Monday 1 July 2013

Harvest Monday - 01 July 2013

At this time of year, the harvest start to become a bit more varied. This last week I have picked small quantities of several things, and I can see that others (like peas and Broad Beans) are nearly ready.


This week's star performer was again the Turnips. Four "Purple Top Milan" and one "Golden Ball"


"Golden Ball" is an old favourite of mine, but one which I have seldom managed to grow well because it seems very susceptible to attack by weevils or some sort of burrowing maggot - probably the Cabbage Root Fly. This though seems like a near-perfect specimen:


I have also harvested some more new potatoes. I'm deliberately picking them young, because I have so many pots of them that if I waited until the first ones were fully grown before harvesting any, by the time I got to the last pots they would definitely be past their best. These ones are "Accent", another First Early.


The main heads of all six of my Tenderstem Broccoli plants have been consumed, and we are onto the secondary stems now. They are very much like Sprouting Broccoli, though even more tender. They cook very rapidly.


We've had a little more Asparagus, but only one or two spears each time, which means we have to save them up until we get a viable quantity. The yield this year has been disappointingly low.


We have had loads of lettuce. I tend to pick individual leaves rather than a whole plant, because this means you can have as much or as little as you want. The lettuces I have grown in containers have done surprisingly well. So much so that I have sown another big batch of lettuce seeds (7 varieties) and plan to grow them in the same way again.


Next week I hope to be able to report the picking of my first cucumber, and the tomato plants are beginning to set fruit too. There are also Strawberries showing a bit of colour...




I'm entering this post for Harvest Monday, hosted as ever by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions. Why not look to see what other lovely things people have harvested this week?

18 comments:

  1. Fantastic. We've started harvesting delicious first early potatoes and lots of strawberries now, while our first cucumbers are fattening up too. Lovely when the crops start to expand in variety at this time of year!

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  2. We even saw evidence of some broccoli forming on our plants. It's been a long time coming!

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  3. Those potatoes look just perfect.

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  4. A very nice harvest there. I love this time of year when everything starts coming in.

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  5. Everything you harvested looks so beautiful and fresh!

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  6. Next year I'm going to plant some early potatoes. Those of yours are beauts. It's too much to wait another month for potatoes.

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  7. Your harvests look great, but I especially like the looks of the Tenderstem broccoli. I love broccoli shoots with long stems. I wonder if I can find that variety here?

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  8. Great harvest! We love new potatoes around here! Yours look great!

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  9. Beautiful harvest!
    Do you eat the leafy turnip greens too?
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  10. I am loving the new potatoes!

    Happy harvesting.


    Velva

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  11. Great & beautiful Harvest! Like your potatoes & purple turnips so much! i always have problem to germinate lettuce

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  12. Wow Mark, everything looks fantastic! I have always loved turnips and potatoes, and your potatoes and turnips look amazing!

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  13. Woah, the potatoes are so clean!

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  14. A lovely looking harvest Mark, it's all go from here isn't it.

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  15. Really beautiful harvest of potatoes and turnips

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  16. Beautiful harvest! I love the pictures of the lettuce plants and the strawberries.

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  17. In your top photo, the veg looks so clean, and organic speciality shop quality.

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  18. What a great harvest Mark and as ever fantastic photos

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