Surprises, Agony, and Crap

So which do you want first? The Surprise, The Agony, or The Crap.

Well since this is a Harvest Monday post; I guess I'll start with the Surprise....since my harvest was a surprise.

This weekend's garden task was to get the beds tilled and ready for Spring planting. Our last frost date is March 15th and given the winter we've all had (and the 10 day forecast); it is probably safe to say that we've already had our last frost for the year. So we need to get a move on it.

One of my beds had a few weeds in it, so I decided to pull those by hand. I pull and tug and tug and pull and out comes a turnip! What the!? So you mean these 'weeds' are actually turnips? Yep. I planted turnips there in early November. But I thought they had failed to germinate. Well, I guess they germinated some time over the winter and what I had been thinking were weeds were actually turnips. I went ahead and pulled them all and blanched them. The house smelled heavenly!

In the end, I had two servings of turnip greens and two servings of turnips. Not to great for a 4x8 bed; but not to shabby for a bed left for weeds months ago :).

Which brings me to the Crap. After pulling my turnip weeds (lol), I still had to get the bed ready for planting next week. As you know, I am dealing with heavy clay that has not been amended; as this is only my 2nd spring garden and I've expanded. So task number 1 was to amend this soil; with what else: Crap. Yea, buts it was free crap from a nearby horse stable. The horse owner stacks this stuff behind the stable and it basically sits there. My neighbor let us use his truck and we got a truck full. I wasn't sure how aged it would be; but I was pleasantly surprised. It was just like dirt; there were a few chunks in there that were still wet. But overall, this will work perfectly.

So after shoveling crap from truck bed to wheel barrel. Rolling it about 100'. Dumping it. Tilling it in. Raking it smooth. Times 5 --- 4x8 garden beds + the kid's 16x8 garden bed. We now have 5 beautiful garden beds ready for planting.

Now as I sit here typing this entry......oh the Agony! I feel it. All. Over.

See how other gardeners are fairing with their harvest over at Daphne's.

Oh! I had one more surprise! I pulled a Romaine Lettuce about two weeks ago. I just twisted the head off and left the root. Well.....guess what.....the root (or whatever I left in the ground), is now growing 4 heads. You can see where I pulled the lettuce from the center of the 4 new 'heads'. Cool! Is this what is called a bumper crop?