Well...finally back for Harvest Monday after about a month. I am sad not to have time to keep up with what is going on in many of the gardens around the world that I have become very fond of!!!! It is just busy and frankly when it isn't I just want a few minutes to myself. Just keeping up with the garden is a task that doesn't get taken care of as much as I would like. This past month we have eaten more tomatoes that the whole summer! We finally netted some of the tomatoes a while back and without the squirrels to devastate them and some TLC from some lack of water they have been pretty fruitful! Ah... I guess there is next year. John has plans to expand the garden again. Perhaps a bit more room for more tomato plants will give us a good result! As you will see from the pictures we have been very successful with the lettuces, radicchio, arugula, beets and to this day we are giving away pounds and pounds of jalapeños. We have also continued to get a good bit of eggplant and a few heads of fennel. I am also very excited to announce our very first soft ball size head of red radicchio from the Palla Rosa variety. My aunt tells me I may also be successful with the Chioggia variety as well. The Verona just never made large heads for us. Tonight I was able to get into the garden and clean it up a bit. I picked some Treviso Radicchio to force (Yay). After reading up on what little information they have online about the Puntarella variety chicory I found that these too may have to be forced to create to "pods". Another year, another experiment!
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| Salad with our lettuces, beets, steamed Tatsoi and a couple of the last green beans |
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| Endive |
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| Broccoli Rabe and Radicchio |
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| Another view |
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| And here she is! LOL. |
I'm with you on the rule of not getting rid of your tomatoes to the bitter end. I just harvested a tomato from a volunteer plant. I couldn't believe I was eating a tomato in November, but I was so happy about it.
ReplyDeleteI think the trick to hang the tomato plants (just before the frosts) in the shed is a great one.
ReplyDeleteFound some info on forcing chicory, thanks for the tip! Gorgeous looking Palla Rosa, looking forward to reading more about your experience with forcing!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see my forcing last year....I documented the Treviso forcing and results last year....just look in the fall and winter 2011 section :) Andrea....we put them in our window sill.
ReplyDeleteGreat-looking Radicchio, Amber! And how nice to see someone that appreciates it as much as I do. This veg is very under-rated here, which is a big shame. BTW: If you grow your Endive in a container or a raised bed and blanch it by tying tightly it doesn't need much cleaning...
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