Firsts are always worth noting, and this morning was the initial harvest of early arugula and radishes from our raised bed. Yes, there'd been some thinning and a "tasting" of an early radish or two, but today those seeds I sowed had grown to the point I could actually pull some plants out of the ground to have for dinner. Woo hoo!
It was almost exactly one month ago, in a very-late-for-Portland mid-June, I finally planted our garden with tomatoes, collards, lacinato kale, arugula, carrots, radishes, beans, cukes, a couple of squash and a smattering of herbs. Tomatoes are growing (slowly) and starting to flower, I've lost a three or four of the dozen or so lacinato kale plants—still leaving plenty—and the carrots have pretty much stubbornly refused to germinate (I blame bad seeds) and I've resowed them.
The basket of arugula and radishes (top photo) makes me happy just looking at them, and I plan to use the arugula for a salad tonight and maybe try my hand at radish fritters, using the greens to make an aioli.
What, you didn't know radish greens were edible? They're a great braising green in soups and stews or sautéed with bacon and garlic for pasta, and they'd be awesome in my friend Sophie's recipe for Indian Poriyal. The leaves have teeny stiff hairs all over them and are a bit prickly but don't seem to sting like nettles. Plus the hairs are completely unnoticeable once they're cooked.
All in all a very promising (and hopeful) start!
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