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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Of Cabbages and Kings--Make that Beans

More pics from the garden:

The cabbages--Savoy and Stonehead--are ready to cut. I do not remember ever having cabbage ready this soon, a testament to growing your own plants. We started our seeds in the greenhouse at the beginning of March.


The Savoy cabbages are on the left, just above the red Romaine lettuce. Savoy is a good, sweet cabbage with firm heads; it's a a good keeper. The Stonehead cabbages are supposed to hold for a good while in the garden, but these are already showing signs of cracking, probably because of all the rain we've have. So we'll harvest them all now and not take a chance on them rotting. You can also see the onion tops laid down to dry; lettuce and radishes have been planted in the row between the cabbages and onions, where the peas were pulled out. On the far left are half-runner beans, Larry's favorite, planted in April and getting ready to set beans now that the vines are in bloom.

Some of the Stonehead cabbages will be turned into kraut (I hope) on Sunday. A head or two will be kept in the fridge for use in the coming week or two. The rest will be frozen for winter and to use when I make vegetable soup. I will post photos of the kraut making if we actually do it. It's going to be a busy weekend with storytelling, and my birthday is Sunday, but we'll see what happens.

In the lower "big" garden, the early Sunglow corn is beginning to tassle--we might actually have corn by July 4th this year. We took a chance and planted this seed in mid-April, far ahead of the last frost date. Our gamble paid off this year. Potatoes are on the left, beans on the right.

The beans are already setting on and will need to be picked next week, I think. These are Royal Burgundy purple-podded beans. They turn green when cooked and have a flavor very like Blue Lake or half-runners. We should have plenty to can this year! The electric fence has done its job so far at keeping critters out.


The Silver Queen is at the right of the beans, and we planted pole beans in with it this year. Both the corn and the beans are doing well. The beans are beginning to climb the cornstalks so I hope the corn grows fast!

One last pic that has nothing to do with beans, cabbage or corn. This one shows the grapevines near the big garden. What you can't see in this photo is how full the vines are. Pears, apples and peaches will be scarce because of untimely frosts, but goodness will we have grapes!


11 comments:

  1. i love savoy~i like to shred it fine and add to shallots and potato for a sort of 'bubble and squeek'~lovely

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  2. mmmmm...that sounds delicious. I don't have shallots but I do have green onions, and leeks.

    Savoy is my favorite cabbage, but I can't get plants or seeds locally. So I have to order seeds and grow my own plants. But its flavor is well worth the trouble.
    I gave plants to a neighbor once and she used the cabbage to make her sauerkraut. She said it was the best she'd ever made.

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  3. Excellent! We've been eating broccoli but our cabbage isn't quite that awesome yet. We too started seeds early, though not as early as you did...it makes a difference though!

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  4. Our broccoli isn't doing well at all, Warren. I planted it in a different place and it has struggled. I'm going to try to ifnd some new plants and put them in now. It'll be late, but that's okay. Our plants will bear something but not as much as I'd like to have.

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  5. I have never grown cabbage but would love to try next year. Everything looks just great!!

    When you freeze your cabbage, do you just blanch it or just chop it up and throw it in? I love the idea of freezing it. Would it work good sautee or thrown in the crock pot with a beef roast that way (my favorite way to make a roast is with cabbage!).

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  6. Did you say you are gonna make kraut this weekend? MMMMM, I love me some kraut. The best part is the kraut apples in the bottom of the crock. Now I am officially wishing I had your garden!

    Matthew

    ps...half-runner make great leather britches. I got a quart of them left from last year, today seems like a good day to make them a memory.

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  7. You've got a wonderful garden this year. You're going to have a bountiful harvest for many weeks to come. You and Larry have done a great job.

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  8. Your garden is looking great! I've noticed the grapes here-have a bigger crop than usual too. Must be the year for grapes.

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  9. Your garden is looking great! I've noticed the grapes here-have a bigger crop than usual too. Must be the year for grapes.

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  10. Those cabbages look fantastic, as does the rest of the garden. My tummy is growling.

    My mother is a vegetable garden enthusiast, she grows a lot of Indian vegetable varieties, many types of egglant, squash and such. She likes to experiment. I'll have to show her your photos and let her work herself into a frenzy.

    I know she'll insist on cabbage next year.

    Jai

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  11. Your gardens look fantastic!

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