October is the saffron month! Every couple of days, we remove the little red “threads” from the center of each bloom, leaving the rest of the flower intact. Saffron is so expensive to purchase because it is time-consuming to harvest. We will bring the dried harvest into the kitchen when the flowering season finishes.
We harvest year-round, but the September/October harvest is the most impressive. This is because we harvest some crops all at once and lay them on tables in the greenhouse. This includes winter squashes and sweet potatoes. This year was our second year of growing sweet potatoes. They did very well and can be used for several months. The largest one tipped the scales at 11.5 pounds! Thanksgiving sweet potato for the whole family!
The butternut and delicata squashes are curing in the greenhouse. Curing allows any nicks to heal on the squashes and for improvement in flavor. We have an excellent butternut and delicata supply as we had a good harvest.
We are harvesting celeriac as needed. This time, we weighed a typical-sized celeriac – 2 pounds 12 ounces! This year’s crop is substantial in circumference, as is the number of plants we’ll harvest. Like many other plants in the garden, this was a very productive year.
The brassicas have recovered from their rough start in the garden and are flourishing. They all look perfect. Last year was the year of the aphid. This year, aphids are few and far between. We have kale available any time it’s needed. Next week, we will start harvesting our earliest cauliflower. We have five varieties to spread the harvest over a more extended period and hopefully not swamp the kitchen!
Come on out to the garden to see what else we have growing.
-Anna
