Friday, April 24, 2009

First harvest, planting & greens post

Today I harvested the rhubarb that I forced. This is done by placing a container over the crown to exclude light and speed up growth. The end result is smaller leaves that are about a 1/4 of their normal size and longer more tender stems. I really like the results of forcing rhubarb so I will continue doing this each spring. Here is a photo of the process:

This is my first harvest of the season. This should have been the debut of my new harvest widget but my html editor crashed thanks to a great program called windows vista so it is now lost. I will have to start over so it will be coming soon. My first harvest weighted in at 1lb 11oz.

The weather today was great so I headed out late afternoon to do some planting. Here are some photos of what I put in the ground:

The Bok Choy. I planted these two to a cell in March and
today broke them up and planted 8 in a 4 foot row.

These are the Red Fingerling potatoes, the seed came from last years crop.
I planted 6 seed in the bottom of a large 22" container. As they grow I will
fill the container thus replicating hilling. Later on I will extend the rock edging
to encapsulate the potato pot as well as making more room for addition plants.

I will end with some photos of all the greens I currently have growing in the veggie patch:

In the front we have 'Vesey's Baby Leaf Blend' and behind is 'Tortoiseshell' Spinach.
The lettuce is settling in well and I hope with the warm weather coming it will take off.
The spinach is just starting to form true leaves.

In front is the Bok Choy I just planted out today and behind is
the Romaine Lettuce I plant out April 10th. The romaine is really
doing well and I will start thining every other one for salads soon.

The 'Tauro' Radicchio planted with onion sets.

The oak barrel greenhouse lettuce. I planted another 1/4 almost
two weeks ago but it had very poor germination. Today I reseed
the whole barrel because time is ticking. The lettuce needs to be
harvested by May 24th to make way for three Jersey Devil Tomatoes.

12 comments:

  1. Rhubarb, yum. What are you going to make with it? I haven't had any since I moved out of my parents home ages ago. My mom used to make the most wonderful rhubarb strawberry pies.

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  2. I am either going to make a rhubarb galette or a rhubarb upside-down cake. Maybe both :-)

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  3. You said the potatoes were from last years crop..........how'd you store them?

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  4. I've never eaten rhubard, just drank some of my grandmother's rhubarb wine, but Windows Vista. Don't you just love it?

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  5. The rhubarb looks tender and tasty! I may do that next year as well. Too late for this seasons crop - it is up and going and the leaves are huge (as usual!).

    The greens look great. I am going to be rushing my lettuce out of the half barrel in a few weeks too - because the pepper plants will be needing to go in there soon. I work my greenhouse containers (especially the half barrels) pretty darn hard. They are a great resource though.

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  6. I've heard had Rhubarb before. My sister told me a while back that she has a recipe for pie that she loves. Maybe I need to give it a try :-)

    Wow, I can tell it's spring in your garden! Everything is coming up and looking great!

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  7. You have been busy this week... Great photos.... The rhubarb looks good.....

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  8. Great post!I have never heard of forcing rhubarb. I will be trying to do that.

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  9. Ahh the rhubarb is so lovely and sweet this time of year, enjoy it!

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  10. OMG, you planted bok choy? I love bok choy!!

    Have you made rhubarb pie before?? YUM!!

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  11. Dennis - I harvested these spud late last fall and then total forgot about them in the basement. So they sat on the cool floor in a basket until I found them a few weeks ago. In Florida you best place to store them would be in a fridge I imagine.

    Cheryl - Rhubard is very good in deserts but it needs lots of sugar.

    KitsapFG - You should give it a try next season. The end result is very nice.

    Judy - You should try some, Very tasty stuff when it is sweetend.

    Hendria - Thanks

    Rosemary - This was my first time trying it, it worked really well.

    Matron - I sure will.

    LeighAnn - I love bok choy too, first time growing it. I have made a few rhubarb pies. I will post about the one I made this year on Thursday.

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  12. We planted some rhubarb last year but then had lots of rain and the plants drowned. Trying again this year and will have to remember to force it in the spring. Great tip!

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