Garden report: bigga broccoli and other stuff

I thought I'd pop in to show off my bigga broccoli!  And what's great is there are three more heads that are ready to be cut.  This head of broccoli measured 8" at its widest part!  So guess what we are going to be eating?  Broccoli salad and stir fry with broccoli.  Homegrown broccoli is so tender and mild.  We really love it.  After I cut these large heads, the plants will produce more side shoots.  They are small and usually develop continuously through the summer.

 



Another thing I'm growing this year is Kohlrabi.  It belongs to the same family as broccoli and cabbage -- cruciferous.  My dad always grows it and his parents and grandparents grew it too.  It's nicknamed German turnip, and now I know why my German ancestors grew it and loved it.  My dad likes it best raw.  You peel the kohlrabi and slice it into disks and then sprinkle it with salt.  It goes great with cold beer!  There are lots of recipes for kohlrabi out on the web, but I'm going to do it simply -- sautéed in olive oil and butter with a little chopped garlic, salt and pepper -- just like I would cook cabbage.   Not only is kohlrabi delicious, it's also very good for you.  It's nutrient dense with lots of vitamins and minerals.  Check it out here:  10 Surprising Benefits of Kohlrabi.  Another great thing about kohlrabi is that it's very easy to grow.  It does like cooler weather so it's best to grow it in early spring or in the fall, or if you live in the south, perhaps you can grow it as a winter crop!  I'll probably plant some more seeds now for a fall crop.

My lettuces are still doing great and I've planted them at various times so that there are lettuces that are ready to pick now and others will be ready for picking a little later.  We love garden lettuce, so I keep planting a little bit here and there all summer.  That way we are never out of fresh lettuce.

As I mentioned before, the tomato plants continue to curl and look terrible -- all except 2 plants in the fenced garden and two plants that I put down in the lower bank garden.  The garlic and onions are ok, but not looking as good as I'd like them too.  They simply need far more sun than they are getting and I think that's part of the tomato issue too.  The row of flowers I planted are doing terrific and will start blooming very soon.  There are zinnias, cosmos, bells of Ireland, and marigolds.

The squash, pumpkins, zucchini, and potatoes are going gangbusters in the bank garden and the cucumbers are blossoming.  I just love gardening.

How does your garden grow this year?

Thanks for stopping by!