Harvest Monday - Zone 8a

I've been looking around to see what gardening linkies there are out there. Quite a few it seems! One I found is Harvest Monday, where you get to show off your weekly harvest.

Oak Leaf Lettuce

This is my first year trying lettuce.  Below is heirloom Oak Leaf Lettuce I got from Azure Dandelion  (I think it was a freebie with some other stuff I bought).  I planted it last fall and for the longest time it stayed about 3 inches high, and I started wondering if that was all it was supposed to grow.  But the seed packet said "Harvest 1" -2" off the ground" so I figured it was supposed to be bigger.

January 7 - 2" high

Then in February they started to take off....

February 27 - Larger Ones about 5" high

 And look at it now!

March 26 - 1 Foot High

That one above is my biggest, and one I haven't touched.  I've been harvesting some of them, and learned something exciting!

I harvested as the the seed packet instructed and soon noticed tiny new leaves growing from the center...

And before long the center begins to regrow...

Didn't know that would happen!  I couldn't have been more excited!  Does all lettuce do this?  Or just certain varieties? 

And, here's the what the leaves look like...

They are the perfect size for hamburgers, and they've been tasting great in my salad.  All the wrinkles do hide dirt well, so I find I have to wash each individual leaf well.  Other than that, I'm really liking this variety of lettuce.  And the best part--no worries about using the lettuce before it wilts!  I just go out and grab what I need and it's always crispy and fresh.   I'll miss it when the Texas summer heat takes over and I have to bid my lettuce farewell!

Raddish

This is also my first year to grow raddish.  It's not something I care for, but my husband and oldest son love them, so I'm happy to have a fresh supply.  And look...this one isn't even split!

Onion? Nope!

 

I have a bunch of onions I put out as sets in January growing in the garden, but most aren't very big yet.  There were a few that I planted earlier.  A couple were from seeds (most of my onions seeds never grew), and some were from pearl onions that had sprouted.  (I didn't know whether pearls were just baby onions taken before they matured, so I thought I'd plant them and see).

One of those early ones looked big enough to harvest, so I pulled it out and gave it a taste.  Ack!  Not onion!  At first I just thought it just didn't do well in my soil, like the awful bitter carrots I grew one summer.  But then I recognized the taste.  IT WAS GARLIC!     I had forgotten I had put some sprouting heads in my garden along with the pearls!

I could see the cloves in the center, though the outside looked like on onion. I gather that the cloves will eventually fill up the bulb, though I've heard Texas doesn't often give enough time for that to happen.  I'm wondering if you can use other parts of the bulb and stem too?  They did seem to have a garlicky taste.

So, that was my adventure in gardening this week!  If you'ld like to share what you're harvesting, head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and link up!