Tag Archives: kohlrabi

I has carrots!

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Carrots!

Chantenay carrots

And beets, and tomatoes, and kohlrabi, and…and…and… The garden is really coming into it’s own. The tomatoes have been staked and I’ve already picked two! That’s right, two tomatoes and it’s only July 6th. They’re Stupice, a Czech heirloom variety that I grew last year and are known to be spectacularly early. They’re a smaller variety, but who can beat vine ripened tomatoes in early July?! If we’d had a normal, hot summer thus far, I bet they would have been even earlier. Close on the heels of Stupice are the Purple Russians, an egg shaped variety that is noted to be good for salsas and preserving.

First tomatoes of the year - Stupice

Stupice heirloom tomato

First tomatoes of the year - Purple Russians

Purple Russian heirloom tomato

My peas are going like gangbusters. Last night I picked all the full ones I could find and sat down and podded my first bowl of peas in probably well over 15 years. They were a staple of the veggie garden of my childhood, but this is the first year I’ve grown them myself. In fact, I had a sudden realization this evening as I plucked the first of my carrots that this is really the first time (in my adult life) that I’ve grown many of the veggies I have going this year. I’ve often done salad greens, tomatoes in pots, and a few onions, beets, etc. But to have carrots, squash, cucumbers, garlic and so much more… what a treat. It makes me want more veggie gardens!

Capuchijners Peas

Capuchijners Blue Pea

Capuchijners Peas

Capuchijners Blue Pea

Capuchijners Peas, in salad

Capuchijners Blue Pea in salad

Tonight I cooked my first batch of Capuchijner peas, and I think I might know now why they’re a called a soup pea. They didn’t really go that lovely “pea green” colour when I cooked them, but remained as pale as they were when raw. And while they’re quite tasty, they don’t seem to have that explosion of tender sweetness that I think of from regular fresh peas.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi

The kohlrabi are coming along nicely as well, although I’ve been battling slugs regularly to keep them. I’ve never cooked these babies before so I’m looking forward to trying them out.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that my Chioggia heirloom beets are harvest size already, although I think they need a bit more time to develop their signature pink and white rings, as mine are still very white inside.

Chioggia Beets

Chioggia heirloom beets

Chioggia Beets

Chioggia heirloom beets

Spring eats, part deux

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Fresh radishes

First crop to be harvested

Just the other day I was thinking, “Gee, I probably should have thinned out those radishes a couple weeks ago…” Then my elderly neighbour said, “Just thin them by harvesting them!”  Like, duh. I didn’t even realize they were ready yet!

All weekend we’ve been munching fresh juicy radishes from the garden, spring onions, as well as a few spinach leaves thrown into a salad. There isn’t quite enough spinach on its own for a salad yet, but a we got a few leaves to augment lettuce from the store (locally grown, too by the way). The little red globes of spicy radish goodness are so much better than the ones from the store.

My May Garden

Raised bed, end of May

As of last night I’ve nearly got it all in. I planted up the less hardy salad greens (red oak leaf heirloom lettuce and arugula) and over seeded my spinach and green leaf lettuce which had come up a bit thin. I also had some Chinese cabbage seeds to get into the ground and some parsnip seeds to put in (the package directions on those left a bit to be desired when it came to suggested planting times). I also finally found my nasturtiums, which will add pretty colour to my rather utilitarian beds, at Sheridan Nurseries yesterday. That place was a nuthouse, complete with its own traffic cop and 15 minutes of waiting for a parking spot. NEVER AGAIN ON A SUNDAY IN MAY.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi plantlings

New this year to all my sun-soaked gardens are soaker hoses, glorious soaker hoses. I’m so tired of sprinklers and their difficult to control spray patterns, and sending half the water down the street into the sewer. Not to mention watering all the patio stones and encouraging weeds to poke up through the cracks.

I bought four 50′ hoses, one for each raised bed and one for each bed on either side of the porch. I still have to run each of them separately, but it’s now simply a matter of snapping in to the connector (hooray Gardena for those fantastic little “Quick Connect” doohickies), and I can likely rotate them and do two of the beds each night, rather than all four every night, during hot periods. On a side note, if you’re going to buy soaker hoses, I recommend the WaterWorks brand carried by Home Depot; the Yardworks product (carried by Canadian Tire) kinked really easily as I unwound them. The Gardena ones were just too expensive.

Radicchio

Radicchio

Of course I tempted myself a few weeks ago at the Fortino’s Garden Centre, were they had a huge array of interesting vegetable seedlings, and I had to find places to stuff in some radicchio and kohlrabi. I don’t even think I’ve eaten kohlrabi before, but hey, I’m always up for a challenge. And yes, that’s a little sow thistle up there beside the radicchio, who met a timely death just after the photo was taken.

Lemon Thyme

Lemon thyme

Finally, I’m always looking for interesting new herbs to try, and I have a gorgeous purple sage which is as much good looking as it is tasty. It contrasts nicely with the lemon thyme, above, so I wanted to get some golden sage for another section of the garden. I also found some lemon grass and sorrel at Sheridan, making the insanity of the place a little more worthwhile.

Golden Sage

Golden sage