The "first" first needs no introduction:
There are two varieties, the everbearing "Oglalla" on the left, and the June-bearing "Surecrop" on the right. Wait, didn't I say it needed no introduction?
The thing about strawberries is once they start rolling in, they just keep rolling in:
The Kitchen Goddess has already canned 8 jars of strawberry jam:
The other first harvest was some garlic scapes:
I planted six each of four varieties of garlic last fall. One variety ("Katahdin") is 2-3 times bigger than its mates, and produced these scapes well ahead of the others. I don't know if it's the variety, or maybe just the cloves were bigger to begin with. I don't remember.
For continuing harvests, we took all but one of the remaining Ching Chiang and tatsoi, as they were severely bolting. A couple qualify as runts, but it's all good.
Also bolting was the cilantro, so out it came.
TKG froze most of this in small covered containers with olive oil. She says that's better than water for keeping them. I had not heard of that before. I've said in the past that cilantro is one of those things I can't grow myself; they always bolt when two inches tall. These came from a six-pack of crowded-together seedlings purchased at a local farm/greenhouse, and I planted them all together in a jumbled mess. But that seemed to work, and I will try that method of starting them next year.
Next up is more salad mix. I like the method we are using: two 4-foot rows with the seeds tightly sown. You just pick off the leaves you need, and the remaining expand to fill in the gaps, then repeat. We used two variety-packs from Baker Creek: "Mesclun Mix," of which about the only thing I can identify is kale but there are many other components, and a more traditional lettuce mix called "Rocky Top." This method just seems more productive than growing heads, and it sure is easy too.
That's all the representative harvests for this week. One more picture to share though. In the Kitchen Herb Garden the sage decided to send up a flower. I know this is not unusual, but I've never had it happen before. It is lovely.
Thanks for reading, and thanks again to Dave at Our Happy Acres for keeping Harvest Monday going.
Love strawberries!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to cool Autumn weather (Sept-Oct) when I can grow salad greens again
Happy Gardening!
We love strawberries too! Hope you get a good crop of salad when your cool weather arrives.
DeleteLove those strawberries! I do miss eating homegrown ones. My cilantro always bolts this time of year too. I have better luck growing it in fall going into winter.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave. I've tried cilantro in the fall, too, but still it bolts!
DeleteStrawberries = rodent food here. I've pretty much given up growing them for now until I can come up with a way to keep them out of harms way. Yours are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI can usually get some cilantro through the summer if I start big clumps of it and harvest it as babies. Which reminds me, I need to get out my big bag of seeds and sow some more.
We knew strawberries would be enticing to chipmunks especially, and birds also, so we got some "pond netting" which has a much finer mesh than regular bird netting, which traps birds by the neck in our experience. The netting is stretched tight over the beds on 2-foot posts and anchored firmly. Makes it a nuisance to pick, but saves the fruit!
DeleteWe are being kept busy picking strawberries too.
ReplyDeleteAren't they a joy?
DeleteThere's no such thing as too many strawberries. My Earliglow plants are finished bearing and a deer that doesn't know its place has found the planter. I've given up on cilantro, and don't care. To my tastes,parsley works better in salsa.
ReplyDeleteThat's a ton of tatsoi and bok choy, so wonderful. And your strawberries are lovely. I actually ordered some Ching Chiang seeds after seeing yours to give it a try this fall.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a sage flower before and mine have never budded, so this is exciting for me. Thanks for sharing, I am guessing it is edible and be good in salad bowl. I am loving homegrown strawberries too, way too many though. Yours look lovely in the cartons. And cilantro, pass me some over - its my favourite herb.
ReplyDeleteYum, yum - strawberries! I agree with you on the salad - I do something similar in that I plant seedlings about 6" apart, and then just start picking the leaves when they get big enough. The harvest just keeps going and going for over a month and I only pick the heads once they start to bolt.
ReplyDeleteI love the cilantro story - sometimes those "just throw it in and see what happens" moments surprise us.
Interesting way of freezing cilantro. Not seen this before so I shall give it a go. Thank you for the idea
ReplyDelete