Harvest Monday 16 July

Some more very welcome harvests to report this week:- New potatoes, Kohlrabi, Broad Beans, Peas, Broccoli, Carrots, Cucumbers and (wait for it...), Radishes!

The wetter conditions this Summer have really suited the potatoes, and yields are a lot greater than last year. This is the yield from two seed tubers, each grown in a 10-inch pot. Total weight was just over a kilogram.

"Anya" and "Belle de Fontenay"

Now that has to be one of the best yields you can get from 10" of space occupied for only 12 weeks!

I harvested two more Kohlrabi this week, so that's three out of the four which I had growing in pots. I harvested them at the recommended "tennis-ball" size. The fourth one is surprisingly small still, and not ready for harvesting yet.

Kohlrabi "Modrava"

The Broad Beans are in full flow now. When they are picked young they are really tender. Even I have been surprised how quickly they cook - only about 3 or 4 minutes in boiling water. When they are like this even the greyish skins are good to eat (lots of fibre) and not unpleasantly leathery as they can be when older. I never bother to double-peel them.

Broad Beans "Witkiem Manita"

These peas are officially the "Purple-podded Desiree" ones, but as you can see, some of them decided not to be purple. The green pods are generally larger and smoother-textured than the purple ones. I wonder if this is a sign that the purple ones have been artificially engineered, and that sometimes they revert to their original form? I picked a total of 345g

The Broccoli I harvested was the four plants I grew in pots - the miniature variety called "Matsuri". In each case I cut the whole plant. I don't know whether sideshoots would have appeared if I had just cut the main head, but it didn't look likely, and there were definitely no sideshoots visible.

Broccoli "Matsuri"

As with the Kohlrabi, I have immediately planted-up another four Broccoli seedlings, so that I can get a second crop before the so-called Summer finishes.

I got the first of my baby Carrots yesterday. These are some of those grown in plastic boxes slotted into the big wooden planter outside our kitchen window. They are deliberately harvested small - as "Finger Carrots" rather than maincrop ones. They are not prime specimens, but at least they have not been infested by Carrot Fly.

I also picked two more of the "Iznik" cocktail  or Lebanese cucumbers. I posed them in this dish which I thought looked vaguely Lebanese. (It's actually made in Tunisia, but purchased by us at the Embarcadero in San Francisco!)

A couple of weeks ago I reported how my Radishes had been affected by the weather (seeds washed out of their compost etc), so I am especially proud to be able to report that I have harvested a small (very small) quantity of edible specimens. These elongated bi-colour ones are a variety called "French Breakfast". I wonder if people in France really do eat radishes for breakfast...?

So that's my harvest for another week: small, but for me very rewarding.

To see more of what people around the world are harvesting today, visit Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

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This is what we had for Sunday dinner:- (Items marked * are from the garden)

Roast Leg of Lamb with proper gravy

"Anya" potatoes*

Broad Beans*

Carrots*

Cabbage

Mint sauce*