There were a couple things that I was really excited about growing in the garden this year, and one of them was celery. I had been told that it didn't grow well here, and that the stalks would be nothing like the ones you buy from the store. I figured what the heck, and started a couple seeds anyways. To my surprise, the celery seemed to thrive, never having any pest problems and staying strong and healthy. I decided to harvest a couple of heads today out of the 6 that we have growing. They are really tough to pull out of the ground!! I realized after I got them up that it was because of the very extensive root system that the plant had:
These roots were thick! It was really cool seeing how celery looks in its natural state - its such a pretty plant:
Once I cleaned them up, cutting off the leaves, roots and tiny outer stalks I had some celery that looked better than anything I have ever seen in the grocery store:
I was surprised at how thick the stalks were. I don't know if we let them grow too long, or if its the type of celery that we grew. Or if its just a difference between the mass produced celery and our little patch that got lots of tender loving care. The kids couldn't wait to try some, and Rowan had the first bite:
Her verdict? Delicious! They gobbled up a whole plate of celery and peanut butter, and were back 5 minutes later asking for more. Another difference between store bought and home grown celery - ours wasn't stringy at all! With the taste being so good, and it being so easy to grow, I think celery just earned itself a permanent place in our garden plans.
I also harvested a bunch of beans from the garden today. We are growing 6 different types this year, all fresh eating beans except for one shelling variety that we are growing just for fun. I should have gotten to the beans last week before we went camping, but just didn't have time. I was disappointed today to find that a bunch of them were well past the desired size but I still got a respectable amount of beans that were just the right size:
Clockwise from the top right: Malibu pole beans, Dragon Tongue bush beans, Purple Queen bush beans, Venture bush beans and Soleil bush beans. We cooked some of each kind of bean for dinner tonight, to see which ones we wanted to grow again next year. The Malibu and the Venture were clear winners - nobody really liked the texture of the Dragon Tongue beans, and the Purple Queen didn't have a very impressive flavor. The Soleil beans were okay, but I think the ones I picked were not quite ready so we will have to try those ones again
A picture of our harvest this morning:
It feels good to finally be harvesting a good amount from the garden every few days. We have been getting plenty of lettuce, green onions, and carrots, and now can add beans, celery, tomatoes and even peppers to that list (our first mini bell pepper is nearly ripe). Its not the garden I had hoped for this year due to our wet and cold spring and summer...but its a garden that I am very pleased with anyways. I hope that this last month or so of summer is hot and sunny, and that we are able to have many more harvest mornings like today!
These roots were thick! It was really cool seeing how celery looks in its natural state - its such a pretty plant:
Once I cleaned them up, cutting off the leaves, roots and tiny outer stalks I had some celery that looked better than anything I have ever seen in the grocery store:
I was surprised at how thick the stalks were. I don't know if we let them grow too long, or if its the type of celery that we grew. Or if its just a difference between the mass produced celery and our little patch that got lots of tender loving care. The kids couldn't wait to try some, and Rowan had the first bite:
Her verdict? Delicious! They gobbled up a whole plate of celery and peanut butter, and were back 5 minutes later asking for more. Another difference between store bought and home grown celery - ours wasn't stringy at all! With the taste being so good, and it being so easy to grow, I think celery just earned itself a permanent place in our garden plans.
I also harvested a bunch of beans from the garden today. We are growing 6 different types this year, all fresh eating beans except for one shelling variety that we are growing just for fun. I should have gotten to the beans last week before we went camping, but just didn't have time. I was disappointed today to find that a bunch of them were well past the desired size but I still got a respectable amount of beans that were just the right size:
Clockwise from the top right: Malibu pole beans, Dragon Tongue bush beans, Purple Queen bush beans, Venture bush beans and Soleil bush beans. We cooked some of each kind of bean for dinner tonight, to see which ones we wanted to grow again next year. The Malibu and the Venture were clear winners - nobody really liked the texture of the Dragon Tongue beans, and the Purple Queen didn't have a very impressive flavor. The Soleil beans were okay, but I think the ones I picked were not quite ready so we will have to try those ones again
A picture of our harvest this morning:
It feels good to finally be harvesting a good amount from the garden every few days. We have been getting plenty of lettuce, green onions, and carrots, and now can add beans, celery, tomatoes and even peppers to that list (our first mini bell pepper is nearly ripe). Its not the garden I had hoped for this year due to our wet and cold spring and summer...but its a garden that I am very pleased with anyways. I hope that this last month or so of summer is hot and sunny, and that we are able to have many more harvest mornings like today!