Even while most of my seedlings sit hardening off and not yet out in the garden, I am enjoying some of my first garden vegetables of the season - a few tender young asparagus spears that just appeared today. What edibles have you been able to harvest from your outdoor gardens so far? Especially people in the really low zones :) I know that people with greenhouses have probably had fresh vegetables all winter, but I mean actual outdoor plants. In addition to the asparagus, I've also been using my outdoor chives for a few weeks now.
The Harvest Begins
chives.....we kick ourselves that we didn't plant asparagus when we moved in.
Asparagus, rhubarb, chives. Dandelion greens, (the ones I had blanched under boards), and the nettles are just starting here--we'll have our first feed tonight, yum! With no stores around for fresh greens, it's always a treat when the outside harvest starts.
And I set out mizuna plants a week ago -- and we're already nibbling on it! If you don't know mizuna, I highly recommend it. It matures in just 45 days, is very cold hardy. Looks a bit like endive but if you're rotating crops it is in the brassica family, not the lettuce family like endive. We just keep pulling leaves from around the outside, like lettuce or chard, and a few plants last for ages. Doesn't bolt in the heat, either.
I've never heard of mizuna. What sort of nettles do you eat? The ones around here are weeds; I've never heard of anyone eating them. I guess I'll have to do some reading :)
Nettles are FULL of vitamins. We eat them too. Have a special nettle patch.(Wired to keep dogs out)
Inanda
Asparagus, rhubarb, chives, green onions, Red Russian Kale, leeks. Not much difference between the zones as far as vegetables go, at this point in time, it would seem.
rhubarb, chives, mint and i ditto the mizula thing - great stuff
Nettles--if you're new to them: Just take the top 4" of tender leaves (wear gloves--they have a nasty sting). Wash, then steam lightly and the sting disappears, I promise. I just put a bit of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar on them; usually chop them a bit with scissors. Once they mature, they aren't as nice.
Yes, they are a 'weed' but are very nutritious for the soil, so I don't rip them out completely. Very good for the compost, too.
By the way, if you are stung in the garden, the juice from rhubarb helps dissipate it more quickly.
Inanda, what do your dogs do with nettles--do they eat them? Or just pee on them....
So we're talking stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) then? That tends to be a slough weed here. It isn't in my garden and I don't plan on putting it there. But perhaps I'll harvest some if I come across it in the bush. Luckily, I seem to have inheritted a sort of 'immunity' to the sting - it does very little to me.