October 15, 2018

Harvest Monday, 10/15/18

The kale plants seeded in March are still with us. Nero di Toscana kale is pictured here along with thinnings of various pak chois.

White moth caterpillars have been a menace this year. I've had to spray with Bt, an organic method of control, multiple times throughout the season. October's temperatures have finally dropped, so hopefully the moths won't be around much longer.
I had already started destemming the Galega de Folhas Lisas kale and trimming the Tall Top Early Wonder beets before I thought to take some pictures. The leaves on this kale are ginormous and the tallest plant is five feet tall. This variety of beet is extremely slow growing, it was planted in June and these are the biggest specimens. It's probably a combination of flea beetles and our hot weather that stunted them.

Both varieties of kale are growing in the shadiest bed. I find them extremely tender, although we don't eat kale raw. They mainly go in soups or just simply sautéed with eggs.

The plan is to harvest sweet potatoes next week if the soil dries out enough. And the Siam Queen basil has been hanging on, we've been eating tons of it in pho. So good, especially with added shrimp which isn't authentic, but delicious nonetheless.

Please join us for Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.