There are some new greens in your basket this week. Not everyone received the same "leaves". All are closely related to Arugula, so consume them the same.
Bau Sin has a fuzzy leaf, and a peppery flavour.
Mibuna has long, slender leaves, and a very mild flavour.
Tokyo Bekana has a light green leaf. Its flavour is hotter than the Mibuna, but not as hot as the Bau Sin.
If you received Arugula this week, you will receive one or another of the alternative Asian Greens next time.
Spinach was not on the list this week, but it was looking quite good the other day, so I added it to the baskets as well.
Our Celery improved somewhat this year - its flavour is not quite as strong due to increasing its watering. Still small, probably due to the undersow crop being seeded a little too soon after the Celery was transplanted. We have found that its intense flavour goes a long way, so use a little less of it than you usually would. I found that it was too stringy for raw celery stalks, so sample it first before serving as such.
By the way, undersowing is a growing method where a ground cover crop is sown under the main crop. In this case, it was a low growing Dutch clover. This is a first for us. We are looking at different methods of suppressing weed growth (it did the job) without interfering with the main crop. We could have waited a little longer to allow the celery to establish itself - it probably had to fight for sunlight and nutrients the first few weeks after transplanting. As well, when all of the celery is harvested, the clover will be tilled into the beds, providing a lot of composted material for the leaf crops (in this case, spinach) next year.
This weeks bed of Potatoes did not perform as well as most others, so there is not enough spuds for next week. It appears that the bed for two weeks from now will have a similar yield. The October beds look fine and healthy, and have not had any beetles or other problems. As long as the season is not too wet, we should have a good take of winter storage potatoes, I anticipate starting in October. If the season continues to be too wet, it is possible that we may have some late blight. I have not heard any rumours of this disease (what ruined the potato crops in north west Europe in the 1800's), so I presume we shall be ok.
I shall start harvesting the Parsnips later this week, so there wil be a different root on the table. If you would rather save these, they should keep for some time in the fridge.
Fall Peas are staring to send up there vines, and the next round of beans has begun - I anticipate everyone should be getting them in the next week or so. More yellow and orange carrots next week as well.
Bob.