Harvest Monday June 18, 2013

I can't believe that it is already mid-June! How time flies. Everything has been growing super fast both on the balcony and in the community garden. I've been harvesting mostly greens - kale, mizuna, and broccoli leaf. I'm trying to find different ways to eat the greens and been having fun playing around with recipes. Here are some snapshots of my harvest:

Kale, broccoli leaf and mint

more greens..

And even more greens...

Just tons of greens!

I'm sharing my harvest at Daphne's Harvest Monday!

Indoor gardening

I was itching to play with soil all day today. I'm not exactly sure why...maybe because it was a sunny day. By the time I get home, its just too dark to do anything. But today, I was absolutely determined to do some gardening. So I set up a gardening station in the living room.

The first seeds that I started were way overdue for transplanting to larger containers and in need of nutrients. I also transplanted two yuzu tree into larger containers.

Roots on the yuzu plant

Fennel, kale, brussel sprouts and broccoli seedlings

Chia seedlings 11 days old

It was great to play with soil. Just can't wait for the weather to warm up.

super sweet greens and worm bin

The freezing temperatures continue, but I really wanted to do something in my garden. So I decided to clear some of the plants that were left over from last season. I had kale and bok choy. The bok choy were all brown and not edible, but there were several kale leaves that were still green and delicious looking. I harvested the leaves that looked alright and decided to cook them up for lunch. I didn't think this was anything worth blogging about, but when I took a bite after blanching it...oh my goodness. These kale, were the sweetest and most delicious kale I have ever tasted. I immediately ran to get my camera to show how green and beautiful they looked.

Super sweet kale - both curly kale and Italian kale

I now regret pulling them out. I've read the cold boosts the production of sugar in greens, but never thought kale could be quite so sweet.

My gardening obsession is really starting to pick up again too. I went to walmart and couldn't resist walking through the gardening department. I found this:

Potato bag

Initially I was really excited, but after some time it came to me that I can just use a compost bag.  After a quick search, it looks like a lot of people do this. So now, I am debating if I should return the potato bag. I'm going to think about it some more...but I guess this means that I will be growing some potatoes this year.

Also, I recently purchased a worm bin! I'm really excited about being able to make my own worm compost at home. My first year, I tried making a small compost bin, but it ended up just being a stinky mess. Hopefully this project will turn out better than my first composting attempt.

Harvest Monday - June 25, 2012

The container plants that I had my boyfriend baby sitting for me survived the move back to charm city balcony garden. I had baby tomatoes that are very leggy since it was growing in a shady balcony for the past 2 weeks. I am a little concerned that it might burn on my balcony that gets full direct sun all day. So far I transplanted one cherokee purple seedling to its final container...I'll see how it goes. The ichiban eggplant, bush early girl and jalapeno peppers are doing really great. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the jalapenos before I harvest any. I will definitely pickle some, and I also want to try making some jalapeno jelly or something spicy-sweet. This was very exciting week for me in terms of harvest...I got my first tomatoes!! So exciting! The flavor was not so great, but I know that the it will improve with time...and they look perfect!

Bush early girl tomatoes

The summer squash is also doing good as well - so far no sign of squash borer invasion. I love these squash, they are so tender and sweet. I prefer to eat them raw so I have been throwing them in salads. I let the ichiban eggplants grow too large - the skin was a little tough but it was still very good. Both the ichiban in the community garden and in the container is doing well.

The first summer squash (community garden) of the season

Ichiban eggplant (container) and summer squash (community garden)

The kale is still going strong - I'm actually having a hard time keeping up with the harvest, my freezer is going to be full of greens (not complaining). I plan to make some kale chips with these.

I linking to Daphne's harvest Monday. I'm very grateful she is providing a place where we can share our harvest with other gardeners!

GTTC - kale, swiss chard and beets

Two posts in one day! I wanted to share some of the dishes my mom created with the harvest. She is a fantastic cook, so I am very happy that she is here to turn the home grown vegetables into great meals and snacks. First, with the kale, she made a smoothie. I tried this once but the kale didn't completely breakdown so I had bits of kale floating in my smoothie. She somehow got it all smooth. This smoothie had banana, mango, kale and milk. I couldn't taste the kale at all, so I guess this is good if you don't like the taste of kale.

