What I am harvesting in May

I had a message last night asking me what I am harvesting from my garden in May. The person wanted to plan for next year and to know what to sow now as they have just got a garden. Growing food is one of the ways that we survive on such a low budget whilst making sure that we have enough nutrition.

Quite a few of my crops are early this year due to the warm spring that we have had in the UK. The hunger gap has been a lot shorter, thankfully. That has made providing  nutritional food a lot easier.  Here are the things that I am harvesting at the moment. It is not a lot but it still saves me money and gives me fresh produce.

Lettuce, spinach and rocket.

I grow these initially in sweet containers with holes drilled in the bottom. I sow these in  January.  They have provided us with salad leaves for a couple of months (I sowed 6 and gave 2 away). They grow in my conservatory. The last of those will finish next week. I take off leaves as and when I need them.

In early March I sowed a large tray about 4 inches deep and about a metre long with these same crops. It is on a stand outside and I am harvesting from it now for our salads. We eat salad almost every day for at least one meal. I never have a sandwich without popping some leaves in, either.

Some of the rocket is just going to seed and I will let it flower and save the seeds to grow some more in Autumn, and next year.

I also sowed some spinach and lettuce into a raised box under glass. The glass came off 4 weeks ago. It is in the front garden which is cooler. The spinach I have been using in meals like curry, or freezing. The lettuce I am letting it grow into full heads of lettuce. Growing this way has meant that there has been no slug damage. I am sowing lettuce seeds today for my next crop. I will sow them in a tomato punnet and transplant them as other lettuce are picked, or finish.

Radish

I am not a massive radish fan but it is a crop that it ready to harvest in weeks. I grow them in between slower growing crops as they are ready to be harvested before the other crop needs the room to grow.

I make pickles with them, put them into stir fry, and chop them into salad. I continuously sow them throughout spring and summer.

Beans

These are not usually ready at this time of year and so are a lovely addition to our meals at the moment. The more beans are picked, the more they will grow. I am only getting just over a dozen a week (for the last 3 weeks) but they are nice sliced in their pods as a side, or sliced and thrown into a slow cooker stew, or curry. It is all extra nutrition. They are a dwarf bean and not a climbing one. They were sown in late February, potted on into the green house in early April and started to produce beans in the pots. They were planted outside at the end of April.

I have noticed pods on my broad beans but they are not ready for picking yet. The climbing beans do not have flowers on yet and so will provide beans in summer. The beans provide a lot of our protein on the days we don’t eat meat.

Rhubarb

We have been picking this for well over a month now. It is important to make sure that I leave at least 3 stalks on the plant. We have made lots with it already including jam for the winter. Here are some links to some other treats that we make from it.

Rhubarb and ginger jam.

Rhubarb and walnut chocolate brownies

Rhubarb crumble.

Rhubarb, ginger and custard sundae.

Swiss chard

Most of this has bolted this week and so I have pulled it out to make room for other crops that need planting out. I have used some of the leaves in stew and a stir fry, and dehydrated the rest to make green powder for winter nutrition. It will be sprinkled in wraps, flat breads, in stews and soups. The stalks I have cut up and frozen for stir fry. I am sowing some more this week which should produce during the late Autumn and the hunger gap next year.

Potatoes

I turned out my first bucket of potatoes this week. They had been growing in the greenhouse since January, and were put outside about 3 weeks ago. We have 16 other buckets growing so far and will plant another bucket each week. There are some potatoes sprouting from the 8p supermarket ones, and some seed potatoes left. I will sow some to keep in the greenhouse in September. We will get some at Christmas then.

Pak Choi

This is such an easy crop to grow and is my first major vegetable of the year (I know rhubarb is a veg but I count it as a fruit!). It is milder than cabbage. I sometime stir fry it as a side with sesame seed oil, throw it into a mixed veg stir fry, use it when young in salads, and recently I have started making Air fried Pak Choi

Currant and Raspberry leaves

I pick these and dehydrate them to make teas for winter. They have lots of health benefits.

Herbs

I pick herbs every day. I use them in my food, but also dry them to make mixed herbs and tea. They  add lovely flowers to the garden for the insects, go in salads, and make great garnishes.

Wild garlic

Although I primarily forage wild garlic, I also have some growing under a tree in my garden, and in a pot. I pick it when I just want a few fresh leaves eg. when I am making cheese scones, or slicing some into a salad.

My courgettes have started forming on a couple of plants and so hopefully I will harvest a few in a week or so. They will add so much more to our menu.

What are you harvesting at the moment? How are your crops doing this year? Although watering has been hard work due to lack of rain, I am finding it an easier growing season. It was such a battle with the slugs last year.