Monday Harvest – 30th Sep 2013

I don’t think I planned my garden particularly well this year.  I have a lot of gaps in the beds, and have had for quite some time.  I’m about to have a lot more as I rip out all the lettuces, parsley and silver-beet plants that are bolting at the moment.  I guess this is good from the perspective of having lots of space to plant summer crops but I don’t think I’ve necessarily maximised the yield from my space this spring.

What I have managed to succession plant properly though year is lettuce.  I have Oak-leaf, and Cos varieties producing well at the moment.   Some plants are bolting but many are going strong.  I am hoping that my next plantings will be ready before they all go to seed though.

Spring Harvest Basket

Those of you with excellent attention to detail will have noticed that I don’t just have leaves in the above basket.  This week I harvested the first of my broad beans:

Broad beans

Just a handful, which I will eat tonight combined with olives, broccoli, peas, and chilli and served with spaghetti (the rest of the family is having spag bol but I definitely prefer broad beans to mince!).

Speaking of eating; I think it’s slugs and/or snails that have been nibbling my radishes, probably best not to dwell on that too long…..

radishes

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA  CeleryMy other harvests this week have mainly taken the form of crudité. I made hummus 3 times this week, and each time I ate it with kohlrabi, celery and radishes.  The pic is of my first ever kohlrabi.  I have a much better form in the garden but most of the plants (like this one) have bolted before properly forming.  I reckon I will do as L suggested and try growing them in Spring in future (as opposed to over winter).

Head over to Daphne’s where you may even happen across a correctly formed kohrabi on one of the many Monday Harvest posts.

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17 Responses to Monday Harvest – 30th Sep 2013

  1. Louise says:

    Lovely basket of greens! I have plenty of things bolting right now too – rocket, lettuce and Pak Choi, all very pretty flowers really. I am tempted to leave them there to let them seed and hopefully self sow? That would be nice. As I now have lots of space in Fortress Wallaby I am hoping I can let some things propagate themselves.

    Home made hummus has to be made here I think to help me deal with the celery glut.

  2. Our plot is beginning to look very bare!

  3. Daphne says:

    Oh I love homemade hummus. Sometimes I don’t make it with chickpeas though and use regular beans. It is just as good that way, but slightly different.

  4. Jo says:

    I’ve tried growing kohl rabi on a couple of occasions but have never been successful, I can’t even get them past the seedling stage.

  5. I’ve never had much luck on the kohlrabi front, so you’re one up on me! I bet those first, succulent broad beans were delicious.

  6. Those nibble marks on the radishes look awfully familiar. Definitely slugs here.

  7. Lea says:

    Yummy! Especially those beans!
    Lea
    Lea’s Menagerie

  8. Sarah says:

    Hope you enjoyed the spaghetti! With the fresh, young broad beans and tender spring salad leaves, your harvest has got me looking forward to next spring already!

  9. rob says:

    Lots of greens, I like it. ..

    As you mention, its snail/slug time and they are starting to eat all my small plants in my first real garden bed. What do you use for control, trying to stay away from chemicals, I tried beer in a small container for a few days, buy very little success. I picked up two last night and dumped them in beer to drown them, any suggestions?

    • Liz says:

      I think going out just after dark and picking them off is probably most effective. I then drown them in warm water with dish detergent in it – Supposed to kill them instantly. I find the beer traps work sometimes better than others – mine haven’t worked this year either but I had heaps in them last year. A quick check up any pots you have lying around also helps.

  10. I thought those nibbles were from Slater’s, which I have an abundance of, along with the slugs and snails. They seem particularly bad this year. I need to respread the pellets. I use the Multicrop ones which are an iron chelate. They knock off both the snails and the slaters, and are fine to use in an organic system. We grew kohl rabi for the first time this year and they are looking great. I have no idea what to do with them though 🙂

    • Liz says:

      Ahh you may well be right – I too have an abundance of slaters. Slaters would make sense actually. I keep meaning to buy some slug pellets – I don’t know how many of my chilli seedlings they have devoured this year.

  11. How wonderful to eat the first broad bean dish of the year! I’m trying to be good and resist picking any while they are still much too small! You inspired me to plant some kohl rabi seeds, which have been the first of all the seeds I planted about two weeks ago to pop through, so I’m hoping they will be quite quick to grow. Maybe you should try another planting of them this Spring?

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