Monday, June 8, 2015

Harvest Monday - 8 June 2015

Welcome to another Harvest Monday report from Eight Gate Farm. Thanks as always to Daphne's Dandelions for hosting this fun and informative forum.

Now that the radishes have finished, our nightly salads are a little less zesty, but we are fortunate to have all the mesclun and lettuce we need. We filled two three-gallon bags this week with pickings like this one:


Needless to say, the spinach, such as it is, was bolting, so we took it all:


I have to laugh when I compare this to the 862 lbs. that Daphne has harvested.

A harvest of chive flowers, tarragon, and garlic chives. The chive flowers are destined for vinegar, a great idea we first got from Daphne. We jazz it up a little with a few tarragon sprigs.


In other garden news, it finally got to the point where there are no more nights forecasted below 50 f., so it was time to transplant the eggplant, peppers, and basil.


The herb garden is looking nice:


And so is the broccoli. The extra-early variety "Blue Wind" is living up to its expectations. I suspect we will harvest it within a week.


Here's an example of the Eight Gate Farm Plant Succession Technique™. Basically, you plant a variety or even an entire bed with the vegetable of your choice. Then, when 50% or so does not come up, you replant.


I do not know what the problem was with the beans on the left. Maybe we just had too many cool nights. So, we try again.

And now, introducing the Eight Gate Farm Crop of Mystery™. I grew these cute little guys from the tiniest seeds you could imagine. If they live, I will update as the season progresses. Go ahead and guess now what it is if you want, but I won't say if you're right or wrong until later. The teeny-tiny seeds are your first clue.


I've talked before about our project to refurbish the 5 dilapidated garden benches we inherited with the property. We are down to our last one. The one on the right looked like the one on the left. Have I said that I'm absolutely in love with my new table saw?


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and I wish you happy harvests.

7 comments:

  1. Your herb garden does look very nice! And great job on the greens (just so you know, your greens harvest compared to Daphne's is kind of like mine compared to yours - you are currently outharvesting me 10 fold. My only guess on the mystery crop is some sort of lettuce - not sure at this point!

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  2. Greens look nice. I've been watching the forecast as well and plant to get the. peppers and eggplants in the ground this week.

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  3. Greens look delicious. And that bench - amazing! It's so satisfying to upgrade and repurpose instead of buying new.

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  4. I think I recognize your Succession Technique! The herb garden is really looking nice. I would vote for amaranth as the mystery plant, if only for the tiny seeds. I may have to look into that Blue Wind broccoli. I'm still waiting for all of ours to head up.

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  5. Wow nice job on the bench. I have projects here that need doing if you ever want to visit. I hate electric saws. Useful though.

    And I love your succession plan. My problem is I was trying this nice calendar one, but when my turnips didn't show I wasn't sure how many rows to plant the next week. Do I just replant the failed seed? Or do I replant that and what was on my schedule. I split the difference. At least this week they seem to be coming up.

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  6. I've got that succession plan going in my bean patch, and last year's bean patch as well. My guess for the mystery plant is Nicotiana. What a wonderful job you've done on the benches, they look better than new.

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  7. What a fabulous job on the bench!

    And I LOVE your succession plan. In fact, I may just copy it this year. I sowed my beans last week and have had decidedly spotty germination, and that is with every single variety. Maybe I'm just being impatient - I guess time will tell.

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