Big Harvest

Today, I was cleaning out my shared alley bed and came across a few carrots from last year. They were all still tiny, despite having been in the ground for almost a year. I'm going to have to investigate what kind of soil carrots like. The soil is loose and rich, so I get big tops and small carrots. Maybe the soil has too much nitrogen. Does anyone out there know how I can amend the soil to get bigger carrots?

Wordless Wednesday: My First Big Harvest of the Year

Harvest Monday

I finally got to harvest something that I planted this year. My volunteer lettuces were ready to cut today.

I filled a colander with an assortment of lettuces. I also pinched off some basil and flat leaf parsley from plants that I bought at a farmer's market this weekend.

I used the lettuce to make a salad to share with my neighbor, Gaynell, and her husband, Ken. I rinsed and dried the lettuce. On top of the lettuce, I placed avocado, tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese. To finish the salad off, I sprinkled the fresh chopped flat leafed parsley and basil. I made a dressing out of pomegranate balsamic vinegar and blood orange olive oil. We ate the salad with pork loin that was marinated in a Hawaiian barbecue sauce.

First harvest of the year

I harvested some kale today from the alley garden.  My neighbor planted it last fall and it looks fantastic. We share the alley garden, so it's fine if I harvest some of the produce that she has planted.

I decided to make toasted kale with my first harvest.

 First, I chopped the thick stems off of the kale and tore the clump into individual leaves.

Then I rinsed them off and I gently patted them try with a clean dish towel.

Next I put the leaves into a bowl and tossed them with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet, and LIGHTLY sprinkled seasoning salt over them.  Kale will shrink considerably in the oven, so a tiny bit of salt is enough.

Finally, I baked the kale in a preheated oven at 350F for 12 minutes. They came out crunchy with a sweet/salty twist.