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SPRING HARVEST IS UNDERWAY I really look forward to the Memorial Day Weekend each year. It is a great American holiday filled with flags, military heroes, car racing and tradition. It is also the time we are enjoying some of the best that our spring harvest has to offer, such as sugary sweet onions, creamy potatoes, buttery filet-type green beans, patty pan squash, cucumbers, cabbage and plump, juicy strawberries. Shortly after Memorial Day, I will plant my summer garden – things like sweet potatoes, eggplant and okra. I will use the garden space now occupied by strawberries and onions for these hot-weather loving veggies. I started the eggplant seeds in starter pots several weeks ago. This year I am trying Purple Rain eggplant. The fruit is wine-purple streaked with white. Its flesh is mild and sweet, and nearly seedless. Annie Oakley II is the okra I will be growing this summer. The pods are tender and spineless. I will make a least two plantings to extend the harvest. Okra loves the summer heat and requires little care, much like sweet potatoes. And it’s great on the grill! This year, in addition to my traditional favorite sweet potato, Beauregard, or "Mississippi Red,” I'm growing a different sweet potato. The new variety, at least new to my front-yard garden, is called O’ Henry. It is a white sweet potato. Yep. White. I’m trying it because I have been told that white sweet potatoes are even better tasting than the orange varieties. According to Gurney’s, O’ Henry sweet potatoes have smooth and stringless golden flesh with the rich flavor of nuts and honey. O’ Henry is slightly drier than other sweet potatoes and is said to be perfect for baking. I can't wait to try! How is your garden growing? Please let me know what you are harvesting now and which varieties of veggies you like best. Here’s wishing you a great Memorial Day Weekend, and bountiful springtime harvest! |
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