Harvesting Vegetables from the Garden
Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we're picking lots of wonderful and nutritious vegetables from the garden.
Yesterday, after another brief rain shower, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and my housekeepers, Enma Sandoval and Elvira Rojas, harvested a bounty of beautiful vegetables - broccoli, artichokes, lettuce, peas, fava beans, Swiss chard, hot peppers, cilantro, and more. While the recent heat has affected some of the cold-weather vegetables, others are thriving.
Here are some photos.
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- This year, I decided to display all my potted citrus in front of the vegetable gardens. Here, they can be watered and monitored easily. The vegetable gardens are entirely fenced in to protect the crops from hungry creatures. All the plants are growing well – and some are ready to pick.
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- In one garden along both sides of our two trellises, we have lots of peas – one side for shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and the other side for edible pods, which can be eaten whole, such as our snap peas. They are best grown on supports to keep them off the ground and away from pests and diseases.
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- By early July every year, these peas are plump, and ready to be picked. The pea, Pisum sativum, is an annual herbaceous legume in the family Fabaceae.
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- The pods can range in size from four to 15-centimeters long and about one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half centimeters wide. Each pod contains between two and 10-peas.
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- Snap peas are also edible-podded peas that differ from snow peas in that their pods are round as opposed to flat.
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- Elvira and Enma picked many peas. Extend the harvest season by re-planting in two-week successions. Succession planting is the practice of following one crop with another to maximize a garden’s yield. It is an efficient use of gardening space and time.
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- Here’s another full box of peas – I hope your pea crops have done as well as mine.
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- Broccoli is a hardy vegetable of the cabbage family that is high in vitamins A and D. And, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA, the average American eats more than four-pounds of broccoli a year. Because broccoli is a cold weather crop, meaning that it grows best in soil with temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, it hasn’t been as productive this season. The warmer weather causes it to bolt, or go to flower sooner. Fortunately, there are still quite a few that Ryan can pick.
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- Look at this broccoli plant – there is no head growing in the middle due to the extreme heat over the last couple of weeks.
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- Some of the cabbages are also not as large, but these are growing nicely. To get the best health benefits from cabbage, it’s good to include all three varieties into the diet – Savoy, red, and green. Savoy cabbage leaves are more ruffled and a bit more yellowish in color.
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- Lettuce, Lactuca sativa, is a cultivated plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. Lettuce is a fairly hardy, cool-weather vegetable that thrives when the average daily temperature is between 60 and 70-degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, we have had a lot of great lettuces to pick so far. I love all the different colored lettuces. We always grow several varieties.
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- Ryan harvested several globe artichokes, Cynara scolymus – popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
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- Here’s a purple artichoke ready to harvest. Purple artichokes are loved for their superior flavor and vibrant color. When harvesting, always use sharp pruners and carefully cut them from the plant leaving an inch or two of stem. Artichokes have very good keeping qualities and can remain fresh for at least a week.
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- Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean or fava bean is an ancient member of the pea family. They have a nutty taste and buttery texture. I always grow lots of fava beans.
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- And of course, our tomato plants are all very strong. We’re growing both hybrid and heirloom varieties. Staking is the best way to ensure the plants get the support they need for the many vegetables they will produce this season. Look at these beautiful young tomatoes. There are already so many growing. Most tomatoes are red, but other colors are possible, including green, yellow, orange, pink, black, brown, white and purple. We’ll be harvesting a lot of tomatoes later this summer.
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- Swiss chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The leaf stalks are large and vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color.
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- Here’s a bright red Swiss chard still growing in the garden bed.
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- Basil, also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae. Basil is native to tropical regions from central Africa to Southeast Asia. It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. Since basil grows in tropical climates, it grows well in hot weather. Actually, this plant can thrive in very warm temperatures, and it grows amazingly well up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
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- There is also a lot of fresh and fragrant cilantro. Often known in the United Kingdom as coriander, cilantro comes from the plant Coriandrum sativum. In the United States, the leaves of the plant are referred to as cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Cilantro is also commonly known as Chinese parsley.
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- There are lots of hot peppers too. The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper of the species Capsicum annuum. It is mild to medium in pungency depending on the cultivar.
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- And we harvested several summer squash. These spherical summer squashes, available in dark green, light green, and yellow, are very similar to zucchini.
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- Everything is loaded in trug buckets and brought up to my flower room, where they will be washed if needed, then bagged and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. How was your harvest this week?
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