01 August 2011

What's happening in the garden

You might have noticed that I put up a new banner photo yesterday. It's a picture of the vegetable garden that I took yesterday morning. Here's the picture that I took on July 6, for comparison:

July 6, 2011

And here's the banner picture in a larger size, with labels showing what is planted where:

July 31, 2011
As usual, you can click the pictures to see them at full size.


So what's the plan for today? After picking all those pears day before yesterday, now I'm going to harvest the collard patch. Here's what it looks like:

The collards on July 31, 2011

Ever since I planted them last March, I've said that I would harvest the collard greens in August and do a new planting. I'm hoping for a fall crop.

Today, I'll pull out all the plants, clean and sort the leaves to keep the good ones and compost the raggedy ones, and then cook all the greens that are worth cooking. After they're cooked, I can decide whether to freeze them or put them up in jars. It's going to take me most of the day to get it done.

7 comments:

  1. The garden looks incredible. And what a whole lot of work you've set for yourselves! I'm so glad you enjoy it.

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  2. It' a busy time of year for the garden - and gardeners!!

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  3. That sure is lots of work! How do you cook your greens? A woman I used to work with slow-cooked them with bacon (or ham hocks or something that gave that flavor), and they were so tasty. Others I've had were always too bland since tasting hers.

    I hope you've enjoyed your day :)

    Judy

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  4. Ken, what are the greens like in jars? We tried lacto-fermentation with some chard and some runner beans but were put off by the flavour.
    Should you decide to 'can' some, could you please blog about your method?
    Also, you can't spare a few rhubarb leaves could you? We've a terrible flea beetle problem and boiled rhubarb leaf makes a perfect deterent/killer. The ragondins ate ours and we are having to find somewhere else to plant the remaining bits.... so it will be a couple of years before we can make our own "Death to Flea Beetles".

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  5. Whew, what a lot of work but I know the results are worth the effort when we see your great photos and recipes of your delicious meals!

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  6. What a bountiful garden. I'm glad it's done so well this year. The photo comparisons are dramatic. I'm surprised you have such good-looking lettuce this late in the season. You are going to have bumper crops of everything, I think. Good luck with the collards!

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  7. Hi Tim, are you still reading these comments? I assume you were kidding about the rhubarb leaves, just because it is a 2 to 2½ hour trip from down there to up here. If you seriously want some rhubarb leaves, let me know...

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