We meet again for another harvest report during the month of January. After a few very cold nights in the 20's, temps have now returned to their normal range for this time of year. Currently the temperature is 47 degrees at 7 o'clock in the morning. A welcome change from those really cold nights!
Here's what I have to share with you about my garden this week:
BROCCOLI!
The plants look so good that I thought I'd include some pics of them before the harvest.
Don't they all look nice?
Here is the harvest for this week. Two pounds six ounces of garden fresh, organically produced broccoli! Yum!
Here are two pictures of the broccoli plants that had the heads harvested last week. They're not wasting any time in producing more for our table.
I've already decided that next year I'm going to plant more rows of broccoli and a few less rows of collards. I have come to appreciate the versatility of the broccoli in that you can either eat it either raw with a dip, in a salad, steamed, used as part of other recipes, or even simply as a snack by itself. The collards may be used either as wraps, or cooked for a couple of hours with some seasoning meat the traditional way. Broccoli requires far less work after the harvest when compared to collards. I still like collards very much, so I'll always have them in my garden.
Here is a picture of the six 20 foot long rows of broccoli growing in my east plot. The plants look very healthy.
Here are two additional 28 foot long rows of broccoli in my west plot. These plants are three to four weeks younger than those in the east plot. I anticipate being able to harvest broccoli from these in about three more weeks.
A couple of days ago I pulled a dry line down my marconi pepper row and cut off the tops of the bushes at an even height. Next will be some light weeding and shallow cultivating, then the thick layer of compost will be applied to the entire row to hopefully protect the roots from the cold. Due to the forked trunks, I may have to forego my pipe insulation idea and just wrap the trunks with burlap cloth and tie it in place. If this idea works, I should have a very abundant crop of peppers next year. If this idea doesn't work, at least I will have learned something new.
This year I was able to harvest 455 giant marconi peppers that weighed a total of 41.3 pounds. Our freezer is full of peppers. Now it's time for some cooking!
That's all for the harvest report for this week from my back yard organic garden.
Be sure to visit DaphnesDandelions for more gardening experiences.
I hope you found the information I have shared with you interesting as well as inspirational towards your own vegetable gardening efforts.
Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK
I'm with you on the broccoli versus collards trade-off. I think that broccoli is one of the best vegetables you can grow, and you have certainly produced some fine specimens.
ReplyDeleteI never seem to be able to grow enough broccoli. We can't even get ours in for another 2 months and it always seems there's not enough room. I agree with you broccoli is a great vegetable, I never seem to get tired of it, even though we some times eat it more that twice a week. It just goes well with everything.
ReplyDeleteYes, your broccoli certainly look very nice. Love the side shoots. That's a lot of marconi peppers, what do you do them?
ReplyDeleteI wish mine had produced such nice heads but mine were so small. Have to work on that next year. I am getting side shoots but they are, of course, very small.
ReplyDeleteAnother broccoli fan here too. Your harvest of broccoli this week is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMark Willis, The broccoli vs. collards analysis is a result of my continuing the application of the Value for Space Rating (VSR). Applying the VSR will be a perpetual task as I continue to identify the best producing vegetables for my garden. Thanks. The broccoli is nice!
ReplyDeleteStoney Acres, I sure want to grow more than this next fall. It's a good producer for me.
Norma Chang, Thanks! We use the marconi peppers in spaghetti sauce, on pizza, in meat loaf, or just fried up with some sweet onions as a side dish or topping for hot dogs or similar food.
becky3086, Maybe just give them some more time. I planted mine on October 24th, so they've been in the ground a good while. I try to not let the soil dry out too much because I think the broccoli requires good occasional moisture to head up well.
kitsapFG, Thanks!
I thank each of you for visiting and sharing your comment with me. I always look forward to hearing from folks that read about my gardening adventures.
Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK
Veggie, are you overwintering your marconi peppers in the garden? What's your minimum temp? This is amazing! Say more! - Sybil
ReplyDeleteWow! 41 pounds of peppers!!! I got one pepper last year and something else got to eat it. lol!!! I'm jealous! I know more this year, so hopefully I have more of them this next harvest. Your broccoli looks great!
ReplyDeleteLynn
Sybil Mays, I'm giving it a try! I'm just here in Portsmouth and we generally have mild winters with no single digit temps. Apparently Portsmouth gets the warmer air that comes down the Chesapeake Bay. We're usually as much as 5 degrees warmer than Norfolk, and much warmer than Suffolk. Strange, but I'll take it.
ReplyDeleteThe soil doesn't freeze, so this is worth a try. The trunks are between 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter and very woody. I figure that if the leafy collards and the broccoli can make it through the cold winter, maybe the woody peppers can too. They have a 50/50 chance, so I'm going to try it and see if it will be successful.
Lynn's Urban Garden Diary, I usually have terrible luck with bell peppers! I tried this type a few years ago and it hasn't let me down yet. The walls of the pepper are a bit thinner than the traditional bell pepper, but the sheer quantity produced far outweighs that feature. I think it's an incredible producing pepper, and it's delicious too!
Thanks to both of you for stopping by and visiting my blog. Stay warm and I hope spring is right around the corner.
(I don't know what blogger has done, but I have a terrible time even getting into my blog to reply to comments shared by my blogging friends. I have to log in four times, log back out, then log in again and it lets me reply in the box below the comments. The "Reply" under each comment does not work.)
Have a great vegetable gardening day!
Veggie PAK