This little lot is the start of my second plant (out of a total of six). It is one of the "Red Spear" variety. Here it is before the snip:
I'm sure that most of my readers know this, but the "correct" way to harvest PSB is to cut the central head first - like this...
This is what the plant looks like after the central head has been removed:
The plant will now put its energy into side-shoots, like the ones shown at the right of the next photo:
As well as the PSB I also harvested the Perpetual Spinach that I wrote about yesterday:
And another handful of Landcress.
You don't need large quantities of Landcress - a few leaves are quite sufficient to add a bit of zing to a salad, because they are pretty peppery, especially now, as the plants begin to form flowers.
Once the flowers begin to form, the production of new leaves slows right down and I normally dig up the plants and start again. It is possible to keep them going - the plants are short-lived perennials - but it will be a long time before there is anything useable again, so if like me you are short of space it is probably not justifiable to leave them in place.
This is my entry to Harvest Monday, hosted as ever on Daphne's Dandelions. Please drop by and see what everyone else has been harvesting this week.
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P.S. Our daughter Emma and her family came over yesterday for a Mothers' Day get-together. I gave her a bag of PSB to take away, because the plants are producing spears faster than Jane and I can eat them. The quality and quantity of the crop this year is first class.
That broccoli is doing you proud.
ReplyDeleteoooh, how gorgeous. I adore BSB and have been eating a lot of it recently. I recently bought a pack of Sprout Tops... no idea what they were but they were delicious. Re your interest in Oregano on my blog. I grow my own and dry it. It's so easy to grow (grows in a big bush) and I cut it back every Autumn and hang it to dry. I did an Italian cookery course once and the chef told me that Oregano was the ONLY acceptable herb to eat as a dried herb! So now you know.
ReplyDeleteDom, you should read about Sprout Tops here on my blog. They are the leafy crowns at the top of Brussels Sprouts plants, typically eaten when the spouts are finished. I'm a big fan of them.
DeleteYour psb looks fabulous, and you must be getting plenty if you're giving it away, I know how fond of it you are.
ReplyDeleteIt must be nice to be getting so much to harvest right now. The broccoli looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired me with your harvests of land cress & so I picked up a packet of seeds. I'm determined that this year I will make my salads a bit more varied.
ReplyDeleteVery nice looking harvest!
ReplyDeletethe psb look superb - might try this year. Still digging up parsnips and a few over wintered spuds I'd missed.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking plants and harvest, so nice to have something to use and that is so colourful at this time of year. The down side to PSB is it loses its wonderful colour when cooked. I wanted to be able to say to my anti veg teenagers, eat it, it's not green ! :)
ReplyDeleteSome of your broccoli pics almost look like little flower bouquets! Pretty ...
ReplyDeleteYour PSB really looks first class. I'm not sure I would have the patience to wait so long for it though. Does it taste different from green broccoli?
ReplyDeleteLovely harvest, Mark! I have never success on growing this vegetable.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful PSB. I am impressed with the size of your plants. The photos on harvesting were useful, should I ever get a chance to grow it.
ReplyDeleteYummy, it looks perfect. I can't wait for mine to start cropping! I should sow an earlier variety like yours this year but I think I only have late seeds.
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