Thanksgiving Greens

   

       Yes there was a fall harvest.  Several gorgeous open heads of radicchio developed from a spring seeding of a Burpee mesclun mix.  I just had to try to make a salad wreath from the radicchio picked Wednesday, November 24th.

      The only plants to make it through the hot summer from the spring mesclun planting were several of these beautiful bronze flat heads.  After lots of picture surfing on the web, I have concluded that they are radicchio.  I have no clue as to which variety. 

       These were the various greens picked to stuff around the radicchio. On the counter are pickings of mizuna mustard, chinese greens, red russian kale, tango lettuce, pea plant tops, tah tsoi, pak choy, frizze, arugula, red ribbed dandelion, and oak leaf lettuce. 

      Pictured above is the completed project.  Turned out to be both beautiful and delicious.  It is now the middle of January as I am rewriting this as a Blog post, and wow do I wish that I could sit down with this beauty for dinner!

      After the Thanksgiving feast, I took daughter Barb over to the park to look at the garden.  Somebody had cut and taken my other five radicchio heads and topped out the red ribbed dandelions!   Nothing else was taken, but to say I was irate and bummed is a major understatement.  Foul words were probably heard at the park. To rip off a fellow gardener on Thanksgiving was an insult to all gardeners.  The Friday morning after Thanksgiving I went over to the park to resurvey the damage under better light.  Nothing else taken or amiss.  Looking very carefully in one bed near the dandelions, I spied one, then another and yet another foot print!  I was going to go to the park office to see, if with my new evidence I could have the culprit arrested, but I didn't really expect that they had identifying deer hoof prints on file.  So, with the crime solved my anger was significantly appeased.  I had been visited by the dastardly deer herd, not two legged thieves.  Much easier to accept than some other gardener helping themselves.  Interesting that the only things chomped were both of the chicory family.  And lucky that the topped produce will regrow over time from the deep tap roots.  So the gardening goes on.  Have to build some cold frames to protect some things from the oncoming winter.  Hoping your Thanksgiving was good -  George