I have mentioned that we did some weeding this week?
Between planting and the heavy harvest time of mid to late summer and early autumn there isn’t much work to do around the gardens but weed, trellis the tomato plants, and take the yellowing leaves off of plants. Although this work may seem tedious and not as fun as the excitement and anticipation of planting seeds, and designing a garden, or the satisfaction of picking and eating the harvest, weeding and tending to the garden can be very relaxing, especially if you are looking to take a study or work break and get out side.
Although we did do a lot of weeding this week, we also harvested garlic scapes, which are a great spring treat that only comes once a year. Harvesting scapes is easy, you simply break the top of the stem at where it meets the leaves closest top of the stem.
In the image, you can see where the garlic stem was broken just above the leaf.
Bonnie demonstrates how to break the garlic scape, by grabbing the stem with a firm grip and bending until it snaps.
Garlic scapes taste great, and are a different want to enjoy garlic. They also have a really cool look, with curly tops.
Miriam hold a bundle of garlic scapes.
Other spring harvests include: radishes, turnips, green onions and lettuce. For more information about garlic scapes, check out this post by Michelle, it has everything you’d need to know about scapes.
Miriam collects weeds from the Hart House plot.
Another veggie you might be able to harvest early, depending when you got the seeds in the ground, is sugar snap peas. Sugar snap peas are so delicious you can eat them right off the bush! To harvest, just run your fingers through the bush to find peas, and snap them off the bush gently, holding the bush with the other hand, as Bonnie demonstrates below.
Bonnie picks peas at the Hart House plot.
After harvesting snap peas and garlic scapes, we headed over to the Hart House Farm plot to cover the growing potato stems with dirt.
Stephanie covers the growing potato stems with soil at the Hart House Farm Plot.
The Willcocks planters have taken off recently, check out what’s growing in them!
Nasturtiam, an edible flower
tomatoes and nasturtium.
Calendula, an edible flower which makes an excellent addition to fruity teas.
Borage, a flowering plant. You can eat the leaves off the borage plant when they are young.
Cucumber grows up a sunflower stalk.
Borage flower up close.
For more photos make sure to check out our flickr page, which can be found on the right side bar of this page.
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