Sher's Totes

Thank you, Shawn.

By the time I get the rain towers up, that will be my absolute limit for hydroponics space!

Had to share photos of the Chinese cabbage and Swiss chard.

The Chinese broccoli is not so photogenic. I think it is getting too much light.

Okay, just one more picture, then I'll give it a rest.

But I am staggered at how fast they are growing, and wanted to share. I think it is too hot in the grow tent for the Chinese broccoli, though.

It's just a salad spinner.

The cabbages are forming their loose, crinkly heads. Time to harvest.

I did try cutting one near the base to see how it would do. (It's to the left of the big head.) It is growing back, but very slowly.

We keep harvesting the Swiss chard and it keeps coming back.

The Chinese broccoli got bugs  so I sprayed it with liquid Sevin. The bugs are gone. I removed all the affected leaves  leaving not much more than stalks. It is happily rebounding. i will wash it in soapy water and rinse a couple of times before eating to remove the Sevin.

I have been picking leaves from the Chinese broccoli for salad. But the plants are too mature for that now. So I cooked two plants tonight with dinner.

I didn't feel up to cooking anything too involved tonight, so I added salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. We enjoyed it.

I have come to realize that we are growing way more than we eat.  The Chinese cabbage I cut May 17 is almost full size, with the smaller one right behind it. I still have 3 huge heads that we haven't toiched yet.

Also I planted too much Swiss chard. These veggies will probably end up in the freezer next week.

I plan to grow 4 romaines max (thanks, elainev ) in the future. They get so huge that we will probably only use 1-2 heads a week. Then I 'll cut then down and let then regrow.

I also want to replace the Swiss Chard and plant smaller amounts of a bigger variety of veggies.

So the grow tent is in for an overhaul soon.

Yesterday I harvested everything in the totes.

I chopped up the chard stems, garlic, onions and sauteed them. Then I added chicken broth, cooked bacon, the chard greens -- and 20 of my overabundant cherry tomatoes and a squirt of lemon juice and pepper. It was superb, and  i had leftovers to refrigerate and freeze for 3 more generous side dishes.

Today I have to figure out what to do with way too much chinese cabbage. I may just blanch then and freeze them in induvidual meal size packages. That way I can worry about how I want to use and season them later.

I let the Chinese broccoli get too mature. I may blanch and shred the leaves, freeze them, and use them added to soups and stews.

I am going to have to do some serious clearing of odds and ends in the freezer to fit it all in.

I plan to replant mostly salad greens in the totes when I can get to it.

Overall, I think the totes projects were a smashing success!