Harvested First Heads of Broccoli

Not a whole much has been going on garden wise except for my broccoli starting to produce heads and side shoots.  Once I pick the head the plant should begin to show signs of side shoots where more broccoli will start growing.  This should last until the ground freezes or in a couple of months.

Most of my broccoli plants do have heads or are in the beginning stages of producing heads.  I will have to start cutting them in the next few weeks and to enable them to continue growing smaller broccoli which I can use and enjoy.

So far I have not picked any side shoots yet, but instead have only cut the center head which all broccoli plants produce.  Once I pick this head they will begin to grow large harvests of broccoli hopefully.  The center heads are still good to eat and is just the start of my broccoli harvesting season.

The key is to make sure that the broccoli doesn’t begin to flower before you pick them.  Once they flower then the plant will not produce much side shoots after this.  I like to pick them just before they begin to flower that way they can start producing more broccoli which I will pick later on.

At the moment I have only picked five broccoli heads and I have not used them yet, but I am waiting to pick some more before I begin to eat them.  They will be able to last a few weeks as long as I keep them in a cool refrigerator.

I also picked the last eggplants of the season at the same time this week.  I only had a couple left and when I looked at them I decided that it was time to pick the last of them.

I still have some pole beans that are ready to pick, but instead of picking them right now I am going to wait until the pods turn yellow and then pick them.  I will be using these pods for seeds for next season since they are heirloom beans.

All I need to do is place them in the windowsill let the pods dry and then take out the seeds.  Right now I will say that the bean harvesting is over for this season.