Monday 16 July 2012

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*

26 comments:

  1. I envy you who grew and harvested healthy carrots since some floods in this rainy season damaged all of my carrots.

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  3. How did you manage all that. I am Impressed you must be living on a different planet to me.. :) Nice carrots. Mine were super tiny but no fly infestation so that was at least a bonus.

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  4. What a nice looking varied harvest. Are broad beans also known as lima beans?

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  5. That is a very nice yield on the potatoes. I wonder if the peas had crossed and you got a plant or two that isn't true.

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  6. You put me to shame with your harvests, i have had a lovely read of your blog & plan to be better next year. All i have had are broad beans, radish, lettuce & spring onions this year.

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  7. What a wonderful yield. I love those purple podded peas!

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  8. Really beautiful harvest, Mark. Your persistence despite this "so called" summer is paying off. As far as the peas, you will have to ask Gregor Mendel. I never understood that module in biology anyway, which probably explains why I went into electrical engineering.

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  9. I thought Desiree was an heirloom variety? I vote that they got crossed, too.

    Beautiful harvest. I am looking forward to favas in the winter/spring. I am planting in late fall. I have my seeds, and can hardly wait.

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  10. Nice looking harvest this week! Love those carrots. I pick mine small, too, because my kids prefer them that way =)

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  11. Some of my Sugar Magnolia Purple Snap peas and Spring Blush Snap peas also had a lot of plain green peas this year. I usually only get a couple.

    Very nice cool weather crop harvests!

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  12. Great tip about harvesting broadbeans young.

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  13. A very nice harvest this week. I've heard that the UK has had a lot of rain this year, I wish you would send some our way. We have been very dry all summer here in the Western US. I'm glad to see someone got a few radishes this year, my crop was a big failure, all the plants bolted before the roots sized up! :(

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  14. Lots of good eating coming out of your garden this week. I really need to grow Fava Beans... I do like them but never grow them.

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  15. Niced Harvests. The potatoes are especially cost effective!

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  16. What a great harvest, such variety. It looks as though everything's doing well for you this year despite the weather.

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  17. Thats a lovely harvest! Great potato haul and I love the colour of the kohlrabis. I find that although not all broccoli varieties produce side shoots I find most do eventually, quite a few only do so once you cut the main head though.

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  18. Very nice harvest; love the peas. Occasionally the Bleushokker peas I have will have a plant throwing green pods. I just don't save seeds from them.

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  19. Your harvests are looking more spring-like than summery and certainly beautiful. I grew a purple podded snap pea a couple of years ago that also had a couple of plants that produced green pods, I guess they don't have that trait fully stabilised yet.

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  20. Lucky you! Everything looks great!

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  21. Looks superb, wish I was harvesting so much!

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  22. Nice, big harvest of great looking veggies. Good job, Mark!

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  23. Your plot is nearly as good as my local veg shop! ;D

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  24. Wow Mark - I am impressed. Who'd have thunk it!

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