FALL/WTR GARDEN HARVESTS 2011. POST YOUR PICTURES HERE!!!

I'm getting large heads, now, Drthor, but, remember, you're almost a whole month ahead of my planting schedule. This is an Arcadia Broccoli. The leaves are very dense, and a beautiful shade of blue-green.

This head is about 5.5" across.

My Brussels Sprouts are heading, too!

The cabbages are doing their thing, too!

Finally got my late transplants in: Cauliflowers and Late Dutch Flat cabbages.

This message was edited Dec 18, 2011 8:51 PM

drthor, will you eat all those greens fresh? That's a lot to harvest every other day! Or do you cook and then freeze? Just curious. I have a lot of chard coming in these days, and a bit of kale and mustard greens.

Gymgirl, your stuff looks great! Love your cabbage and broccoli. You might be behind drthor's schedule but you are ahead of mine, lol. My broccoli is the size of a pea. Long wait! My cauls are finally making heads -- the size of shooter marbles right now. Unbelievably cute! But they are not going to be ready for Christmas either. I think I'm working on Easter. LOL

I normally eat all the lettuce and tender kales in salads. I dress using Olive oil, key lime, salt and pepper.
I steam the Swiss Chard for 6 minutes and dress as before.
If I do soup I normally add Swiss Chard or Kale.
I harvested all my large broccoli heads (about 10" ) inOctober remember?
Now just side shoots ... but I have also some smaller Broccoli that I hope will start to make heads in a month or so.


if you go on the thread title: Starting FALL GARDEN zone 8(the first one) you can see when I did start all my seeds ... a while ago
Zone 9 is very diffeerent than zone 8. I did live in Zone 9 that why I can tell you this.

Anyway ... you know my secret ; I follow the planting dates of Maria Thun calendar ... really ... it works like magic ...

Drthor,
What are the main differences you've experienced between Zones 9 and 8?

Thanks, drthor, I do the soup with kale and chard but haven't tried it by itself steamed. Thanks for the dressing advice.

I was thinking about freezing chard too, so if anyone has a tried and true method for that, I'd be interested.

Gymgilr here some information on zone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone

LiseP,
I also freeze chard and all my greens. I have so many.
I normally steam or boil them as you like. When cold I squeeze the water our and I make balls. I freeze them in this way.
When I need them, I just take our 2-3 balls and either put them in the defrost program of the microwave or straight in a pot with onion and celery.

LUV Swiss Chard

LiseP,
Here's my method:

I put a huge, gumbo or soup pot of water on to boil. Then, I go outside on the grass, and process the greens. First I plunge the leaves down into a salt water bath (an 18-gallon Rubbermaid tub filled 2/3 with cool water with about 6 boxes of salt, or enough salt to make a fresh egg bob up and down), and swish them around for about 3 minutes. Careful with tender greens (like mustards). Don't leave them in the salt solution too long, because they will literally begin to "cook" or break apart! This cleaning method was recommended to me by Horseshoe, and will almost immediately kill any and ALL buggies clinging to the leaves, quick, fast, and, in a hurry! Then, I rinse the big leaves with a blast from the hose and bring them inside.

Once inside, I remove the stems from the greens, then roll the leaves into cigars and rough chop into rather long strips. The water should be boiling by now, and I fill the pot, mashing the leaves down toward the bottom. By the time I get enough in, it's time to pull them all out! Have a sink full of ice water at the ready, and, as you lift the greens from the boiling pot, plunge them into the ice bath. The blanching just seals the freshness and that brilliant green color, and the ice bath shocks them and stops them from cooking.

Then, I portion them into Ziplok freezer bags, label them, and into the freezer they go. Viola! I've got a package of turnip bottoms in the freezer. Might just pull them out tonight....

Linda

Thank you drthor, for the added directions, and thanks so much Linda, for detailing your method so well. Wonderful help, guys!

I forgot to post an update on the STRAWBERRIES!

OOPS!

