Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Winter harvest has begun!

Red acre cabbage says, "Happy New Year!"
Gold mark cabbage head
The holidays have come and gone but the victory garden is still here. December brought lots of cold rain which helped many plants grown to maturity. I harvested all of the red acre and gold mark cabbage except one. My mom cannot wait to stirfry the cabbage and make soup with the large orbs.

Dinosaur kale
Russian kale
The dinosaur and Russian kale are looking good. They will continue to grow as fast as we can cut and eat the long spiky green leaves.

Minowase radish
The mustard greens are loving the cold weather. The leaves are large and vibrant with red and green veins. The minowase radish are growing faster than I expected. Over half of the crop will be picked within the week and used in soups and salads.

Mustard greens
I am really excited to see brussel sprouts growing in the garden this year. The sprouts need more time to grow. I expect they will be ready sometime in late January or early February.

brussel sprouts
Pok choi is looking good!
The broccoli is slowly peaking out from behind the large green leaves. I am not a fan of the broccoli arcadia variety so I decided to try out a new variety. I think the broccoli romanesco variety adds an intriguing visual appeal to the garden and any dish. I just hope the taste is different when compared to broccoli arcadia.
Broccoli romanesco
Rest in compost: We had our first frost on December 21st. The frost killed off the bitter melon, eggplants, and pepper plants. I have pull up the plants and will chop and place them in the compost within the week.