Now that we're at the end of January, I notice that I still haven't put any protective covering over my lettuce and Swiss chard. The Swiss chard is coming along alright, but the lettuce is doing pretty good without anything on it so far. Now I'm in a quandry. Should I or shouldn't I put a protective cover over it at this late date? It would be some work but a significant expense for the little extension of time that it might get from having it covered. Lettuce isn't that expensive, so I'm leaning towards not covering it.
This is how my lettuce rows looked today just before I picked one of the "heads". (More of a bunch than a head.) Some of the ones that I harvested weeks ago are growing out strong.
This is the plant that I cut today and got 12 ounces of lettuce towards this week's harvest. Remember the smoothie I talked about making in a previous post?
Well, here it is! I was in a hurry to work on the broccoli and I didn't have all the ingredients I wanted to use on hand for the smoothie, so I just made it with what I did have. I mixed in two tablespoonfuls of flax meal, one and one-half cups of water with the lettuce, and that was it. Lettuce juice. That sums it up right there! I drank some and my son Jonathan drank a glass of it. It wasn't bad, but it needed some additional ingredients like perhaps apple juice instead of water, a banana, a cored apple, and some parsley and cilantro. Next time I'll have it all on hand before I begin.
Broccoli comes through again with a wonderful harvest! From my east plot where I have been doing all the broccoli harvesting so far, I got two pounds and seven ounces of broccoli. Yesterday, for the first time this year, I harvested from my west plot and got 13 ounces, for a grand total of three pounds and four ounces of broccoli for this week's report!
I blanched some of it for freezing and gave the remainder of it to my son Jonathan for his family. Here it is in the ice bath after blanching.
This is my Ziplock vacuum sealing system that I used to seal my four 12 ounce bags of broccoli for freezing. I think this system is absolutely the best! No electricity needed! That simple little air pump at the top of the picture really works great! The bags are resealable, and you can vacuum out the air the next time you use them. I use it to vacuum out the air in the bag where I store my unused oxygen absorbers for my food prepping. They've been sealed for about sixty days or so with no leaks. I haven't dicovered how many times the bags are reusable though. I'm not promoting them, I just like the system.
Be sure to visit DaphnesDandelions for more exciting vegetable gardening experiences.
That concludes this week's Harvest Monday report. Thanks for stopping by my blog and visiting and for sharing your comments.
Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK
where did you find the ziploc thing? wow to the lettuce smoothie
ReplyDeleteMy brother in Pennsylvania told me that Walmart sold them. I went to the two stores around here, and they sold the bags but not the pump. I spoke to the manager and told him that they were missing a lot of business from home vegetable growers. I said there was no point in coming to Walmart for canning and preservation supplies if they only have some of what you need. He said they weren't a big seller and I replied that at the time, the harvests weren't coming in yet so they wouldn't be. About a month after that I found the gallon bags, quart bags and the pumps at both Walmarts! Excellent! They are located in the sandwich bag aisle in these local stores.
DeleteI have to work on the smoothie for some more taste.
I'd leave the lettuces uncovered they are too beautiful to cover up - also if they've got this far and all that - besides if they survive the seeds should be worth saving as they must be pretty hardy. Not sure I want to try lettuce juice...perhaps with fruit or indeed not at all...I do eagerly await the next vegetable drink though.
ReplyDeleteI think I will leave them uncovered. I hadn't thought of saving seeds from them, but that's a great idea.
DeleteYeah. I need fruit with the lettuce. Fortunately I have enough lettuce for salads and sandwiches as well as enough to keep trying the smoothies.
I am not so sure about that smoothie, lol, but then I have not tried a vegetable smoothie yet just fruit. However, if I had all that lettuce I would be trying to eat it up before the cold weather gets it so yeah, lots of smoothies (I really hate wasting food). Your broccoli looks great. I am going to have to check out the ziplock sealer thing. I hate the electric sealer thing I bought.
ReplyDeleteThe smoothie definitely needs some fruit to zing up the flavor. There is more lettuce than I expected to be getting.
DeleteThe sealer works fast because it isn't a tiny hose sucking the air out. Every upward stroke on that pump takes out a lot of air.
That broccoli looks fabulous. I really need to grow more broccoli in my garden. I had none for the fall since my brassicas were taken down by disease. I hope they live this year.
ReplyDeleteThe broccoli is really good right out of the garden! Store bought just can't compare! Are you going to plant them in a different bed this year? Maybe that would help.
DeleteBoy, I am jealous of all that broccoli! I wouldn't bother to cover the lettuce. It looks great and will fair just fine for the rest of the winter.
ReplyDeleteThe broccoli is wonderful! I think I won't cover the lettuce. In another month and a half it will be planting time anyway.
DeleteMy son loaded Google Earth and apparently it loaded Google Chrome as well. I see that now the comment section is working as you had said with yours once you loaded Google Chrome. Yay!
Love all that broccoli! Mines still sulking....
ReplyDeleteThe supply of broccoli is great! I hope your's kicks into high gear soon.
DeleteYour harvest looks great! :) I'll have to check into that vacuum sealer.
ReplyDeleteLynn
The vacuum sealer works better than I ever thought it would. It's so simple to use. I bet you'd enjoy using one too!
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