the raised beds are reserved for warm season crops as I have

limited space (for what I want to grow). This Earthbox is 2 sf, 

it grows enough greens for 1-2 meals for the two of us, 

most important of all (to me) is that I can just drop some seeds

into the container and they grow without much work.

(I don't dig!)

Visit Daphne's Dandelions the host of Harvest Monday
see what others have harvested this week.

Wordless Wednesday

Intersectional Peony -- Garden Treasure

Chinese Winter Melon

Quickie winter melon soup.
Chicken stock/broth, winter melon, carrots, shitake mushrooms.

Hearty winter melon soup.

Any kind of meat with bones, dried shitake mushrooms,

dried scallops, winter melon, plus other ingredients you like.

Bring the stockpot to boil, lower heat and simmer 2 hrs or more.

Large chunks for hearty soup, smaller cubes for quick soup.

Inside look -- large cavity with seeds as in pumpkin.
The seeds were removed before I remember to take a picture.

This piece is cut from last year's harvest (7 months ago),
it is still nice and firm with no sign of spoilage.

Winter melons range from 15 lbs - 34 lbs  ( 6.8 kg - 15.4 kg)

This picture was taken in October of 2007,
I have not taken any melon harvest photo since.

Time to harvest -- the vines begin to die back and

the melons acquire a waxy white coat.

I have been growing winter melon in the past four years, it's the easiest and least demanding of all vegetables that I've grown.  I start seeds in March and transplant them to the garden sometime in May-June.  They are setup with drips and that's it, I don't do anymore to them until harvest time, so far no pests or diseases had bothered them, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Winter melon can be pickled, make into filling for deserts, there are winter melon teas and candies, etc. Since my family is not into sweets I don't use the melon for anything else except soups and stews.

Harvest Monday - May 10, 2010

Mini Napa & mix greens

I have been harvesting mini Napa and mix greens (red and green lettuces, mizuna, mibuna) for salad in the last 10 days.  We ate most of them already, this is what I picked this morning, altogether I harvested -- Napa 31 oz, mix greens 6 oz. (total 2.31 lb)

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions head over there to see what other gardeners are harvesting lately.

Happy Mother's Day 祝各位母親節快樂

Battered Tomatoes

Scrapes and burns on Cherokee Purple.

Closer look.

This is the first time I see a Cherokee Purple flower.

So many petals (is this normal?)

 Scrapes and burns on Green Zebra.

Odoriko is doing well.

San Remo and Pompeii are thriving.

Shishito pepper is flowering.

Last week's wind and hail storm caused some damages to my crops,  I lost 6 jalapenos, 4 sweet potato slips, and 4 strawberry plants.  All the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants were under cover, there were some abrasion damage to Cherokee Purple and Green Zebra caused by the wind slamming at the floating cover.  Yesterday's gusty wind claimed 3 cucumbers, I would have lost the squashes and melons also had I planted them out couple days ago when it was nice and sunny.   

My spring planting is three weeks behind schedule, we keep getting cold snaps and gusty winds every 3-4 days, I'm lucky to get all the seedlings planted by the end of the month.  Sowed some beans two days ago -- Rolande filet (bush beans) and Kwintus Italian flat pod (pole beans), I grew them last year and we like the texture and taste, these green beans freezes well also.