Monday 18 May 2015

Harvest Monday - 18 May 2015

Well, cold, wet and windy weather we had at the beginning of last week has not suited many of the veggies, but there are some things that enjoy rain:


I think that rain at Asparagus harvest time is a good thing. Last year I made a big effort to water the Asparagus generously during May, and it really paid off: I had probably the best harvest I have ever had. This year, Nature is doing the task for me.


We ate that particular batch of Asparagus really simply - as a Starter, steamed until tender and served with just butter and home-made bread. That way you can really appreciate the flavour of the vegetable.


Radishes of course also like lots of moisture, so they have been doing OK as well. I sowed 3 different varieties on the same day and fortunately they are growing at different rates. These are the first ones to mature. They are "Cherry Belle". Coming along behind I have "Sparkler" and "Saxa".

There wasn't much else to harvest this week - if you ignore the herbs, that is. We have consumed copious quantities of Parsley and Mint, as well as a bit of Rosemary and Thyme. In fact there is hardly a day that goes by without some herbs from the garden being added to our food.

This is my entry for Harvest Monday, hosted by Daphne's Dandelions. Maybe some other contributors can tell us about some rather more ambitious harvests...?

13 comments:

  1. The weather, isn't suiting me either.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The weather won't be suiting them again this week, cold, wet and windy again here today. Still, it saves me watering the allotment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely asparagus and radishes! We have had very little rain lately, so I've been busy trying to get all of the irrigation set up for the different bed areas - and of course, running into all sorts of problems, from leaky hoses, to hoses not being long enough, to sprinklers not working, etc. It's definitely way down on my list of enjoyable tasks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your asparagus looks so great! I'm only in "year 3" of my patch so not harvesting too much, but also not much to harvest. Looking forward to a great harvest like yours some day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Mark, I have just returned to gardening after a few years of living without a garden or balcony and am so excited to be pottering about a garden again. Unfortunately, I am also fairly clueless. So - a stupid question, really - but I have some radish seeds which I am going to sow soon, but I was wondering how I would know when they were ready to harvest? They are called 'Rudolf radish'.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Mark, I have just returned to gardening after a few years of living without a garden or balcony and am so excited to be pottering about a garden again. Unfortunately, I am also fairly clueless. So - a stupid question, really - but I have some radish seeds which I am going to sow soon, but I was wondering how I would know when they were ready to harvest? They are called 'Rudolf radish'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Leyla; With radishes it is really just a case of judging if they look big enough to be worth eating. You want a decent mouthful, but you mustn't let them get huge, otherwise they will be woody in texture and too strongly-flavoured to be palatable. I have written about radishes a fair bit, so maybe you would like to use the "Search this blog" facility in the sidebar to see what I have said?

      Delete
    2. Thank you Mark. I have now read the rest - I didn't realise your relationship with radishes ran so deep! Very helpful, thank you.

      Delete
  7. Your asparagus looks very kingly, I'd be proud to have them on my kitchen table. The weather is so changeable, We had sunshine over the weekend, but the rain came down heavy today. By the way even though I have been gardening, I did not get round to take pictures of my harvest which is mostly herbs, I will share next week - but I thought I'd let you know that I made a Three Garlic Cake with the wild garlic that I foraged last Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The asparagus and radishes certainly do look like they have enjoyed the weather, they're lovely. The weather around here hasn't been great either, cool, cloudy, breezy, but nearly zero rain, not that we expect any rain at this time of year.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice asparagus harvest. I will have to wait another year to harvest my plants.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So I go from envying your PSB to envying your asparagus. Beautiful harvest. At least I may have some radishes soon and I can buy asparagus from the farm stands around here.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I know you have been complaining about dribs and drabs of asparagus, but that bunch looks pretty good.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking time to leave me a comment! Please note that Comment Moderation is enabled for older posts.