what are you eating from your garden today 2018

[rainbowgardener]

I found a 2017 thread like this, but not a recent one.

I've been eating lots of chard and asparagus.

Here's tonight:

Color came out off in the photo, those are dark green not yellow green. Spring garden salad: chard, kale, parsley, broccoli & cabbage leaves, carrot tops, wild violet leaves and flowers, chickweed, herbs.

[PaulF]

Pizza and chocolate cake...You mean really from the garden of what I wish I could grow. My really garden is dirt and snow.

[gumbo2176]

My brother-in-laws mother stopped by the house today to drop something off to my wife and we talked for a bit and I offered her some Chard from the garden, which she gladly accepted. The old gal is 95, lives on her own and still drives as she is active in her church choir and visiting her "old" friends that are now in nursing homes or hospitals.

The only things I have that can be eaten now are chard, kale, green onions and beets. Everything else has either been pulled or transitioning to my summer garden. I did see where my soybean plants are getting tons of beans on them earlier today when doing a bit of weeding. The way it looks, I should be getting about 3-4 gallons of the pods when I pick them-----hopefully more.

[DarrenP]

Mainly leafy greens, silverbeet (chard as you know it), kale, rocket, and lettuce. Still some pumpkins on the vines, and other veggies are developing nicely. Also have two cucumbers to pick before I pull the vine.

[rainbowgardener]

I forgot to mention there was also spinach in the salad. Lots of leafy greens right now, some asparagus, though as this is only its second season we will probably stop eating it soon, edible weeds, herbs ... Strawberries soon! And the peach trees have baby peaches on them!! We had so many late frosts, I was sure they were goners. The blueberry bushes also have berries on them. And our chickens in their second year of laying are being super productive, even more than at their peak last year. We get 5 eggs (from our 6 hens) most days, occasionally four, occasionally 6. Corn seed is planted! Life is good!

[Vanisle_BC]

Eating the greens from surplus bunching onions; thrown on the compost pile but MW retrieved them. (reuse, recycle!) Also the leaves from overwintered cabbage that are bolting.

Asparagus soon, soon ....

[MoonShadows]

Lot's of lettuce and spinach.

[applestar]

Nice! So everyone is harvesting greens? I think I could be, too. I did take a few young lettuce leaves from my starts for adding to sandwich the other day. I mentioned picking violet flowers elsewhere and I see some in rainbowgardener’s lovely salad. And my little low tunnels that overwintered have survivors inside — some spinach and winter lettuce and kale, as well as I think Beira Tronchuda (is that kale or cabbage?) that could be harvested, although Tatsoi and Fun Jen asian greens have bolted and are blooming now (that’s OK, maybe I’ll use them for salad or garnish).

...but I really need some tips on growing spinach...

[DarrenP]

I didn't think to mention the eggs. We get anywhere from 6-9 eggs a day, with 6 more pullets about 12 weeks old to come. We have enough for ourselves, our neighbours, and occasional sales to tourists from the caravan park down the road.

[rainbowgardener]

how many laying hens do you have?

applestar, I think you have seen me say before, my favorite way to grow spinach is to direct sow the seeds in the garden late in the fall, like even early November as long as ground isn't frozen and they have time to sprout and grow a little bit (and yes, I did this in Cincinnati, which has a very similar climate to yours). The baby spinach overwinters and then grows like crazy in late winter. It has a very long season before it bolts that way. When I had fall planted spinach and spring planted spinach, they would all bolt about the same time when it warmed up, so obviously the fall planted had a much longer harvesting season.

[digitS']

.....

(garden veggies!)

In an ideal world, I would have a garden in the Northern Hemisphere for 6 months and a Southern Hemisphere garden for 6 months .

Beira Tronchuda (is that kale or cabbage?)

It's usually called kale. Since they are of the same species, I think of it as "the most cabbagy of the kales."

Overwintered (Scotch) kale last week and chives in an omelet today ... best I can do. At least, there are lots more of both.

Steve

[DarrenP]

We have 9 ISA Brown/Hyline cross laying hens, and the pullets are 6 Light Sussex that we hatched ourselves. We had 10 layers, but one died last week. Not sure if it had been sick, or just old age. These are bred for commercial laying, and can sometimes die earlier than pure bred chooks. Next year I am planning on getting some Australian Langshans, or Aracauna fertilized eggs to hatch.

