Harvest Monday - 02 November 2015

Latest post from MARKSVEGPLOT – a blog about food and gardening in England”

Well, I think this is my first proper Winter veg harvest:

It’s a “Mila” Savoy Cabbage. It’s not big, but it looked bigger when it was still growing! The rather ratty outer leaves were discarded of course.

Actually that Cabbage was just the right size for the two of us. The Savoy type provides a good mix of light and dark green leaves – just what we like!

Meanwhile, we’re still eating salad. This is “Amaze”, another one of the trial varieties kindly supplied by Marshalls.

Yesterday I picked another batch of Carrots, and there are still plenty more to come. This has been probably my most successful crop of the year. They wouldn’t win any prizes for good looks or uniformity, but the main things is they are fly-free. I have had to throw away one or two split ones, but the vast majority are fine.

Now what about this: I know they say “If you pick it, you can count it”, but this is ridiculous!

That one solitary Radish was the only harvest from the batch I sowed on August 23rd. I re-used the compost in which I had earlier grown some Carrots, and it was a mistake. The Carrots also had failed completely. Their foliage was weak and twisted, whilst the roots were tough and insignificantly tiny. I feel sure this was once more attributable to contaminated compost, because Carrots grown this way (in plastic crates) have done quite well for me in recent years.

This week I’m also counting this:

They are Celeriac leaves. I keep pulling off the outer leaves of the Celeriac, in order to promote “bulb” growth and it seems a shame to just compost them. I have kept the best bits for adding flavour to soups, stews or stock. They impart a lovely savouriness, verging on the umami.

Well, that’s my harvests for this week, but please take a look at Harvest Monday over on Our Happy Acres, and see what other gardeners have produced.

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