Vegetable Harvest Times

[journey11]

Came across this article in one of the blogs I subscribe to. Thought it handy right about now!

Vegetable Harvest Times


I have been watching and waiting for my cauliflower to be ready. I've had several that survived the black rot (thankful for the dry weather we had last week that stopped it in it's tracks). They are rather large heads now, but have a fuzzy/hairy immature appearance. I went ahead and tied them up to blanch them. Surely I won't have to wait much longer!

:tools

 

[lesa]

Wow, journey after seeing you cauliflower photos I never would have believed you would harvest any!! Good for you!

 

[digitS']

I can't think of anything is more important for enjoying the bounty of our vegetable gardens than to pick them when they are ready!

I hate, hate, HATE this thinking of, "Oh, I've gotta get 'em before they go round the bend!!" Usually, before this moment of panic -- they have ALREADY gone round the bend!

Let 'em go! Eating junk from the garden won't make you healthy, wealthy or wise.

I sample. Even if it is something commonly cooked like green beans, I'll eat one raw. I'll eat sweet corn raw. Broccoli, beet greens, you name it! And, it isn't because I especially like raw vegetables. That isn't really true at all. But, I can get an idea of where the crop is and if I want to bring some of it into the kitchen.

. . . just my 2.

Steve

 

[journey11]

Wow, journey after seeing you cauliflower photos I never would have believed you would harvest any!! Good for you!

Me either! After reading about black rot--it sounded so insidious! I did lose about 1/3 of them. :/

I love sweet corn raw. You're exactly right, Steve, it helps to use all of your senses when you can--especially taste!

I'll tell you what though, watermelon has got to be the most difficult to judge. I know a few tricks to it....thump 'em, check the underside for a pale yellow patch, look for the first tendril closest to the melon to be dry... I still every so often get a little too eager to eat one and pick it too soon. My FIL told me this trick--take a soda straw and lay it perpendicular to the stripes and if it swings around and lines up with the stripes, then it's ripe. It does swing around, oddly enough. Works better if your melon isn't lying on a slope though!

Anybody else heard of that or is it just an old wives tale?

 

[digitS']

Well, if it is from your FIL, isn't it an "old dad's tale?"

Even with my terrible hearing, I'm still a watermelon thumper . . . But, that's mostly at the supermarket. My few Sugar Babies each year hardly makes me a watermelon gardener.

It is really too bad that DW isn't interested in yellow watermelon. They seem to be so much earlier than the reds!

S'