Harvest Monday, June 8, 2015 – Container/Window Box Gardening

This post is all about container/window box gardening. Very pleased with the harvests from my containers and window boxes this year.

Container fig tree is happy and continues to grow by leaps and bounds every year.

Container Fig Tree

Fig tree is getting too large for its winter storage space will need to perform major pruning (reducing the overall size by ¼ or more) after all the figs are harvested in the fall.

Baby Figs

There is a fig at the base of every leaf, looking forward to a bountiful fig harvest from my lush fig tree.

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All the vegetables growing in containers, window boxes and foam ice chests are healthy and co-existing happily with the shrubs and perennials.

Clockwise starting at lower left: Snap Peas, Calabrese Broccoli, Potatoes, Little Finger Carrot and Early White Vienna Kohlrabi

The Early White Vienna Kohlrabi should be ready in a week or so.

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Potato (in foam ice chest) & Purple Kolibri Kohlrabi (in window box)

Harvested the 3 large purple kolibri (one was camera shy)

Purple Kolibri Kohlrabi

Made a stir-fry with the kolibri and ground pork. (I was making ground pork and decided to use some of it for the stir-fry. My meat grinder has 2 different size disc – regular ground and coarse ground, I used the latter. The white cubes in the photo below are the kolibri)

This is what I did:
∞ Marinated the ground pork with a bit of light color soy sauce (or tamari), Shao Hsing wine (or pale dry sherry), fresh ginger, sesame oil and maple syrup.
∞ Cubed the tofu and marinated in mushroom dark soy sauce (use regular soy sauce or tamari if dark soy sauce is unavailable, color of tofu will be lighter)
∞ Peeled & cubed kolibri and carrot. Slant cut the garlic greens.

To Cook:
Add 1 – 2 TBS oil to preheated wok or frying pan, add ground pork, stir-fry until pork is partially cooked. Add all veggies, stir-fry until reached desired doneness and pork is cooked. Stir in tofu, stir-fry, gently, until tofu is heated through, add broth if needed for gravy. Thicken with cornstarch mixture if needed. Plate and garnish with toasted black and white sesame seeds (optional). Serve with rice or in lettuce cups.

Variations: Add hoisin sauce and or chili sauce to the marinated pork.

Stir-fried Kohlrabi, Carrots, Garlic Green, Ground Pork & Marinated Tofu

The plated dish (which I neglected to photo) was garnished with toasted black and white sesame seeds.

And guess what?

Kolibri eaten by critter

A critter decided it likes Kolibri kohlrabi also.

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Surprised to see the Adirondack Red Potato in the foam ice chest flowering already.

Flowering Adirondack Red Potato in the foam ice chest

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All the pea plants, and other cool weather plants also, are loving the cool weather we had this past week.

Window Box Snap Peas

Pea Shoots

Window box snap peas are still providing many tender pea shoots.

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Happy Rich Broccoli sending out healthy side shoots.

Side Shoots of Happy Rich Broccoli

There is a side shoot at the base of each leaf left on the plant after the 5/25/15 harvest.

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The peonies in my garden are just gorgeous.

Heirloom Peony from Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, NY

All the above Peonies are heirloom varieties I got from Locust Grove many years ago.

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Each year, during September, Locust Grove’s heirloom peony divisions are available for purchase at the Locust Grove gift shop. Each division has at least 3 buds to ensure spring flowering. Proceeds from the sale support the gardens.

For exact date and time, call 845-454-4500.

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Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.

Visit Daphne’s Dandelions http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for more Harvest Mondays

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