1st Harvest - Bok Choy, Cabbage, Chard = sautéed greens
A First Harvest of Bok Choy and Chinese Cabbage was caused by the unexpected bloom of the Bok Choy. At least, I believe that it is Bok Choy. Perhaps it is one of the smaller versions of Oriental Greens which one might expect to reach maturity so early in the season.
Soon to be sauteed greens, (with millet, garlic and tofu). Yum.
Also in the basket are parsley, oregano, onion leaves, chinese cabbage and chard. All these plants are waiting to get into the garden. These lucky volunteers are going straight into the kitchen.
In the greenhouse, the bok choy (AKA ?) was living in good soil in a two and half inch pot, along with its fellows, awaiting a seemingly good time to enter the outside garden. I thought they'd wait until after the freeze and at a time when I'd have the energy and tools to put up row covers as the first fabric bug screen of my life in the buggy Ozarks.
Here's a good reason (from last year) why I know that protection is necessary:
June 10. 2008 in the upper garden. Catepillars also are rampant, but invisible in this photo.
Do you have an idea what that Oriental Green might be? I have been unfair to those developing plants. Couldn't find a single closeup photo to show, whereas the lettuce has many. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
What to Expect?
What to Expect in this Journal?
Are you one of those folks who reads the directions on the seed pack when its time to plant?
Or have you learned to read it months in advance, to be able to plan for when IS 4 weeks before the last frost?
Its a good thing that I don’t live up North anymore. Some places you can’t find a date that isn’t a few weeks before a frost. But I’m so grateful for the long hot muggy buggy growing season down here in the hills.
I’m not sure what to expect either. The title of this is not right yet, the format is not right yet. Heck, I’m not all right yet - but why wait around any longer?
Let’s get cracking!
I make a lot of errors in my rambunctious way of tending the growth of the garden. I read the books and ask for guidance from the Garden Club, seed providers and neighbors, and then of course, do what intuitively feels right.
Sometimes I ask the plants, when they are big enough to know what’s really best for them. Sometimes I follow directions.
Often, I realize after a while that I didn’t pay enough attention, or that my reasoning skipped a few steps and I am left to figure out how to fix the problem I created by being a bit too “free spirited” or just thoughtless.
More on that later, I don’t feel like confessing right now. Time to post and learn how to let comments come on board!
A grasshopper shelters under a bean leaf on a rainy day in mid-August ’08.
