Harvesting Spinach

I haven't harvested any of my spinach, mainly because I didn't know if it was ready and I didn't really know the best way to do it. I found some helpful information online tonight:

Harvesting

Spinach can be harvested in the cut and come again method of harvesting lettuce. Cut individual leaves, starting with the older, outer leaves, and letting the young inner leaves remain and continue growing for a later harvest. You can also cut down the whole plant, for a larger harvest. If you cut about an inch above the crown or base of the plant, it is very likely the plant will send out a new flush of leaves. 

About Spinach

Spinach is a leafy green vegetable that grows best in cool weather. Usually thought of as being packed with iron, spinach is even higher in vitamins A and C, thiamin, potassium and folic acid (one of the B complex vitamins). Spinach, like most dark green leafy vegetables, also contains the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Oh, and it tastes great eaten fresh or cooked.

All spinach is grown for its dark green leaves. While there are many different spinach varieties with an assortment of leaf shapes and textures, spinach is usually divided into 2 major categories: Smooth Leaf and Savoy, with darker, thicker, crinkled leaves. Since they’ve been crossbred so much, it’s often hard to categorize them. Small leafed spinach or baby spinach has gained in popularity recently. These are not necessarily immature spinach leaves, but varieties that simply don’t get large. 

Beautiful Growth

I love my garden. I haven't had much time with it lately, but it still is providing us with great lettuce, cilantro, sweet peas, a few flowers, zucchini and spinach. Thank you garden. Sorry about all your weeds. :)

Sweet Pea Vines and sad looking tomato plants

Cilantro and zucchini plant with some freeze damage

Lettuce!

Spinach

1st Vegetable of the Season!

I enjoyed some time out in the yard today. I first pruned a bit on all my rose bushes, cutting off all the spent flowers and any dead or out of place stems. I only got poked bad once. :) Those thorns are brutal.

The hibiscus plants are very healthy and flowering quite a bit, especially the red variety.

And in the vegetable garden, I plucked my very first ever ZUCCHINI! Hooray! It is about 8 inches long and looks great. The plan is to fry it up tonight to go with dinner.

I also plucked some nasty slimy mushrooms that have been growing quite happily in the flower area of the garden. These will NOT be included with our dinner. :) My understanding about mushrooms is that they are not harmful to the garden. They are the reproductive organ of the fungus that lives in my soil. That fungus actually helps with the decaying process of organic matter in the soil. Even though I pulled out the mushrooms, the fungus still lives in the soil and will continue producing mushrooms as long as the soil is moist. 

Here is the lettuce growing very nicely:

More lettuce and spinach:

I caged the 4 largest tomato plants today to help them grow upward. I hope they have a growth spurt soon so we get some tomatoes before the cold hits.  

Also, to the right is the wonderful cilantro that we have already enjoyed several times with meals. 

Cilantro is one of my favorite things to grow in the garden. I love having fresh cilantro in my backyard. 

Gardening is good for me. Picking weeds is not good for my 9-month pregnant belly. There is no comfortable way to squat anymore. haha. 

Growth Since Seed Planting

Sunflowers (planted seeds on October 10th)

Lettuce and Spinach (seeds planted Oct 11th), yellow squash and zucchini (seeds planted Sept 17th):

Cilantro and cherry tomato (seeds planted Sept 22):

Roma tomato and Snap Pea vines (seeds planted Sept 22nd and additional peas on Oct 11th)

The weather has been pretty chilly in the last few days due to a cold front, but hopefully these plants can still keep growing enough to produce before the winter cold comes.

More seeds

This morning, I planted more sweet pea, romaine lettuce, spinach and crisphead lettuce seeds to fill in the gaps of the earlier seeds that didn't grow or got smashed by the neighborhood cats.

Looking forward to seeing more growth. Pictures to come soon!

Flowers

Today, I decided to plant some flowers in a garden bed that I am not planning on using for my fall vegetable garden. My grandma shared some of her seeds from her Utah gardening, so I planted many of those and also 9 sunflower seeds (12-foot kind). I am excited to see how these flowers do and to add some beauty to my garden in the next months.

Enjoying new Beauty

This past week I planted 3 hibiscus bushes (1 gal size) on the side of our house. I am really excited to see them bloom soon and hope that they will enjoy their new ground. This location gets sun in the late morning and shade from the wall and our house at most other times of the day. Eventually, I would like to have some landscaping rock on the side yard on both sides of the sidewalk. The large petrified wood rocks here have been in my family for a while and have moved all over with us. I still have one surviving (barely) mint plant growing on the side yard as well as 2 Aloe Vera plants that are very happy. 

I also planted some pink and white Vincas and Mexican Heather (small purple flowers) in pots to make the front porch more beautiful. Flowers bring me happiness. I have had success with both of these species of flowers in the past and I love Heather. 

And in the vegetable garden...

Zucchini plants (seeds planted 2 weeks ago):

The start of a Sweet Pea vine:

I am grateful for green!