Next up is a quick stir fry swiss chard with bacon and boiled egg. Not bad...but I'm not sure if I am a big fan of swiss chard. It tastes almost like spinach but more soil-y (if you know what I mean).

Now the beets. The beets (early wonder) are FANTASTIC. They are so sweet and just absolutely delicious. My mom made a wonderful salad.

With the beet greens, she made some stir fry with garlic and bacon with vinegar and soy sauce (I think). This too was delicious!

I'm really happy to be eating out of my garden! I'm linking to Wendy's Greenish Thumb for garden to table challenge.  Thank you Wendy for hosting GTTC!

Harvest Monday - May 28, 2012

It was extremely hot this weekend, but the veggies are doing wonderfully! In fact, I underestimated how large the greens get and the community garden is exploding with kale and collard greens. I may have to move one or two of the collard green out of the garden and into containers (I have 4 plants in the community garden). The swiss chard was also doing OK, but the caterpillars really love them so they are all chewed up.

Collard Greens and Swiss Chard (from community garden)

Kale (from the community garden)

The bok choy out on the balcony is starting to bolt so I harvested them all. I have one plant in the shade, this one is still going strong.

Bok choy (from the balcony) and spinach that has completely bolted

I pulled out all the beets. From the outside it looked like only one of the plant will have any beet root, but there was a good number of beets - small but beautiful. I also like the beet leaves so I am happy with the harvest. I will try to grow more next time around.

Last of the beets (grown in 5 and 3 gallon container)

I'm linking to Daphne's Harvest Monday - check out all the fruits and veggies being harvested around the world!

It's on! Me vs flea beetle & caterpillar

I am starting to realize that in-ground gardening is much more challenging than container gardening. I knew there will be more issues just based on the greater number of vegetable plants I have in the community plot. Beyond the greater number, the in-ground garden is more accessible to insects and other garden pests (but also to beneficial creatures as well). My container garden has the added benefit of being on a balcony so not as many insects get to it.  So far, in the community garden, I've had the attack of rodents and/or birds on the tomato seedlings. The little make-shift cage is working and the tomatoes are now growing well. Something is also feasting on the swiss chard. The huge black poop on the leaves indicate that it is some sort of caterpillar. I usually go to the garden after work so the caterpillars are probably hiding in the soil. I will catch them in the act one of these days!

All you can eat swiss chard for the caterpillars

I also noticed something is attacking one of my eggplants. I am growing 3 types of eggplants: black beauty, classic italian (not sure of exact name) and ichiban. The flea beetle decided to attack the classic italian, maybe because it is the smallest plant. I read that flea beetles are one of the main pests of eggplants and they are usually a problem early in the season particularly following a mild winter.  This describes the current condition perfectly. I'm not sure how to gauge how bad the damage is, but I feel like the plant will be OK. Here is how the leaves looked:

Classic sign of flea beetle damage

A little blurry, but you can see the discoloration and holes in the leaves

My plan of attack is to manually remove the fleas (there aren't too many yet, I only spotted like 4-5 tiny fleas) and to use caffeine (coffee). The other organic control method I read is neem oil - but I don't have this, so for now I'm going with coffee. I marched to the garden with a bottle of cooled coffee (extra strong) and a container of fresh coffee grinds in hand. I sprinkled the coffee grinds around the base of the eggplant and sprayed the leaves with coffee, making my garden smell like a cafe. I will post updates on how this goes.

Coffee sprayed on leaves and coffee grind at the base of the eggplant

It is not all bad in the garden. Some plants are thriving...like the curly kale and collard greens. The kale is definitely doing much better in-ground than in the container. This might be because it has much more space in the community garden. I should thin out the kale in my containers. I hate thinning out plants...

Happy kale

Harvest Monday - 5/7/2012

I have been busy setting up my community garden and my muscles are a little sore from hauling compost and turning the old soil. Gardening is a great way to get some physical activity, and unlike being at the gym, I can be out there for hours at a time.

Last week I harvested some bok choy and kale (more like thinning than harvesting). I also have some wild arugula that are ready for thinning/harvesting. I grew this last year and it was really spicy. I thought maybe it was because I started them when it was already quite hot, so I sowed it earlier this year. There is a nice arugula taste in the beginning but pretty quickly the spice (beyond peppery) hits you.  I'll just let it grow out and cook it rather than eating it raw.

