Monday, January 2, 2012

Harvest Monday - January 2, 2012

Happy New Year everyone! Another year to keep track of. I haven't started a new spreadsheet for 2012 yet, but I will. For now I'll record it all here.

The spinach was looking rather good after the warm weather we had. We are going into some bitter cold weather soon so I figured I'd better pick it. I didn't pick it all. I want it to survive the winter for spring spinach. But it was nice to take a leaf or two from all the plants.

And while I was out I noticed the cilantro. I have three beds like this that have cilantro just popping up all over. I love self seeded beds. Not that I need three beds of cilantro, but I'm calling it a cover crop.

If you notice in the harvest basket I also have some rosemary. I didn't dry nearly enough during the year. I'm just hoping the plants survive which is an iffy proposition in our zone 6 climate. I wanted to wait to trim it until it was very cold because I didn't want the plant to think it should start growing again.

  • Spinach 5.9 oz
  • Rosemary 3.7 oz
  • Cilantro 0.6 oz

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

26 comments:

  1. Your spinach looks great! Most of mine is really small...but, I am hoping for a nice spring crop!

    Rosemary never overwinters here. If it makes it until spring, it always dies off.

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  2. I can think of worse cover crops than cilantro! I have a ground cover of fennel all over the herb bed where I let two fennel plants go to seed. I harvested a lot of seed, but obviously I didn't get all of it in time.

    My Arp rosemary usually survives here in a protected corner near the house, but the Tuscan Blue usually doesn't. Too bad, because I don't think the Arp is as flavorful.

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  3. I would call it a cover crop too. It certainly looks like it's getting the job done. We don't have spinach yet. I should think about getting it started inside for spring. It looks like you're off to a great start. Happy gardening in 2012.

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  4. My spinach and lettuce were small too , but there was quite a bit of it. I am hoping to keep it going until spring too! I have not done herbs yet, but would love to.

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  5. That's some hardy cilantro. I didn't know that they could take temperatures this low. The leaves on my spring transplanted cilantro tend to brown if I set them out too early.

    I envy your spinach! The field mice did away with mine months ago.

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  6. Funny enough, our cilantro went to seed, and now I have little plants everywhere. They are doing great. On the other hand, my spinach is terrible. I always think I am going to get a good spinach crop, and it usually fails. Grrr.

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  7. I love cilantro, I didn't know until last year that the roots are also edible! And the little flowers are good too. My spinach has not done so well; apparently I forgot to add any blood meal to the bed and everything in there has been showing the effects. Yours looks so very healthy and lively!

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  8. My cilantro grows like weeds, good for the salsa! Looks like the year has statred off well.

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  9. The spinach looks great! When did you plant it and will you cover it?

    I have always wondered how do you determine the dollar value of your harvests?

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  10. Hi Daphne, You may have explained this before, but why do you have wire cages over 3/4 of your spinach bed and no cage at one end?

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  11. Yay for spinach! Ours is almost ready to start harvesting bit and pieces...maybe next week! Congrats on your herbs! I'm completely jealous of your rosemary!

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  12. That bed of spinach looks fabulous! The self seeded cilantro looks almost as good. I like how you are using the tomato cages set on their side for (I am assuming) a nice support for a quick drape of some row cover material? Or is there another reason you are using them?

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  13. wow fresh spinach and herbs in January. I am jealous!

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  14. I picked bit of spinach over the holiday - I was amazed at how the texture changes when grown in the cold - much crisper, greener, but still tender and sweet. I could use some of that cilantro in guacamole!

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  15. Happy New Year!!! :) It looks like your gardens (and harvest) are off to an awesome start this year.

    Lynn

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  16. Happy New Year, Daphne.
    I wish I could grow spinach like yours. Despite my best efforts, mine always bolts, even when I treat it with text-book-style correctness. Maybe I should just leave some to self-seed and please itself, like your Cilantro.

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  17. That's a lot of volunteer cilantro! I've always wondered how cilantro ended up as an ingredient in salsa.. I can never get tomatoes and cilantro to grow at the same time.

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  18. That cilantro looks great - there are so many salads I would love to be putting it in at the moment but mine just bolts as soon as I plant it.

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  19. Happy New Year! I surprised myself and had something to share for a harvest.

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  20. Yummy and surprising, all that spinach and cilantro at this time of year in New England. I'm with Julie,though. Why can't tomatoes and cilantro ripen at the same time? As for my garden, I managed to wring one last 3+ lb harvest out of 2011, and as of Jan. 1, Miss Hillary began laying again. wishing a good gardening year to everyone.

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  21. Dave, I have Tuscan Blue and Hill Hardy by the foundation. I have Arp in my circle bed. I'm hoping they all survive, but I'm guessing if some do it will the be the Hill Hardy since it is close to the foundation and one of the hardier ones like Arp is.

    Thomas, it probably browns because they are only this hardy when they get slowly acclimatized. These ones grew here with nights below freezing. I don't think they will survive Tuesday night in the single digits, but I can always hope.

    Vanessa, nope I didn't cover my spinach last year and it over wintered very well. So I'm not going to this year either.

    Norma, I have them over it because when they were small it kept the cats out. I could probably remove it but I figured better just to leave them.

    Laura, nope just to keep the cats away when the spinach was younger.

    Mark, at my last garden I could never grow it except if I kept it under row covers. I don't know what kept it from growing well, but I always had problems there.

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  22. I love it when cilantro volunteers all over the place like that, it seems to grow better than the plants that I intentionally sow. My cilantro crop is almost nil this year though, the rats seem to like it. They got the bulk of my chervil as well. :(

    Happy New Year!

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  23. That is a nice harvest for this time of year. We have snow and frozen soils now so my harvests are coming out of the cellar. Next year, the polytunnel will be set up again. Love cilantro.

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  24. Best wishes for a Great New Year and a full harvest basket! Rosemary preforms wonderfully in my Garden, weathers the cold(-5C) and survives our very hot summers 42C (yesterday)and provides much needed shelter for our little wrens.

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  25. Amazing to see so much growing in your garden in January. My attempt at overwintering spinach this year may be a bust. I covered it with straw, but the deer are very hungry this year and have eaten it. I hope your rosemary survives.

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  26. Your spinach is lovely. I peeked at my spinach the other day. I might be able to harvest some, as it has grown more than I expected it to since I really only planted it to overwinter. We've had such a mild stretch of weather that it seems to have continued growing albeit slowly.

    Your cilantro is making me drool. I think I will throw a handful of coriander seeds down in the hoophouse and see what happens, maybe I'll have cilantro early this spring!

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