In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
The generous broccoli side shoots were harvested before the recent garden disaster. On the same night we had large hail, temperatures near freezing and a opossum invasion in the garden. In addition to ravaging the lettuce bed the opossum(s) rummaged around under the eight broccoli plants looking for grubs and worms.
Many of the broccoli leaves looked like these due to the hail. With the disturbance to the plants and roots, side shoot production dwindled. Usually, I can count on six to eight weeks of side shoots but not this year.
Each of the four beds are now covered with bird netting, screening and various impromptu coverings while two Havahart traps are set to entice the disruptors. The critters will be relocated to a wild area about a mile from our home. I’m consoled somewhat, that we don’t have deer or squirrels.
But the triumph for the week was a glorious garden salad prepared for a family gathering of ten. All but the red onions were from the garden.
Sturdier lettuce that survived the hail and escaped opossum damage provided the generous base. The last of the cauliflower, Romanesco and Jacaranda broccoli added seasonal color. Carrots were from last season’s stores. Celery and snow peas are abundant now.
The carrots are sizing up and I grabbed a few to make some refrigerator pickled vegetables,
The ‘Graffiti’ cauliflower stores well but we weren’t using it fast enough. The pickled vegetables make an easy salad atop a bed of greens with drizzled olive oil and grated pepper.
This is Buddleia asiatica—a winter delight here in SoCal. The powerful fragrance is suggestive of freesia, which is also blooming now. It’s a large shrub which responds to pruning by producing even more blooms. My house smells like spring.
Buddleia asiatica is hard to find but my persistent efforts were rewarded. I found it at Mountain Valley Growers though I don’t see it among their current offerings. It was listed as out-of-stock 18 months ago, but they found two tiny plants to send me. I’m so grateful and so is everyone who walks by this shrub planted near the sidewalk.
You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers around the world harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog.
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