December Garden Totals and Kohlrabi Patties


What an amazing year for the garden! I not only reached my goal of growing half a ton of food, but surpassed it by more than 20%!
There were inevitable issues that cropped up, something always does every year. We experienced one of the warmest, driest springs and summers ever here in the PNW. While that was a boon for some plants, others languished in the heat. Everything ripened 2-4 weeks early. Wonderful for the wild blackberries, not so great for potatoes. My plum tree put on so much fruit that branches broke under the weight. Tomatoes set fewer fruits due to the heat. I mistakenly over dressed the winter squash bed with aged manure and had beautiful, lush plants with minimal squash. Peppers and zucchini? Oh...my.…word! In 20+ years of gardening I have never had such successful harvests. My peppers produced 27 pounds of fruit and the 4 zucchini plants produced a whopping 176 pounds of zucchini!
Now, it's time to plan and prep for next years garden. While I haven't set a production goal for next year, I do plan on nearly doubling the size of my gardening space. I also want to incorporate more flowers into the garden to attract pollinators. I plan on growing over 60 varieties of veggies and herbs next year, all but 1 of which will be heirloom/open pollinated. I plan to implement a seed saving system so that by 2017 I will have no need to buy seeds. I'm excited to begin!


Here is what I picked this month:

9 1/2 ounces Brussels sprouts
1 pound 9 3/4 ounces carrots
2 pounds 5 ounces leeks
3 ounces celery
5 1/2 ounces Swiss chard
2 pounds 13 ounces kale
4 pounds kohlrabi

Month total: 11 pounds 13 3/4 ounces

Year total: 1218 pounds 3 1/4 ounces



Kohlrabi Patties

2 cups grated kohlrabi
1/4 cup grated onion
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Butter
Olive oil

Grate the kohlrabi and onion on a box grater or in a food processor. Place in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can.
Combine the kohlrabi and onion with the egg, flour, salt and pepper in a bowl, mixing thoroughly.
Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a large non stick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add 1/4 cup of kohlrabi to the pan and flatten out. Repeat until pan is full.
Cook 2-3 minutes until browned, flip patties and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove. Add more butter and oil to the pan and repeat.






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