Friday, December 9, 2011

When To Harvest?

As exciting as it is to watch my garden grow and change on a daily basis, the truth is I really want to figure out when I can begin to harvest the food I'm growing for my family.  Isn't being self sufficient the goal here?  According to when I planted things , here is a rough schedule of when I can begin to harvest.


It looks as if the first thing I'll get to harvest will be the Mesclun Mix.  According to several online sites, it can be harvested in as little as 3 to 4 weeks (12/10 - 12/17).  This means starting tomorrow I should be able to go get a snippet here and there.  It is a bit overcrowded in the row, so I need to thin the plants anyway.  I may grab a handful here and there to make my store bought lettuce salads more interesting.

  • Radishes (Icicle, Short Top) 28 days = 12/19
  • Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing) 45 - 55 days = 1/2
  • Cauliflower (Early Snowball A) 55-65 days = 1/11
  • Turnips (Purple Top White Globe) 55-60 = 1/11
  • Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)  60 days 1/11
  • Lettuce (Bibb 60-70, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, 1/17
  • Carrots (Danver's #126) 70 - 80 days = 1/27
  • kohlrabi 55 = 1/28
  • Swiss chard 60 = 1/30
  • Broccoli (De Cicco) 80 - 100 days = 2/19
  • basil 80-90 = 2/30
  • 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix).  I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes. ???  Read 60 - 75 days AND April
  • Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR) 170 mid-June


Update 1/27/2012:  The Mesclun mix was right on schedule.  As of today, there are a couple radishes that appear they are ready to harvest, but it is now more than a month later than the expected date.  Spinach is not very productive, so I am going to take it out of the garden.  The basil got killed by a heavy frost.  I pulled out the test varieties of lettuce and tossed them in the compost bin (to make room for onions).  None of the other crops appear anywhere close to being ready to harvest.

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