This week I am linking up with a series called Monday Harvest over at Daphnes Dandelions. Each week she hosts this series where Gardeners from all over the world post their weekly harvests. It is great to see what everyone is getting out of their gardens. Beautiful little community! Head over to check it out.
This week saw me in Edmonton as GMF was collaborating with colleagues from the University of Alberta. It was a nice relaxing getaway for me. As they worked during the week I wandered the city casually looking in neat shops and taking in peaceful walks along the rivers. If you are ever in Edmonton I highly recommend eating at Tres Carnales. This mexican restaurant was definitely a highlight of the trip.
While I was away I was lucky to have a friend watching our garden. I told her she could harvest some things but she did not take advantage of this. Which left us with some huge flowering broccoli and bitter lettuce when we arrived home but her harvesting would not have helped the lettuce it needs to come out and new lettuce sown. I am so appreciative of the great job my friend did watering the garden diligently. All my herbs and veg were in excellent shape when I got home!
But alas I will move on to the more productive harvest that took place when we arrived home on friday. We were going to my brothers house for the saturday night for our Nephews birthday and my parents anniversary brunch sunday morning at the amazing Ancaster Mill. There were some things in the garden that could not wait till sunday to be picked though. Because the cucumber plant had not been harvested there were 6 very large cucumbers. And the radishes were also ready and getting over sized. One was so large it was the width of the cucumbers and almost 2 inched high. The texture of these radishes was quite woodsy, they were definitely left to long. I am still looking for a great radish variety. I love radishes but I'm looking for a milder variety. Anyone have a great radish they could recommend? I also picked the last couple broccoli side shoots before removing a couple of the broccoli plants as they were starting to rot :(.
Since I harvest so many cucumbers I decided to make a yummy cucumber and tomato salad to take to my brothers. So I harvested a bunch of grape tomatoes that were ready as well as some basil. I'll write a post on this salad this week.
The carrots were also looking like they were close to ready so I harvested on just to see the size of them. As you can see they are still a little skinny so I think I'll leave them a bit longer. But this one had a great shape. I planted a rainbow mix with orange, white, yellow and purple carrots. This yellow one looked beautiful cut in half and tasted sweet and delicious as a snack.
We also harvested one of the eggplants for GMF to make eggplant parmesan for his dinner. I need to grab some pictures of him creating this meal. He has been eating it often as we have lots of eggplant. I unfortunately do not eat cheese so this is a meal all for him. Which is ok because it reheats really well.
Thanks for reading about my harvest this week. I look forward to what is to come. I think I will start to have some larger varieties of tomatoes soon.
Help me find a great radish: What type of radish do you grow? How would you describe that type?
A great harvest, as for radishes, I find if I grow them in a little shade they are not so hot. I buy packets of mixed. Interested to see your yellow carrot, I have brought the rainbow mix for this summer (I from NZ). I have had a look at some of your oder posts and liked what I saw so will be back.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sharon. I am excited about the rainbow carrots. I always try to buy them instead of the old school all orange ones from the grocery when they have them.
DeleteGood hint on the radishes I will try and find a new place for them for the next sowing.
I like French Breakfast and make sure they get a LOT of water to keep them mild!
ReplyDeleteGood tip Jenny I will be sure to do this next time!
DeleteOur favorite radish is French Breakfast. They grow quickly and have a nice mild flavor if the weather isn't too hot. I tend only to grow radish in the spring for that reason. Your carrot and eggplant look great!
ReplyDeleteThanks nutmeg for your comment. This year has been fairly mild other than a couple of weeks here in Canada. I've grown two batches of radishes and the spring ones were milder than the summer ones but still harsher than the ones at the store I'm used too.
DeleteI will try and plant a fall batch and see what happens.
Jealous of your lone carrot. It looks delicious and makes me sad that I never have luck growing carrots no matter what I do.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Ben. Keep trying with the carrots. This is my first time growing carrots and they seemed to work really well. I have watered them at least every other day. Perhaps try a rainbow variety and see if that works. Or perhaps its because I live in Canada with the cool springs and humid summers?
DeleteYour single carrot is beautiful :-)
ReplyDeleteI really like Easter Egg Radishes both for their flavor and fun colors :-)
We've grow at least 8 variety of radishes over the years and have found the ones that do best for us (we have trouble growing root crops of various types...). I like French breakfast radishes and Easter Egg radishes the best. We've tried growing some of the more exotic varieties like daikon and watermelon radishes but they didn't do well for us
ReplyDeleteI'm on my third type now - 1st type I can't remember what it was (doh), 2nd type was Cherry Bell and now I'm growing Sparkler White Tip. Hopefully they will be yummy!
DeleteLots of people seem to like the easter egg perhaps I will try those next year.