Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Time to Harvest Spinach and Radishes!

Harvested one row of spinach that is in the pot and the other row still in the basket container

I noticed the radish greens were getting kind of high and looked like they were preparing to go to seed. The spinach needed to be harvested as well. So I began.The spinach was/is lovely! I think I will get one big or two medium feedings of it and I will do a salad instead of steaming. Since I know where this spinach has come from and my hands were clean when harvesting it, as well as washing it twice in clean water, to get the maximum nutrients and taste I will be eating the spinach leaves raw. Even though I buy organic fresh lettuce from the store I ALWAYS steam it.

The radishes were, well, a disappointment.  I think I got 4 if I am lucky. The rest were nothing but a little red root or an orb of wood. Two things I think I did wrong:
1) The container wasn't deep enough
2) I waited too long to harvest

So, I may try again, plant some radishes in a container twice as deep and also to make sure I pull them before the greens bolt. Well, that's what this blog is about - figuring out what does and doesn't work. The spinach though, great for basket containers so I'd say it was a success!


4 comments:

  1. yay, balcony harvests! I'm probably going to harvest some lettuce this week, and everything else is budding!

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  2. Yeah I know! It may be only a little but it gives such a great feeling! My regular peas have blossomed! The sugar snaps, well, heck, I have NO idea what they are doing. *laughing* It rained last night I think and my containers are looking so good these days. Ellie, you should post some pics of your balcony garden. I would love to see some.

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  3. Hi there! How deep was the soil for your disappointing radishes? I just started some from seed last week, and think I need to move them into something larger.
    Thanks for following my blog too. It was your posting of your Better World purchase that got me started!

    cheers
    Richard

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  4. Well Richard, the basket itself is 8" deep, but actually there is 6" soil and accounting for drainage (debris put on the bottom to aid in drainage for there are no drainage holes in this basket container) is about 4". I think I would need at least 6" soil. Also, don't let the radish green part bolt. Those are my two guesses on this. One should be able to grow radishes in a container. They are a very hardy and fast growing little vegie critter! lol!
    And glad to have inspired you, Richard. Looking forward to seeing how things grow with you! Lol! Sorry, bad pun, couldn't resist. : )

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