Bok choy, arugula, kale

My second harvest was included some red and green romaine lettuce leaves. The romaine lettuce is doing quite well and pretty soon I will be able to cut down on the amount of lettuce I buy. I also harvested a handful of sugar snap peas. They are very sweet raw, but I prefer to blanch them (they get incredibly sweet).

Snap peas, romaine, kale, bok choy

I'm joining Daphne for Harvest Monday. Please go and check out all the wonderful greens that are being harvested by gardeners around the world!

First harvest 2012!

It is getting warm and starting to feel like summer here in charm city. The early girl bush tomato is starting to flower and there are a few teeny tiny tomatoes. The sugar snap peas are also doing really well with healthy bushy leaves and greenish-white flowers. It looks like I will be harvesting some peas very soon! Can't wait!

Flowers on my snap peas

Tiny snap pea

Baby early girl bush tomato

For the first harvest of 2012, I got some pak choy and baby kale. I also harvested some snap pea leaves - some shoots, but mostly leaves.

Harvest #1 2012!!

I made a quick stir fry with garlic and oyster sauce. Everything was delicious, but I think I liked the flavor of the snap pea leaves the best. I will try to grow more snap peas this fall, since it will take A LOT of snap pea leaves to create one dish.

Super simple garden fresh stir fry

I'm linking to Daphne's harvest monday and Wendy's GTTC. Thank you both for setting up a place for us to share our garden accomplishments!!

Hairy spinach

I can't really tell if my spinach is doing well or not.  Only 3 of the spinach seedling survived and I probably destroyed the roots during transplant for one of them because the growth is stunted. The spinach is growing in a container with a volunteer lettuce (I think from musclin green mix) and kale.

Three kale plants up top, lettuce in the middle and 3 spinach down on the bottom.

Another thing...the spinach is hairy! It looks so weird, almost like tentacles.

Hairy spinach

It rained today in charm city, and there are little rain drops on the kale making them sparkle in the sun.  It is quite beautiful!

Kale recipes - crustless frittata

Updates on some the seedlings at week 6.

Beets at week 6

Kale at week 6

In anticipation of harvesting a whole bunch of kale in the *near* future, I wanted to test out some recipes. I tried making kale salad with avocado which I did not like so much. Raw kale tasted too green (or grassy) and it was too much fiber for me to handle. My jaw was tired from all the chewing and I could feel the kale sitting in my stomach (which is rare because my stomach usually is very efficient at digesting).  Last night I made a salad that had about a cup of raw kale with some romaine and other vegetables. This was a good balance and it also made for a very colorful salad. Next I loosely followed a recipe for crustless spinach quiche - switching out spinach for kale. I also used cottage cheese rather than the cheese suggested in the recipe.

Wash and cut kale

Stir fry with1 red onion

5 eggs, 1/2cup cottage cheese, salt, pepper, thyme (from the garden), kale/onion in 350F oven for 20 minutes

Honestly, this doesn't really taste like quiche. It is more like a frittata or omelette (not sure if these are different). I think I need to use creme to get the quiche texture and flavor. But perhaps this is a healthier/lower calorie alternative. It is pretty good, except next time I need to use less salt (I used more than the recipe called for) and more onions.

I'm linking to Wendy's blog for garden to table challenge - I did use thyme from the garden:) Thanks Wendy for hosting GTTC!

seedling update, month 1

I feel that my seedlings are growing slow. I found a heating mat that was pretty cheap (I'm also still looking into getting the snake lights) so I've been using that for the last 3 days. But I'm enjoying watching the seedlings grow.

Spinach, lettuce, kale @ 1 month

Swiss chard (no true leaves yet), pak choi @ 1 month

Romaine lettuce red and green @ 1 month

Beets @ 1 month - sown and grown outside

Kale @ 1 month - sown and grown inside

Arugula @ 3 weeks, sown inside and also left outside on the balcony

Cute purple flowers on rosemary 

This weekend, there is a sale at home depot for gardening stuff and starter plants. I'm gonna have to go and check it out! I'll see what I get and start a second set of seeds this weekend too!