My 50+ Harvests

The May 22, 2008 MONTCLAIR TIMES claimed I raise over 45 edibles in my back yard, and I wrote the following to see whether that was true. It is! Some things thrive better some years than others. Nobody knows why. This was a good year for peppers and basil, but poor-to-bad for parsley and leeks.

1. – 8. I raise at least 8 kinds of cutting lettuce most of the year (including black seeded Simpson, green ice, salad bowl, red salad bowl, red sails, oak leaf, royal oak leaf, and green ice), usually from a blend or two.
9. Arugula
10. Parsley
11. Basil
12. Hakai turnips
13 – 15. Sweet-100, Sun gold, and Burpee Supersteak tomatoes,
16. Peppers
17. Eggplant
18. Cucumbers
19. Celery
20. Yellow beets
21. Malabar spinach
22. Broccoli
23. Green lance
24. Kale
25. Collards
26. Parsnips
27. & 28. Sugar snax and Nantes fancy carrots
29. Zucchini
30. Roma bush beans
31. Pole beans
32. Early corn (the raccoons eat any that ripens in August, but allow me my July crop)
33. Sugar Ann peas
34. Sugar snap peas
35. Jerusalem artichokes
36. Garlic
37. Nasturtiums
38. Strawberries
39. Heritage raspberries (available in garden centers)
40. Raspberries descended from the ones my great uncle took from the Alleghany Mountains before he fought in WW I
41. & 42. Bartlett and Bosque pears
43. & 44. Macintosh and red delicious apples
45. White mid-summer peaches
46. Native plums
47. Arctic kiwi
48. Concord grapes
49 Chinese cabbage
50. Pak choi
51. Leeks
52. Arugula
53. Onions
54. Potatoes and several types of blueberries

No wonder my family enjoys eating so much!

Pat