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Monday, April 18, 2011

4/18 Harvest - Overwintered Indiana Veggies

A few of the Red Russian Kale, tatsoi and bok choy plants actually survived the Indiana winter in our side garden without being protected at all .  Actually, they were more like abandoned and forgotten, but the important thing is that they survived!  Unfortunately, this "survival" was very short lived, since there were only about 2-3 weeks between my noticing the new growth on the stumps of plants leftover from last fall and my discovery this weekend that they were all bolting.


I harvested most of them (there were not that many to begin with), except for a few that I'm going to leave alone in my attempt to collect seeds from them.  The bok choy and tatsoi looked like their leaves were changing shape (became more elongated).

I told Keith that I wanted to toss them in the salad, to which he scrunched up his face and said "can't we just have normal salad like normal people?"  Ha.  Not if you're going to marry a newbie gardener who wants to eat everything that will grow in the vegetable garden!  I think he was scared by the flowers.

This was the flowering bok choy (or tatsoi, I couldn't really tell with the elongated leaves).

Here's the Red Russian Kale bolting.  Only two plants survived in the side garden, so I harvested one and left the other one alone to go to seed.


I washed and trimmed all the edible leaves (some of the outer leaf stems were starting to look a little squishy).  I didn't weigh the harvest, but I would guess they totaled a few ounces.  Instead of tossing them in the salad, I made a quick stir fry with some olive oil, a dash of soy sauce and some garlic powder (we didn't have any garlic).  There was barely enough for us to each have a few bites as a snack, but at least we got to eat something tasty that we grew this week, and it made me happy.


Oh, here is a little handful of overwintered parsley and cilantro that also came from the side garden. I meant to toss these in the salad, too, but in the process of discovering and dealing with the bolted hardy greens, the salad making plans got forgotten.

Tomorrow, I will post some pictures from our main garden.  With all the rain we had last week, the peas are really starting to take off.  I have 12 feet of peas and more peas growing!

Happy Harvest Monday!

20 comments:

Robin said...

I have to ask Keith....What is a normal salad and normal people?? Haha

I finally have "The Italian" trained to eat seasonal and what we have preserved!

Mr. H. said...

Sounds like wonderful salad ingredients.:) Thanks for reminding me to plant some cilantro.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

I was wondering what red russian kale will look like cos a friend had so many of self-sowed ones that they gave so many of them to us. Now, I know, thanks.

Mac said...

Important point is you grew the veggies and they make you happy, bolted or not.
Nice to know bok choy and tatsoi can survive your winter without protection.

Dave @ HappyAcres said...

That's the downside of some of the overwintered stuff, it bolts so quick. My tatsoi and kale didn't last long at all. But it's still good even with the flowers. Who wants to be normal! ;-)

Lynda said...

We've had only a handful of warm days and now the celery, onions, celeriac and carrots are bolting. I'm ok with it...I want to harvest the seeds anyway. I've replanted a couple celery starts and will wait until later in the season to re-seed the carrots, onions and celeriac.

Sherry said...

LOL! There's no such thing as "normal salad" when you grow your own veggies! They taste extraordinary!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

LOL My husband prefers head lettuce from the grocery store, which isn't as good for you. To me, fresh from the garden is the best lettuce, and if you have other greens in there, it's even better. As soon as I get the time, I plan on thinning my lettuce and spinach so I can eat the thinnings.

My kale that survived will be blooming at some point. One thing I do, is cut the blooming stems off before they have a chance to open, which extends the time you can harvest the kale.

kitsapFG said...

"Normal people salads" are boring... iceburg lettuce, orange golf ball tomatoes and maybe some grated carrot on top. Blah!

Give me real greens with texture and taste anyday!

thyme2garden said...

Everyone, thank you for your kind comments! In Keith's defense, he does like all different kinds of salad greens. I really do think I scared him off with the flowering stalks. :-)

Michele said...

I loved all the pictures. You're a few weeks ahead of my Chicago suburban zone, so I've got lots to look foward to, especially the peas. I love those long runs of raised beds, what a perfect micro climate spot to garden in. Michele

Daphne Gould said...

Oh I hope my kale doesn't bolt anytime soon. It was tiny going into winter. They all survived, but have just started to grow and are just big enough that I was thinking of maybe getting a harvest from them. If I have a couple more weeks I might have a good harvest. I can only hope.

Ottawa Gardener said...

Lucky for Keith then that he doesn't live nearby or I'd invite him for a petal salad - ha! No actually I have though of trying this one day. You can eat the sprouting stalks of most brassicas as 'broccolini.' There's a few that have been bred for this multi purpose use. Sounds yummy to me and glad they overwintered.

thyme2garden said...

Michele - it's really nice to see from these garden blogs how everyone's garden and climates are different, isn't it? The peas are a joy to grow because they seem to grow so fast (without pests, that is).

Daphne - I hope your kale lasts a few more weeks to provide you with a good harvest! I was surprised that mine was bolting already, since the weather has been so cold and dready here. The kale I planted in my mom's CA garden last fall is still going strong with no signs of bolting yet.

Ottawa Gardener - Petal salad, good idea!! :-)

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