[ButterflyLady29]

Garden here is all mud. Still can't get in to it enough to plant the little spinach plants that I have in cell packs. Still can't plant peas because I can't walk in the mud.

[tedln]

Radishes, onions, and beet greens. Every thing else is at least two weeks away. I could eat a few peppers, but I want them to grow larger. A few early tomatoes are a couple of weeks from ripening.

[rainbowgardener]

Dinner tonight was another big salad with all the greens and herbs from the garden and a corn and potato chowder. Of course the corn plants in my garden are about two inches high right now . But I used some of last year's corn that I froze. Now that the garden is getting under way again, I am using up all the stuff from last year.

[applestar]

Freshly snipped lettuce in three colors — Valmaine, Rosemary, and a Black Rose. Added freshly squeezed organic lemon juice, freshly ground Himalayan Pink salt and black peppers, evoo, organic tahini, organic Dijon mustard, kefir whey, sliced organic strawberry (from the store-California, I believe), organic honey. Dressing was so yummy I had to find a spoon and scoop out the remainder. I’ll have to make some more tomorrow.

[gumbo2176]

The only things doing well enough to eat right now are overwintered chard, kale, green onions and beets. I did pinch off a bunch of garlic scapes that I can use as a mild seasoning. I will saute' some chard and kale tonight to go with the twice baked potato casserole and grilled boneless pork loin chops I'm cooking for dinner.

I have 3 different varieties of chard with the Fordhook Giant being the largest and the Bright Lites being the most colorful and that makes for an interesting presentation.

I did notice earlier that my Japanese yard long beans are finally coming in, but they are too few and far between right now to make a meal of them, but it should only be another week or so and I'll be picking enough to make a side dish, if not a whole meal with.

[rainbowgardener]

today's harvest:

So for brunch we had a big omelette for three of us, with our own eggs and a whole bunch of chard from the garden and the strawberries. Some of those strawberries were as big as the big ones you get in the store.

[rainbowgardener]

Suddenly it feels like the garden is in full swing and very bountiful.

Besides the strawberries, today's harvest included this:

broccoli and kale.

Some of the kale is starting to bolt. I looked at it and thought, wow, it really is related to broccoli -- the flower stalks and flower buds look just like broccoli.

And besides all that, I brought in a whole huge bowl of salad greens. The greens are getting ahead of me, even though we've been eating a lot. I might blanch and freeze some.

So dinner tonight was a big green salad with herbs; a stir fry of asparagus, broccoli, chard and kale with seasonings, lemon juice, and orzo; and ice cream with strawberries for dessert.

[digitS']

... Some of the kale is starting to bolt. I looked at it and thought, wow, it really is related to broccoli -- the flower stalks and flower buds look just like broccoli. ...

For the first time, we have been cooking and eating the kale buds. They are a little stronger flavored than broccoli (those plant starts went out into the garden yesterday) but very tasty.

DW just brought in some chives for our scrambled eggs with cheese lunch ...

The cilantro plants from 2017 were real nice before the tractor guy got to the big veggie garden and put them all under ground. Just like broccoli, it's way too early for ripe tomatoes (those plants are still here at home). So, there was no opportunity to have homemade salsa. (My green onions from sets aren't even up ... altho' I was a little late getting those in the ground.) Anyway, we had cilantro in a curry and in a stew - turned out to be a very good use for them .

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

I'm one of those people who can't stand the taste of cilantro, but I grow a little bit of it to become coriander.

[applestar]

So nice to see a pre-view of my own garden to be... I hope!

[rainbowgardener]

So nice to see a pre-view of my own garden to be... I hope!

Did you see the garden pictures here: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/ ... 89#p419489

Those were taken three days ago and everything is visibly bigger and more lush than then. We are in full spring, where the garden is growing and producing like crazy. Tomatoes and peppers have blossoms. Corn plants are six inches tall and have been weeded and mulched now.

[gumbo2176]

I'm one of those people who can't stand the taste of cilantro, but I grow a little bit of it to become coriander.

I am on your side as far as the taste of cilantro. There was a lady in the local market one day that was next to me in the produce section and we were both looking for parsley, but all they had that day was cilantro and she commented that "it tastes like soap to me" and that pretty much describes how I feel about the taste too.

I grow parsley for as long as I can but our summer heat gets to it and it fades fast. I'm trying it in a large planter on my back porch that only gets direct sun in the morning to see if it will last a bit longer.

