First Miniature Harvest

I was pretty excited this morning to pick the first small zucchini and Corentine cucumbers!! It's no use leaving these tiny specimens to mature, I would rather let the plant put its energy into growth right now... so tonight I get a delicious miniature salad for dinner!

The nights are still cool, so these 2 beds of delicate plants are covered and tucked in with remay over hoops. In the morning I lift the remay cover around the edges for air circulation, then add an additional shade cloth over top... the delicate, small, pickling cucumber plants were not doing well in the sun. 

First of the Season!  Partenon and Cassia Zucchini,
 Winter Kale, Red Orach, Corentine Cucumbers, Dill Weed

Most of the winter kale has gone to seed but I have one unknown variety that was from a 'Winter Kale Mix' packet of seed that is still tender and sweet. The Red Orach is allowed to volunteer in the garden, so I have it in 3 of the raised beds and have numerous beautiful fuchsia plants to pick from. Even Canadian Living Magazine featured an article May 2016 stating "Orach is the new kale!" It is a distant relative of spinach, simple to grow and a good ornamental plant because of its beautiful color. 

Dinner is served! Salad garnished with crumbled  
goat cheese and toasted pine nuts

On another gardening note... I've had it with fighting my collection of heavy, stiff, kinking, commercial grade, 80' garden hoses. A few days ago I decided to trade up with the new "Flexzilla Swivel-Grip" 100' garden hose through Lee Valley Tools. Flexzilla has been around for a while and when my friend got hers a few years back and suggested I 'drag it around her garden' I was impressed at how lightweight and kink free it was! 

Watch for my reviews of the Flexzilla in a future post... and Denmanites, guaranteed, the commercial grade hoses will be part of my summer Garage Sale! 

Until next time... Happy Gardening and Bon Appétit!

Photo by Sally Rae