Today's Pickings

[Meadowlark]

Today I harvested the last of my American flag leeks (Allium ampeloprasum) planted last Oct. They could have continued growing for another few weeks, but it was time to vacate that space. The American Flag leek is an heirloom variety dating back to 1870. United States Department of Agriculture.

We use them in soups, stir-fries, stews, and salads...very mild, flavorful onion taste. They fill the void when our spring onions run out and we start harvesting usually in Dec.

 

[headfullofbees]

Most folk grow leeks here over the summer & into winter, with them being bi-annual, and they can easily be as thick as your arm, but I tend to put mine in after my spuds come out in July/August because I am content with the same size as yours.
Although I prefer leeks to onions, I still use them as a stop-gap between the end of one onion harvest & the beginning of another.
Clean them. chop them & freeze them, they keep well like that for cooking purposes.

 

[Meadowlark]

May is a big month of harvest for veggies in East Texas gardens. I hope to get another 10 to 14 days of growth out of my onions but thinning the small ones now and also hope to get at least 21 more days of growth from the potatoes and robbing them now. Well over 200 pounds of each to be harvested this month.

 

[skinyea]

Meadowlark- you are living a great life.

 

[Meadowlark]

Meadowlark- you are living a great life.

My sincere thanks.

 

[headfullofbees]

I would add to skinyea's comment that you are obviously a clever grower, with deep knowledge of your climate &, obviously, how to get the best out of it.

 

[Meadowlark]

Harvested some butternut squash today...now need to figure out best ways to use it.

We've Sliced and sauteed with yellow and zucchini squash a very good use of it so far but thinking of maybe as in Lasagna and/or wontons or maybe as suggested in tortillas.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tess]

Harvested some butternut squash today...now need to figure out best ways to use it.

We've Sliced and sauteed with yellow and zucchini squash a very good use of it so far but thinking of maybe as in Lasagna and/or wontons or maybe as suggested in tortillas.

Any suggestions?

View attachment 89964

I like the idea of using it in lasagna! I make eggplant lasagna that is really good! I'm betting the squash would be really good too!

 

[skinyea]

Harvested some butternut squash today...now need to figure out best ways to use it.

We've Sliced and sauteed with yellow and zucchini squash a very good use of it so far but thinking of maybe as in Lasagna and/or wontons or maybe as suggested in tortillas.

Any suggestions?

View attachment 89964

I use it in chili. sub the squash for beans. it is my kids favorite chili

 

[headfullofbees]

Butternut squash is excellent as the squash in pumpkin pie.

With veg stock, potatoes, onions & ginger, blended into a tasty, but not overfilling, soup, even better with a spoon of Philadelphia cheese per person, prior to blending.

 

[Meadowlark]

First tomatoes of a bumper crop picked today but the stars of the picking were the Kentucky pole beans which promise several more similar pickings to come.... some great canning beans.

 

[headfullofbees]

I love those pole beans.

 

[Meadowlark]

Pea picking time in East Texas. Pick about half of the peas and leave the rest for N fixing. Several bushels yet to go while the green beans are fading out now with the 95 deg. temps. High temps don't phase the peas at all.

 

[Meadowlark]

With a sheller, it takes little time to shell out these peas...about 30 minutes and in another 30 minutes or so its fresh peas for lunch and several gallons for canning later

 

[Tess]

With a sheller, it takes little time to shell out these peas...about 30 minutes and in another 30 minutes or so its fresh peas for lunch and several gallons for canning later

View attachment 90446

Wow that's a lot of peas!! Can you grow snow peas or sugar snap peas in East Texas?

 

[Meadowlark]

Yes, in cool weather, I grow them in the fall and also as a companion planting with my new potatoes.

 

[Meadowlark]

The first planting of sweet corn in my garden this year is now maturing. Three plantings total spread out over two months should provide about 20 dozen ears of sweet corn for the table...highly delicious fresh eating.

 

[YumYum]

@Meadowlark every time you post here it makes me hungry!

 

[Meadowlark]

Processing about 1/3 of the corn.

Clean, par boil 4 minutes, cut off cob, package and freeze. It freezes really well with that fresh corn flavor many months later.

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

You can't spit without hitting a winery where we live, so not much point doing homemade wine. But that looks like a nice batch of rhubarb and ginger jam and some rhubarb and strawberry pies to me!! You don't see marrows here in the US. We pick them smaller - zucchini. Did grow one accidentally once that got missed. Then I remembered how you have to stuff them with something tasty to make them worth eating. I do remember they were fun to grow though.