Potatoes and sweet potatoes harvest, 'tasai', and wild boars...

It snowed today... and for the first time this season, there was some accumulation...

Harvested our potatoes this afternoon...

They were killed by the frost... first time to experience this with potatoes...

Am very happy with the produce that tipped at 5 kilograms... 

These, from seeds weighing 1 kilogram... 

And for dinner, my suweeto haato made chicken curry with the potatoes..

Hmmm, super tasty...

Among the greens we have now, the 'ta-sai' is probably one of the most resistant to the cold weather...

And it tastes very good too...

Our sweet potatoes did not do that well this season...

Harvest was rather measly.... 

A notable development this season, however, is that, wild boars have finally 'discovered' our potager... 

Three days ago, they came for the third time... stepping all over our garden...

It is not a pretty scene... yet, there is nothing much for them to eat in our field...

One of their favorites is the sweet potatoes...

Luckily, there is space within a fenced area nearer to our house...

Anyway, made a blockade (with recycled wood) on their approach route...

Hope this blockade is sufficient to make them give up coming...

Red 'ume' and three greens

Our two white Japanese 'ume' somehow bloom earlier than the red one... 

The white is lovely, but hmm, in my humble opinion, the red is perhaps more radiant... no?

Early spring sees the greens from autumn, bolting... 

This specimen is the 山東菜 or Shantong Sai, a Chinese green...

I grew quite a lot of 小松菜 Komatsuna last autumn... 

This is one of their 'remnants', should I say?

And ターサイ Ta-sai (another Chinese green) too, which is the favorite of my sweeto haato... 

Yes, when the greens bolt, we harvest the young buds and treat them as 菜の花 Nanohana...

We just lightly boil them and sprinkle some sesame seeds over them... 

Their taste... a little bitter-ish perhaps? 

But delicious, in any case... 

Greens, beans, roots, etc...

Am very happy with the goings-on at the potager... 

We have a lot of spinach this season... 

and they are flourishing... we harvest and eat them whole, roots included...

Planted this sole celery in April...

Didn't get to eat much of it...
with the cold coming in, it is growing really well...

Tried to germinate fava beans from seeds...
From eight seeds, six germinated successfully...

Our lettuce self-seeded...
We have about a dozen of them, thriving...
They are a constant part of our breakfast fare...

Bought three broccoli seedlings from the store...
All are doing well...

Sowed two types of radish seeds last September...
The round and long type...
They taste really good either fresh or cooked...

We love our carrots a lot...
Sowed the seeds in two plots...
Harvested the first carrot this morning for breakfast...
Wooh, heavenly...

Strawberries... just about everybody's favorite...
Seedlings were all sourced from the mother plants...
Looking forward to the fruits next spring...

Am growing this green just for my suweeto haato...
The ta-sai is one of her favorite leafy greens... have been harvesting them for a while now... we mostly stir-fried them with black beans...

Bought two seedlings of parsley...
Had them planted as companions to the strawberry patch... we harvest them a little at time to use as garnish for our breakfast pizza-toasts...

And finally, while still far away from harvesting, red onions, another 'must-have' order from my missus...
Sowed the seeds last October and they are still rather tiny...
Need to let the seedlings grow up to the size of chopsticks before I can transplant them for good...

Note: While this post is not really totally about harvesting, I am taking the liberty to link this post to Harvest Monday hosted by Daphne... hope she doesn't mind...