CABBAGE UPDATE:
Saturday 12/17/11, I completely dismantled the bucket garden to sweep up the fallen leaves from the site, clean out buckets, fertilize and water. This Monday night and Tuesday morning we had a glorious rainstorm (ALL Texans will be celebrating every rainstorm we get from now until next summer, trust me...).

When I checked on the garden last evening, I found TWO of my "conehead" cabbages had split! So, I had to cut them immediately, and brought them to a neighbor who will treat them with extraordinary dignity!

Too much water, too quickly....

Linda

Ray_Der_Phan
this is the first year that I am really growing good CAULIFLOWERS ... maybe because it is still so warm here ... I mean not so cold ...
When do you know when a cauliflower is ready?
I am wathcing it everyday. Can you tell by the little flowerets?

Drthor,
What kind of cauliflower is that? Did you tie up the leaves around your cauliflowers to help keep them from turning a putrid green color, or is that a self-blanching variety?

Linda

It is Snowball Cauliflower, self blanching variety.
http://rareseeds.com/vegetablesa-c/cauliflower/snowball-self-blanching-cauliflower.html

Thanks
Right now it is 59 with a spectacular sunny day


This message was edited Dec 22, 2011 2:45 PM

The head looks like it's gonna fill out well. Looks healthy....should be good to go in a few days.

Temps are like hear. 60, and not a cloud in the sky. We're supposed to warm up into the 70s over Xmas, which is always nice.

We're at about 70 degrees outside, with a bit of sun. I have two broccoli heads that are about 6.5" across, and look like they're gonna keep going!

Just pick before they get to looking "ricey" (granular, like rice). Right?

Right!

Just checked the broccoli, and two of them are about 9"-10" across!

No "ricey" grainy look to the heads.

Linda

Thanks, Rich.

I've observed that sections of a broccoli head starting to turn the palest shade of yellow signals a bloom may be about to happen....

This is a picture of a over rippen broccoli head

Here I am comparing the two broccoli stages:
good on the left and too late on the right
By the way, this did happen while I was gone for two weeks ...

This is an Arcadia broccoli 7 days ago. Last night, I couldn't cover the head with my hand. I like this variety because:
►The plant itself is beautiful, and thick with very lush blue-green leaves
►The broccoli head is "tight" even though it is now almost 10" across in both directions
►The broccoli is very sweet and tender. Even the thick stalk is tender!

I always let a few heads flower because the bees absolutely love them. Don't see many bees in the winter, that is until the broccoli starts flowering. Always nice to see. Might let a few more flower since I have more than enough Broccoli. Shoot, I'm making up ideas how to use them now :)

Gymgirl, Arcadia is one I usually grow as well, and a favorite. You should also try Green Goliath. Both are similar, fairly early and get quite large.

Thanks, Ray! Will do on the Goliath. In addition, I'm growing Georges Best and Calabrese broccoli. They're smaller, slower, and the heads are not as tight. Still waiting on those.

My last harvest of 2011.
Cauliflower SNOW CROWN ... yummy ...

Drthor,
When did you plant out your cauliflower seedlings?

I started my Cauliflower seeds on August 7th
You can view all my FALL planting dates here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1206730/

I have at least 10 more heads soon to harvest .... but only from SNOW CROW cauliflower ... the other are not ready yet.
Definetly that is what I will plant next year.

My harvest today. This will be my lunch ... delishhh
Cauliflowers and Broccoli shoots

I keep harvesting cauliflowers and broccoli shoots ... yummy ...

Look at the size of this Snow Crown Cauliflower

Nice Cauliflower, Drthor!

I just checked, and I have a couple of Snowball cauliflower heads forming on some very, very late transplants!

Linda

My harvest today: a basket full of Kale Lacinato Toscano

Cauliflowers and lots of Broccoli side shoots

Drthor,
Are those cauliflower shoots? If not, the main heads look a bit small. What variety is that?

Thanks!

Linda