[digitS']

Should it apply?

We have bok choy from the covered beds in the backyard garden. The plants were started in the greenhouse and moved under the plastic film and pvc hoops about 6 weeks ago. Admittedly, I had a small electric heater and fan in that 180 square feet of protected growing several nights because there were flats of tomato plants sitting across the center path. Most of those tomatoes are in less-protected circumstances (against house, on deck) although I kinda wish that they were back under plastic since it is only 41°f, right now!

The covered beds are mostly used for sowing seed for several types of greens. Not many bok choy were moved in so we waited for mature plants. Now, there is the need to transplant most of those started under those hoops out into the open garden.

Bok choy grown under plastic film seem especially tender ...

Steve

[gumbo2176]

I've had a couple days of picking yard longs and Kentucky Wonder green beans and have already cooked one batch down with some onion, garlic, ham and a bit of chicken stock. I have another nice size helping I'm going to grill tonight to go with some nice N.Y. Strip steaks and some sautéed mushrooms with onion, garlic and herbs.

My soybeans are ready to pick and will do that on Saturday. I pick them all at once and parboil them in salted water, drain and let them cool, then store them in quart bags to use as edamame. From the looks of things I wouldn't be surprised if I get about 4 gallons of them by the time I'm done.

The Kale and chard is starting to bolt and the chard will need to be replanted soon. Should have found a spot for more chard a few weeks ago, but it is what it is.

[rainbowgardener]

Snow peas! Had pasta with pesto (made last year and frozen) and veggies, including broccoli, kale buds, snow peas, onion tops.

I have one more dinner worth of frozen pesto and then no more until there's enough basil in the garden to make it fresh again. Pesto will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no pesto! (Apologies to R. Crumb )

[gumbo2176]

I went out to water some of the garden and saw that just since yesterday morning I've got a lot of yard longs and Kentucky Wonders to pick. I took off about 40 yard longs and at least 3 lbs. of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, and this was after picking some yesterday morning.

I also found 3 pickling cucumbers ready to remove from the vines and see where I have several slicing cucumbers in the 3 inch range that will remain until at least 6-7 inches long before picking. A few of the 100 or so corn plants are starting to show signs of getting ready to make ears and they are now slightly over 6 ft. tall. They keep growing like they are and I may have to get a stepladder to pick corn.

Also my okra plants are showing new buds and they will be coming soon.

[gumbo2176]

I decided to pull and pick all the soybeans off the plants and I got 4 gallons worth of soybeans off a 25 ft. double planted row. I brought them up to the kitchen, washed them off in the sink to remove any dirt, dust, etc. and parboiled them in a big pot of salted water. It took me 2 boils to complete, then I spread them out on a big towel on the kitchen table to cool and bagged them up in quart freezer bags and wound up with 14 for the freezer and 1 big bag for the fridge to munch on tomorrow.

[applestar]

Sounds lovely @gumbo — I envy how easy they seem to grow for you.

I’m eating lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, more lettuce, and a bit of Chard. — Cos type Valmaine, Bibb type Rosemarry, and looseleaf dark burgundy Black Rose.

...I topped a big bed of torn lettuces with a portion of baked red snapper for lunch, served tossed with udon noodles and steamed wonton, torn up sushi nori, and my own whipped up honey mustard dressing — Dijon mustard, kefir, cold-pressed sesame oil, honey, and good pour of rice vinegar... and one mashed up umeboshi (dried to jam-like whole salty pickled plum) Fresh lemon squeezed over all to finish.

[gumbo2176]

Applestar, I think what I like the most about growing soybeans is the fact you plant the seeds and just let them do their thing. They are extremely hardy plants that don't need a lot of tending to, just watering and weeding around them.

Once the pods of the beans fill out, it's time to pick them off the plants. I pull the plant from the ground and then take the beans off. I had quite a few with over 20 nicely filled pods and the least I picked off 1 small plant was 12.

That's about as easy as it gets for gardening in my book.

[rainbowgardener]

dinner tonight was very veggie fried rice - brown rice cooked and then stirfried with lots of veggies, at least half veggies. It was a bunch of veggies, but from my garden was snow peas, kale, onion tops, broccoli, basil and then a couple of our home grown eggs scrambled and mixed in.

