Veggie Garden in May

My little veggie garden is rolling along, and I've got most things planted out now. May is a time for harvesting GREEN things in my area:

Lettuce 'Australian Yellow'

Lettuce 'Deer Tongue'

Lettuces: 'Australian Yellow' has a nice crisp ruffly texture, and brightens up the garden with its spring green color.













'Deer Tongue' is my favorite for flavor - chewy, succulent texture and a sweet nutty flavor (almost like mache).

Bed of baby brassicas

My brassica bed is filled with baby greens which I use for stir-fry, soups, and salads: senposai, baby bok choi, and mustard greens. There are some teeny little green onions in there too, which are barely visible in the picture.

Spinach 'Tyee'

My spring-planted spinach bed is now maturing, and I've removed the overwintered fall-planted spinach to replace it with beans for summer. 'Tyee' is my favorite spinach cultivar of the ones I've tried - nice juicy thick leaves, and holds relatively well into the summer.

Arugula

 
I'm the only one in my family who likes arugula, so this is all for me! I'm totally addicted to the spicy, nutty flavor, but it's definitely one of those veggies that is capable of inspiring both intense love and hate. This planting is getting a bit over-mature, so I'll cook it to soften it up.

Try this:
-cooked pasta
-barely blanched arugula
-lots of parmesan cheese
-a few chopped prunes (yes, prunes)
-olive oil

YUM!

Pea 'Karina' flowering

The peas are flowering, so hopefully any day now we will be in pea-eating heaven - my daughter's favorite garden snack. 'Karina' is a new English (shelly) pea I'm trying this year - supposed to keep producing later in the summer than most peas. That would sure be awesome, if it were true!