What are you eating from your garden today?

It all sounds great, plantoid!  

No thanks, TD!!!

Brave TD.

Purple broccoli. It's starting to bolt as the weather has been in the 80s for 3 days.

Asparagus! YEE-HAH! 2 perfect spears. Hubby was already slow-cooking burgers, so he just laid the spears on top and steamed them for a few minutes. Yummy! 

We should be there in 5 hours!

sanderson wrote:  We should be there in 5 hours!

 

Takes use 4 days to get to southern California in the RV!  What's 5 hours? 

Note to Self: When it's time to plant 100 lavender starts, invite friends to "asparagus party." They'll never know they've been had until it's too late.  

A salad made with home grown fava beans, carrots, bunching onions, and spinach.

I'm jealous, Yolos! My spinach has not come up, and I just replanted it this afternoon to see if the new seeds will come up. And, we won't have carrots for a long time, since they are just now beginning to germinate.

Me, too, Yolos!  My radishes are sprouted, but that’s it, same with spinaches...YUM!!!

The last of the winter lettuce in a salad.

More asparagus!

countrynaturals wrote:More asparagus!  

I had asparagus the other day, LOL

countrynaturals wrote:Asparagus! YEE-HAH! 2 perfect spears. Hubby was already slow-cooking burgers, so he just laid the spears on top and steamed them for a few minutes. Yummy! 

Inspected our Asparagus bed a couple days ago and after clearing last year's die-back, uncovered 6-8 nearly thumb-sized red spears! Cut 'em, brought 'em, in rinsed, cross-cut 3 to just below their tops. Popped the 1/4" morsels into a HOT lightly greased skillet, lowered the heat & put a tight-fitting lid on.
Meanwhile I diced some thin-sliced ham, seasoned some eggs (whisk in some sour cream) for the skillet, and grabbed some cheese slices. Topped the omelet with the heads. MDW was served hers in bed, and she's still raving!
DELICIOUS!   ...

WP -

First Asparagus harvest of the year off our four year old bed yesterday it was  absolutely delicious . The 12 or so plants in the bed yielded a good 10 ounces , each stem a good half inch thick . Fed the bed with dilute tomato feed after giving he bed a real decent soaking . 

It's not rained much in the last 28 days and all th  beds are showing drying out signs.  Good job it's forecaste to be a wet three days or so from today .

Today there are plenty of nice thick stems  showing , hope to crop heavily tomorrow and as well as eating some we hope to make chicken & asparagus soup.

plantoid wrote:First Asparagus harvest of the year off our four year old bed yesterday it was  absolutely delicious . The 12 or so plants in the bed yielded a good 10 ounces , each stem a good half inch thick . Fed the bed with dilute tomato feed after giving he bed a real decent soaking . 

It's not rained much in the last 28 days and all th  beds are showing drying out signs.  Good job it's forecaste to be a wet three days or so from today .

Today there are plenty of nice thick stems  showing , hope to crop heavily tomorrow and as well as eating some we hope to make chicken & asparagus soup.

We're a year behind you, so I'm just getting 2-3 stalks a day, with lots of skinny ones to leave alone. What we're getting is yummy, however.

Windsor.Parker wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:Asparagus! YEE-HAH! 2 perfect spears. Hubby was already slow-cooking burgers, so he just laid the spears on top and steamed them for a few minutes. Yummy! 

Inspected our Asparagus bed a couple days ago and after clearing last year's die-back, uncovered 6-8 nearly thumb-sized red spears! Cut 'em, brought 'em, in rinsed, cross-cut 3 to just below their tops. Popped the 1/4" morsels into a HOT lightly greased skillet, lowered the heat & put a tight-fitting lid on.
Meanwhile I diced some thin-sliced ham, seasoned some eggs (whisk in some sour cream) for the skillet, and grabbed some cheese slices. Topped the omelet with the heads. MDW was served hers in bed, and she's still raving!
DELICIOUS!   ...

 All my gardening books  say cut all the fronds down to a couple of inches from the soil when they go a yellowish .  I think it's so that over winter there won't be any wind rock effect with the long dried stems acting like sails  levering away at the root system .  So less chance of infections and rot  .

In my green smoothies I am still using kale that was grown last year in the SFG. The kale was blanched and frozen in the Fall. Do you think it still has any goodness (e.g., vitamins) left in it or is just giving me green coloring? 

trolleydriver wrote:In my green smoothies I am still using kale that was grown last year in the SFG. The kale was blanched and frozen in the Fall. Do you think it still has any goodness (e.g., vitamins) left in it or is just giving me green coloring? 

Good question. I've often wondered about the effects of long storage, heat, etc. on nutrients. I know fresh is always better, and sprouts have the most nutrients of all, but if all you have is old and frozen -- it can't hurt, right? (Am I helpful or what? )

Actually . . . I just looked up kale sprouts. Maybe that's the way to go. That way, we're always getting the most bang for our buck, nutrionwise, and it's no more trouble than blanching and freezing.

ROMAINE!  

This is a huge milestone for me. I've been trying to find a lettuce I could like for 25 years, but never succeeded. In a 24 hour period, I not only found it, but I figured out what's gone wrong all this time and solved my whole gardening problem.

It's all about water. Yesterday morning, I pinched off a small romaine leaf to snack on -- first time ever. It was delicious, so I decided to make sure I have romaine ready to eat year round from now on. I wondered what had kept me from this realization before, but didn't lose any sleep over it.

Last night I did my watering late, and the romaine was flat. Shame on me, but watering has always been my biggest problem.

This morning, I went out on the balcony to feed the birds and grabbed a romaine leaf to snack on. It was bitter. Now I get it. My inconsistant watering practices have been ruining my lettuce crops and all these years I've been wondering why everyone else loved homegrown lettuce and I didn't.  

This early heatwave has been driving me crazy, anyway. I was about ready to give it all up, but now I've decided to expand the kitchen balcony garden and install a watering system on timers (there's a water source right under it). I'll do away with the garden on the bedroom balcony (direct sun all day and no water source) and install growing shelves on the inside left side of the slider -- southern exposure, light all day, and climate controlled inside. I think I've figured out a way to put the joy back in gardening. Wish me luck. 

countrynaturals wrote:I think I've figured out a way to put the joy back in gardening. Wish me luck. 

Good Luck!   

Good discovery.  The same happens with Radishes - if they get dry, they get hot, and then if they get a bunch of water they split open.

Water! Who'd a thunk it! I pulled the last winter lettuce a couple weeks ago as it was starting to bolt. I think summer temps also make it bitter. I have seeds for Four Seasons lettuce that I must try this summer.

CN, that is a thunderclap of realization!  Interestingly, hot and dry usually come together, so we just assume it is just the heat...good to know...keep us posted?

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My first salad, with mustard leaves, baby Bok Choi, Lettuces, and radish thinnings!  Delish; last year, my first for the red Japanese mustard leaves, they were really uncomfortable taste-wise, just too bitey.  This year, with our super cold spring, they are delish!  Earlier the better!

This!  Radish thinnings, lettuces, and torn Japanese red mustard greens, just amazing! Sweet onion from store...

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I added poppyseed dressing and some croutons...yum!