For the first time I am making an effort to really grow all our own vegetables, rather than just have a few growing to supplement what we buy. I need to dig more vege beds so I have enough space, and I know I still need to sharpen my skills in seed raising, succesion planting, pest control and so on. That's "Grow".
But what about Harvest and Eat? It may seem strange to you, but I realised that I was leaving things in the garden longer than I really should instead of picking it. Perhaps because it's so nice to walk past and see a plant producing successfully and I want to savour the success? We have lovely soil here at our new house, and after struggling to grow veges for years in hard-packed-clay-with-no-top-soil, having veges grow well is still something of a novelty.
So I have made some conscious harvesting expeditions in the garden. If I pick it and it's inside ready to go then I will use it. I have also stopped buying most other vegetables, except for a few staples like potato and carrots. This forces me to use what I have growing in new and creative ways.
Just how many different ways can you eat brocolli, kale and spinach? How many lettuces can we get through in a week? How many days will little girls refuse half their dinner, because it's green, before they realise there's just more greens coming?
What are you harvesting at the moment? Got any recipe suggestions for kale?
Hi Meg, As we have an abundance of greens at the moment I have been using Kale and another green called Asian Vitamin green in nearly everything I cook. Kale works really well in vegie slices and I even throw it in things like spaghetti bol. What I found that really helped me was when I had an abundance of a type of vegetable I would head straight to Google and usually find hundreds of recipes. Jessie has realized that the greens will keep coming so she may as well eat them:) Good luck. Your garden is looking fantastic!
ReplyDeleteHI Meg, your garden looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteI too went through a period where I wasn't harvesting enough. I was busy with work and I kept missing these windows of picking and things would go to seed.
Kale is great in a salad and thrown into stews. Such a great vege !
Are those calendulas I spot in the photo? I want to grow lots of those to put into hand made soaps- they are the only plant that holds their colour in soap making.
Yes, they are calendulas. I have some intentions to harvest the flowers and use them to make a calendual lotion but I haven't so far and my girls keep picking the flowers for themselves :)
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks great. Like Vintage Rose said, we just google for recipe ideas when we have abundance, but we also do a lot of preserving. Kale around here just goes into everything.
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