Monday, 9 July 2012

Harvest Monday 9th July

Hip, Hip, Hooray! At last I am harvesting instead of sowing and planting.  This is the REALLY rewarding part of being a veg gardener. My post today is contrived simply to give me the opportunity to join in with Daphne's weekly Harvest Monday link-up. If you haven't yet discovered this, you simply must have a look. It's a great way of finding other interesting gardening blogs, and seeing who has produced what.

I'm not one for making detailed records of what I harvest, and reckoning-up total weights etc, but my photos provide a pretty good guide, since I do tend to photograph most of my crops.

So this is what I harvested in the past week, in pictorial format:-

New potatoes - Belle de Fontenay

Belle de Fontenay in close-up

Broad Beans, Peas and Kohlrabi

The green-podded pea varieties ("Boogie" and "Premium") have done very badly again, producing a very meagre crop. The plants have (as usual in my garden) succumbed to mildew. Fortunately, the peas inside the pods are beautifully sweet, so they are still worth having.

Peas - a mixture of "Boogie" and "Premium"

I have also picked the first of the purple-podded peas. Their plants are huge and still healthy-looking. The yield from them is going to be much better.

Purple-podded Desiree

 Although the pods are purple, the peas inside are green - a very subdued, almost greyish green.

Desiree

First of the Broad Beans in close-up - Witkiem Manita

This kohlrabi is one of those that I have been growing in pots.

Kohlrabi "Modrava"

  The beetroot this year seems to have been growing at a snail's pace (No, perhaps it's best if I don't use that phrase). It has been growing very slowly - so these little ones are the first I have had.

First of the Beetroot - Boltardy

We ate these beetroots plain boiled and they were beautiful - very tender and the taste was what I describe as "earthy". Because of this I think, you either love beetroot or hate it. I love it.

Boltardy in close-up

So there we have it. Hopefully there will be more to describe next week!

24 comments:

  1. I'm definitely a beetroot hater. I do grow a few though. I love how they look. I just give them away when I pick them.

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  2. I put the beetroot in a parcel of tinfoil with a teaspoon or two of water and roast it in the oven. Lovely

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  3. Nice crop of veggies Mark, I like the look of the Desiree Peas but I'm with Daphne on the Beetroot so I will be giving mine away.

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  4. Thats a great harvest, i picked some broad beans today which we had with lunch. I like beetroot roasted & served with a joint of beef.

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  5. I love those purple podded peas. I had pickled beets for lunch today. Delicious!

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  6. Nice to see you are finally getting some benefit from all the work. Yes, I love beetroot even if it doesn't love me (high sugar content). I like it just as you had it, boiled and tossed with butter, so you can taste its sweetness and earthiness. My wife prefers them pickled (yuk).

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  7. Wonderful harvest....love those beets....

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  8. Those purple pod peas are lovely. Not a beet fan either, but my mom loves them. Looks like your garden is doing quite well!

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  9. hi mark, i love your beetroots and your blog. you take great photos. can you please tell me how i can comment under my name? do i need to set up a google account or similiar? robyne

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    1. Hi Anonymous, and thanks for persevering with making your comment. I do not know what dictates whether or not you are allowed to make a comment, but certainly becoming a Follower, using Google Friend Connect, will improve your chances of success! If you want to correspond with me, by all means send me an email (address in Profile). :)

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  10. Love the purple podded peas - I must get some next year!

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  11. These photos show that gardening can be so rewarding!
    So when are you setting up that market stall?
    A great harvest...you must be thrilled because now you get to eat ~ enjoy! ;D

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  12. You've harvested quite a lot Mark. What do you think of the taste of the purple podded peas? I always think of mildew as being a dry weather condition.

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  13. What a great harvest, it's so good to hear of crops doing well this year, so many aren't. I love beetroot. I usually roast mine in some tin foil.

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  14. The green and purple colors of the purple podded peas are gorgeous. Love the photo of the Kohlrab "Modrava" very artistic.

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  15. Did the purple podded peas taste any different to the more traditional green?

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  16. I found the purple podded peas a little more floury than our usual green ones last year, though still nice enough. And they look great in the garden (if you can see them through the weeds :) )
    We've still to harvest any beetroot yet, super-slow indeed. I'm sure it will be worth the wait though!

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  17. You've just convinced me to take a look at Harvest Monday, even though I have always loved blog-hopping from garden blog to garden blog (it's that thrill of seeing what is growing by whom!). Love your beet harvest but was particularly curious about the kohlrabi grown in a pot?! I must give that one a try next year.

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  18. Really nice harvest. Love purple bits!

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  19. A great haul for the week Mark - no beetroot for me yet - but waiting in anticipation

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  20. I'm a beetroot lover, although my favorite is the more mild flavored golden type. Lovely harvests!

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  21. Busy week! Looks like you like a lot of different beans! What's your favorite?

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  22. What a great looking harvest and wonderful photos! I hadn't heard of Desiree before, is it a regular shelling pea? I've grown the Bleuwshokkers before but they are soup pea and do not taste very good raw.

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