It's time again for Harvest Monday! My broccoli plants are all out in the open, and have been all winter. I feel blessed that I am able to enjoy a tasty picking at this time of year.
I got a different type of harvest this week in addition to the broccoli. I was very happy to have been able to place 75 each 5 gallon buckets of pressed down, cured compost throughout my garden. According to recommendations, I am supposed to place 6 each 5 gallon buckets on each 100 square feet of area in the garden per year. I lacked 9 buckets of being in compliance with that recommended compost application rate for this time alone. In 60 days, I'll have a full bin to distribute over the entire area and in another 60 days after that, there will be yet another bin full ready to be distributed. My garden soil will be very rich by year's end.
In other news, the giant pumpkin seeds will get mailed out tomorrow to those that requested them.
I hope everyone has warmer weather coming their way. It has been a long winter!
Thanks for visiting, and for all the comments that have been shared.
Veggie PAK
Boy, that's some mighty fine looking broccoli!! My broccoli plants are about 2 1/2" tall at the moment.
ReplyDeleteThe warmer spring weather is on it's way...hopefully sooner then later!
Beautiful harvest of broccoli. One of my favorite vegetables and I will have a while before we get to enjoy our spring crop of them. Well done on the compost production. Getting enough produced to properly cover a larger sized garden is quite an undertaking.
ReplyDeleteYour broccoli looks as if it is the Calabrese type - is that right? My own is the Sprouting type ("Rudolph" and "Red Arrow"), and I expect to be harvesting the first of it any day now.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any recipe suggestions for good ways to eat broccoli?
Your "compost factory" sounds like it is producing a nice output! Makes my couple of bins look a bit puny...
Love the broccoli. And I wish I had your compost. I'll have to order some to spread on the garden this year as last year we really didn't have a yard to make compost in.
ReplyDeleteYour broccoli is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have some for dipping into a raw dip/dressing.
Peace and Raw Health,
Elizabeth
Robin, I plant my broccoli in the fall to let it grow ever so slowly during the winter, then when warm weather comes, they flourish. Now my soil doesn't usually freeze, although this winter the top 1/2 inch was frozen for a few days. I'm not sure if row covers would prevent that, but I might try the row covers this coming winter to protect my plants. Maybe I would get a better early crop.
ReplyDeletekitsapFG, the fresh broccoli tastes great! Composting at the level that I use does take time. Fortunately, being retired gives me sufficient time to care for our garden the way I like to.
Mark Willis, I'm not sure on the type of broccoli I have. I love eating broccoli simply with a ranch dressing dip. Your couple of bins look great! Space is a big factor in composting like I do. I like the fact that when people compost, regardless of the method or the size of the bin, they ARE composting and learning about it and experiencing it and accepting it. The more people that compost, the better soil we will have and then the better the crops we will have. On top of that, it's good for the earth!
Daphne, The fresh crunchy broccoli is delicious! I hope you can get a small compost pile or container going this year. You have lots of trimmings you can put into it with your wonderful garden!
Elizabeth, that's how we like to eat it! It's great!
I thank each of you for visiting my blog and thinking enough of it to leave a comment. I really appreciate that.
Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK
Wow, nice bunch of broccoli, I'll have to remember to start my broccoli in early fall this year.
ReplyDeleteMac, I started mine in early fall, but now I wish I had used row covers or something to protect the plants. We had a hard winter, and I think the harvest would have been better if the plants weren't so damaged by the snow. Live and learn...
ReplyDelete