In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen

Here in the fog belt celery grows with abandon. I've been harvesting "cut-and-come-again" celery all winter but this is one of four clumps that linger as the cool season crops finish. Next year, I plan to cut two of them earlier for both improved quality and to spread the harvest. See my earlier post on Celery in A Fog Belt.

This is after the critter-worthy portions were removed (for the bunnies, guinea pigs and tortoise). I separated what was best for eating raw and what would be used in cooking. Cream of celery soup is on the menu this week.

I’m soaking the heels of the celery to plant in a container for a late spring crop. It will need a partial shade location, rich soil and moist soil. Read the how-to at an earlier post, Celery in SoCal Summer.

I keep thinking the broccoli has finished its run but then there is a new flush of side shoots and they’ve not been overrun by aphids. I will likely take the remaining plants out this week and prep the bed for warm season crops.

Lettuce is luscious this time of year. Thankfully with measures to shade my three areas of lettuce, none of them bolted with two days in the high 80’s.

The ‘Violetta’ purple artichokes are a culinary and visual delight. The thorns are wicked but are easily snipped with kitchen shears before steaming.

To keep the color harmonies going, I’ll toss in Gilia ‘Tricolor’, a California annual wildflower and a spring fave. It’s also known as Bird’s-eyes Gilia, is easy to grow and reseeds reliably.

The carrots compete with other vegetables that need to be consumed more urgently but I keep some in the fridge for salads and lunches. A selective harvest of those up to size could be this week.

And again the flower garden and my vegetables are on the same color vibe.

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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