The Organic Harvest...hhhmmm.

    

     When I read about about organic gardening in books and magazines, images of healthy hippies gathering veggies from the backyards of their homestead farms for a communal feast of food, wine and song pop into my head. I yearn to be one of them free, growing my own food, raising chickens and frolicking with my rambunctious cows. But alas I live in the city, in a most unhomesteady house without a hippie around for miles, unless you count the urban hipsters but they are a whole different breed.

Look how happy those hippies are!

An urban hipster...just not the same attitude.

   

        I kept the hippie dream in my heart when I started my own garden this year. Therefore upon the first sign of harvest I ran out to my backyard with kitchen shears in my hand. I proudly took photos of what I had grown and paraded the food into my kitchen. As I began to prepare my feast, I started by excited washing my greens when I noticed something in the bowl crawling around and there it was.... an earwig. I tried not to freak out but I was totally freaked out. I quickly washed it down the drain and put it out of my mind. But how in the frig could I get it out of my mind when I proceeded to find 2 more earwigs and several bugs I couldn't even name! At that moment my hippie dream faded just a little,I began to understand that organic gardening came with its own baggage...that being critters. I did enjoy my veggie feast that night but I ate a little more slowly and carefully than I normally would. Just in case.....

My excitedly taken photos of kale, romaine, basil and green onions.  Pre-earwig of course.

The beans were very safe. I love the purple ones. They are green when you bite into them.

Look at them beans.

Broccoli Rabe As The Garden Grows

         The garden season is well underway and I am learning so much. Everyday is a new beautiful discovery and I can't wait to get out to the garden in the mornings with a mug of coffee to see what's new that day. Surprisingly a garden can change so much in one day! Which is why....lesson one...you should use garden signs! Apparently those little markers that gardeners use are not just to make the garden look cute. I did not use these when I transplanted my seedlings. I thought with my super genius powers I would just remember what I planted and where.......ummm no.

Surprisingly Important!

Using my Super Genius Powers of Remembering.

                                                                                                                                                                              

After a couple of weeks I had no idea what was a weed, herb or vegetable. I then proceeded to have to taste every seedling or supposed seedling, glad I didn't get poisoned,  and by process of elimination, identify each plant. I managed to figure it out after a lot of bitter tastings (I discovered martinis help this process a lot) The only plant which really stumped me was the broccoli rabe. I had never seen it before let alone tasted it! I am still not sure how to pronounce it either? Of course I always speak it with a thick Italian accent and therefore no one questions me about my pronunciation.

      Turns out broccoli rabe is delicious! I didn't know when to harvest it or how to cook it but after a little research I discovered some important tips. The first is, you must harvest the small heads before they flower. If it flowers it becomes very bitter and unpalatable. So timing is crucial to the harvest.

Look closely can you see the small heads? Now is the time to pick.

Don't eat it now! Just cut off the flowers and new baby edible heads will come up.

I cooked them in a little butter and yum!  It also grows like a weed and produces daily so it has a very good garden return.

     I think when you have a small urban garden like mine, maximizing returns from you garden is crucial.  This means planting things that will give you a big harvest in a small space for a good chunk of the summer. I think it will vary from garden to garden so it is best done by trial and error. In my garden, the radishes, kale, romaine, butter crunch, sweet peas and beans are all super performers.

Look at all the sweet peas.

Try not to stare at my massive kale bush!

 While the swiss chard, beets and herbs have either not grown or barely grown.

Tiny beet plant.

                                       
 Not maximum returners. That's Okay though. I have learned to not plant these next summer and to stick with what grows well in my small space.