Today's Harvest

Today was 78 degrees and overcast in Central Texas - perfect gardening weather.  While playing in the garden, I decided it was time to harvest some of my continuing fall and early spring crops.  Today's harvest included a bunch of Curly-Leafed Kale (planted in the fall), Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (planted in the fall), and Cherry Bell Radishes (planted 3 weeks ago).

I didn't have anyone to cook for this evening, so I decided to use my harvest in some fresh juices.  I made two types of juices, and enough to last the next couple of days (about 60 ounces of each kind of juice).  My juices included:

Green Pineapple

• 1 pineapple
• 6 cups kale
• 1/2 head romaine lettuce
• 1 cucumber
• 8 stalks celery
• 3" ginger root
• 1 large Granny Smith apple
• 1 large lemon
• 1 lime

Green Radish

• 10 radishes with greens
• 10 stalks swiss chard
• 3 stalks celery
• 2" ginger root
• 5 medium apples (Granny Smith and Gala)
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• bunch of cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups water

I've never juiced radishes before, but the concoction I put together was pretty good.  It has a mild, yet refreshing bite to it, similar to ginger root.  I'll have to add this to my standard juicing recipes.

More Rain and Today's Harvest

It has been about seven straight days of rain here in Central Texas, and the garden is loving it - not to mention all the wildlife around here that is enjoying the wet weather and break from the Texas heat.  It has rained so much that there is now a pond in the park behind our house!  It is actually a retention pond for instances such as this, but most of the year it is completely dry.

The wet weather has really been making the garden grow.  Today I harvested a large bunch of basil that I have growing next to my tomatoes.  I cut the basil back, but left enough of the stems so that it will grow back and I can harvest it again in a couple of weeks.  Now is time to make a little pesto to put in pastas and on chicken sandwiches. 

I also pulled one radish from the garden today.  It looked picture perfect, but wasn't the best tasting in my opinion.  It was definitely fresh enough, just too-radishy.  I think I had them in the garden a little too long, so they got overwhelmingly flavorful.  I also planted radish during the Texas summer, which is not the suggested season for them.  They prefer the cooler spring and fall months.  I think the heat made them extra potent and a bit too much for me.  I'll be planting radishes only in the spring and fall now.

I was able to plant some seeds indoors on my new grow shelves as well.  Yesterday I planted:

• Fruit/Veggies
• Eggplant - Early Long Purple (Martha Stuart Organic)
• Eggplant - Black Beauty (Ferry-Morse)
• Watermelon - Tasty Sweet (Burpee)
• Pablano Pepper (Ferry-Morse)
• Pepper - California Wonder 300 TMR (Ferry-Morse)
• Tomato - Supersweet 100 VF Hybrid (Ferry-Morse)
• Swiss Chard - Fordhook Giant (Burpee)
• Swiss Chard - Ruby Red (Burpee)
• Herbs
• Sweet Basil (Burpee)
• Spanish Cilantro (Burpee)
• Flowers
• Marigold - Best Mix (Burpee)
• Morning Glory - Tall Mix (Burpee)
• Lupine - Russell's Hybrid Mixed Colors (Ferry-Morse)
• Painted Daisy - Giant Mixed Colors (Burpee)

Note - I soaked the morning glory and lupine seeds for about 18 hours before planting to soften the hard seed shells to hasten germination.