But the garden has been getting ahead of me, so tonight I blanched and froze up 3 quarts of snow peas, one quart each of chard and kale (that is a lot of leaves, given how much they cook down). The snow peas are tedious, because each pod individually has to have the strings down the side edges pulled off.

There is still so much out there, I should do more....

[rainbowgardener]

Wow, where do you live that you have ripe tomatoes already? Florida? South Texas? Southern California?

Here in zone 7, I have baby tomatoes on my plants. I have tons of parsley in my garden, because it over-wintered from last year.

[applestar]

This one was not from MY garden, but I had to put it in here — a gifted Spaghetti Squash from last season stored over the winter. I cut the ends to make flat, cut in half and scooped out the seed cavity, then lightly sea salted and then, baked cut side down on sunflower seed oiled baking sheet, adding water in the pan to keep from burning. Then loosened the flesh with fork and added steamed shrimp, broccoli and carrots from Chinese take out. I heated up a jar sauce - vodka cream - in a sauté pan, opened up the middle and added EVOO until hot, then quickly sautéed a diced shiitake mushroom from my garden. Once the shiitake was cooked, I mixed it into the sauce and poured over the plated squash bowl, then drizzled double fermented kefir.




...that was yesterday...

[imafan26]

Looks yummy. How do you store squash that long?

[applestar]

I will ask the lady who gave them to me.

[applestar]

It’s been raining all week, and the lettuce is starting to flop over. So I went out to trim the flopped leaves, some had already spoiled, some were still decent, but not good enough when you are harvesting tons. I found 3 slugs, one was HUGE.

I sorted out the ‘decent’ lettuce to give to one of our two kitties who LOVES lettuce... and still had this much good lettuce for the humans.



For the kitties, I decided to make a special treat to tempt them BOTH. Last night, they were given the squash shells to finish cleaning up whatever squash was left, so I used them to make special kitty salad for the two of them — lettuce, carrot peelings, bonito flakes, cold-pressed sesame oil, and cat vitamin supplements powder.

As you can see, they loved their breakfast — the one licking her chops is NOT the one who typically loves lettuce ... but she loves anything cucurbit. (Yes our kitties are strange )


...and... For myself, I made — let’s call this Japanese+Chinese+Korean fusion rice bowl - donburi/bibinbap.



Diced carrots cooked in 1/4 inch of water, then leftover white Chinese rice added to steam and reheat. Large bowl prepared with cold pressed and roasted sesame oils, Japanese rice vinegar, double fermented kefir, mashed umeboshi. Add and toss the heated rice and carrots in vinegar dressing.

Cover the rice with torn up lettuce, then push aside the lettuce into a donut and make a hole in the rice mixture.

Start roasting the fried spring roll skin chips and reheating a fried wonton roll in the toaster oven.

Use the same pot to reheat Chinese leftover shrimp chow mein (shrimp and Chinese cabbage in white garlic sauce) and pour into the hole in the middle.

Arrange crushed chips (I toasted them on a foil, then simply wrapped the foil closed and crushed them) and the fried wonton roll, and splash some more Japanese rice vinegar over the lettuce.... Mmm it needs something ...don’t have Korean hot sauce... OK Shichimi Togarashi spice mix will have to do.

Accompanied with GOOD oolong tea.

...yes, this was very very delicious.

[rainbowgardener]

Tonight's dinner salad: garden greens with strawberries and snow peas also from the garden, and avocado, almonds and feta cheese. Entree was a potato, white bean, and kale hash, with garden kale. Went out and picked a whole bowl of strawberries and another bowl of snow peas. This was the yummiest salad I have ever made. Partner ate it plain and I had it with a little poppyseed dressing. Excellent either way.

[digitS']

Rhubarb cobbler.

For breakfast with a banana ... was that a serving of vegetables with my USDA serving of fruit ..?

For the cobbler, I just poured the waffle batter over the chopped rhubarb and sugar - even forgot to grease the baking dish. (Should have started this 2 weeks ago.)

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

People coming over for dinner Friday.. Menu will be:

green salad with some store lettuce, but also garden greens, herbs, and lots of cherry and saladette tomatoes, garnished with marigold and bee balm petals.

Corn on the cob fresh from the garden!

zucchini and summer squash (from farmers market) with garden tomato slices

some kind of bean dish for protein: falafel? veggie chili? 4 bean salad? lentil soup? swiss chard with garbanzo beans? etc

homemade bread

homemade ice cream with peach-blackberry jam topping

Oh yum!!