Thursday, January 23, 2014

A little Harvest

Winter is the grazing time for gardening in Tucson. Because there is less sun available in the winter the vegetables grow slowly compared to summer gardening. This makes greens perfect because you can pick off the outer leaves of lettuce or spinach over the course of the season, rather than harvesting the crop all at once. My family has been having salads from our Jerico lettuce for a while now and I have been very pleased with how this variety has been producing.


Harvesting a little for a fresh garden salad


Another vegetable I have really come to love this winter has been our Kyoto carrots from Kitazawa seed company. These carrots are fantastic. They are everything a carrot should be: sweet, tender, colorful, and delicious. They do require growing longer period than short varieties (because of their long tap root) and apparently the dark color and sweet flavor develop better when grown over a cold season. Not only does this variety makes a perfect winter carrot, but it makes you wish this was the only carrot you grew.


Kyoto Red Carrots are very pretty...


but sometimes when I take pictures of my vegetables...


in the background I see...

my children growing.



Growing winter vegetables is a lot like growing children. Growth is rarely noticed from one day to another, but as you invest time in them - over time you can see great things.

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful post Jay...love those carrots (kids)...nice to see a harvest as all we see is snow and bitter cold.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the compliment, Donna! I do enjoy spending time with my children. I hope you can stay warm up there!

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  2. Hi Jay,

    I've been meaning to hit you up for some Trombocino seeds for some time if you have them. There aren't any in the cucumber shop, and I see no contact info anywhere, so if you have a few, I'd be happy for a yell at bahamas franks a gmail d com if you get a minute! The sweet potatoes were everything you promised last summer (the orange that is, the purples got crowded out by their brothers it would seem).

    Steve

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    Replies
    1. Dear Steve,
      It seems that the All-Purple require a longer season than some of the other varieties. This year my purple sweet potatoes are the "gift that keeps on giving". I am continuing to have to pull out more and more tubers! As for the Tromboncino seeds - I would be happy to send you some. I do have my contact info on my Cucumbershop page. I really try to keep from having unwanted emails. I will post it again in my reply to you.

      -Jay

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I look forward to learning more about gardening with you. Your comments help me recognize that gardening is a life-long journey.

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