Wow, that was a great rain.
It came at just the right time to keep everything alive. I have to admit, it was touch and go there for the garden last week. We over-taxed our well on Thursday and ran out of water for a bit. That was really not super fun.
Now we’ve had a rain rescue and the veggies are looking much happier. It’s like they have a new vitality and vigour. It’s so encouraging to see.
This week, the produce share is probably going to be a bit smaller as we transition from spring plantings into summer.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Are you drowning under a sea of lettuce, kale and mustard greens?
Let me tell you what is in this week’s veggie box…probably. Things are a little fluid right now.
Garlic Scapes – We should have scapes for several weeks. The good news is they keep very well in the fridge if you haven’t gotten around to using last week’s yet.
Green onions & spring onions – Our weekly standard. There are a number of onions growing where I need to transplant some fall collard greens. So we’ll have a nice bunch of differing sizes of fresh onions. Here are 10 Green Onion Recipes to get you going.
Lettuce – Red or green. We are at the end of our spring sowing of lettuce so this may be our last lettuce for a couple weeks. I put more little lettuce plants in the ground just before the rain.
Salad turnips – more crunchy goodness. Salad turnips keep very well in the fridge but it’s good to remove the greens and store them separately.
Beets (and greens) – store just like the turnips; separate the roots from the leaves and the roots store very well. Cook the leaves within 4-5 days. Did you know beets and Swiss chard are from the same family? Beets are grown for their roots and Swiss chard for its leaves. So anywhere you would use Swiss chard, you can use beet greens.
Fennel (small bulb)- Fennel is another plant that prefers cooler weather so, these little guys need to be harvested now. Fennel is tasty thinly shaved into a salad, or slowly sautéed in olive oil with onion. You can use the stalks and fronds to season stews and roasts and other good stuff. You will want to use the fennel within 3-ish days for best flavour. I’ll be starting some fennel for the fall shortly and those bulbs should be bigger.
Snow peas – just a handful, but if we keep picking, the plant will keep producing. I’m hoping the rain will really boost the pea plants, they are quite short this year.