Friday, June 12, 2015

A Small Harvest But So Appreciated!


Wa-HOO!  I harvested our first salad greens today before breakfast.  And you know how long I've been craving some fresh, crispy, nutritious, delicious greens from the garden!  Not much lettuce in the mix yet, but lots of spinach, mizuna, arugula, kale and Scarlet Frill.


Also plucked our first radishes from the lovely soil.  Even with all our cold, not-friendly growing weather this year, this first harvest is a full two weeks earlier than the first harvest last year.  How did that happen?  Well, I definitely did plant my salad bed extremely early this year, but because it took so long to germinate and then put on some size, I never would have guessed I would actually make the first harvest on this date.  Just goes to show I need to have more patience (and maybe faith!) when it comes to "growing our own."

We actually have had some warm weather the past few days, and the garden shows it.

Our new asparagus has sent up lots of 1/4" round spears which I will mound with soil today.

The new strawberry plants are producing blossoms which I'm dutifully (sob) removing so the strength goes to the plants this first year.

Flowers I planted in the garden from seeds are sprouting.  Most of them, that is.  Red Phlox is still a no-show, and it's past time when they should have germinated.

My carrots sprouted in record time as did the dill and cilantro.

Cherry tomatoes and eggplants are flourishing inside their respective Wall O' Water cocoons.

This is the stage of the garden (when I can actually see the results of my efforts) when I start to get very enthused, excited and make my early daily morning walks through the garden talking to the plants and checking how they are all doing.  Life is good!  

16 comments:

DFW said...

Happy to hear this!

Mama Pea said...

DFW - Thanks! Me, too! :o}

Laurie said...

Awesome!!! I was late getting my garden in this year and my radishes are still so tiny. My cucumbers are covered with blooms and the tomatoes have a few blooms and the cherry ones have little baby tomatoes. I can't wait to harvest them. I'm so glad you share your garden with us.

Susan said...

Doesn't that first lettuce taste divine? Your radishes are amazing!

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,
Nothing like enjoying the fruits of your labor :-)

Nice looking lettuce all set for a nice salad.....for lunch or dinner I hope?

Yes, life is good my friend. Give it a little more time and your flowers will surprise you :-)

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - So how 'bout some pics of YOUR garden?? Always so interesting to see what others are doing!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - The radishes didn't look that big peeking out of the soil. Matter of fact, I almost left them to grow more, but guess I'm glad I didn't!

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - We had a lovely salad with our scrambled eggs for breakfast and then I put our pasta salad for lunch on top of a big bed of greens. Now I'm strong enough to leap tall buildings in a single bound . . . or go weed the garden anyway. ;o}

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I was out yesterday, and noticed I need to harvest some spinach. Your garden bounty looks delicious. I pulled some radishes this morning.

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - Seems like I watched the spinach FOREVER waiting for it to be big enough . . . and then all of a sudden (overnight!) it was more than big enough! I could pull more radishes today . . . except it's nearly 6 p.m. now, I'm in for the day and don't want to go out because the bugs came out a while ago. Hate 'em! :o(

Carolyn said...

Yum! We just had our first cucumbers, but am still jealous of your lettuce...ours would be crispy by now.

Sam I Am...... said...

Those greens look so tasty! The rewards of all your hard work....you deserve it! Great looking radishes too!

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - Cucumbers! Oh, cucumbers! They add so much to a salad . . . or sandwich. My cuke plants are about 2" high. Guess we'll have to wait a while to have some for eating!

Mama Pea said...

Sam I Am - The greens were WONDERFUL! Didn't take us long to go through that first batch. I just picked another bunch this morning. Mmmm-mmmm!

Mark said...

Good for you! We're not too far from our first lettuce/spinach harvest here. Enjoy!

Mama Pea said...

Mark - As I was serving up another home grown salad today, I remarked to my husband that I suppose we will get tired of so many salads soon, but right now? They taste so good! Hope you've harvested your first lettuce and spinach by now.