First Harvest

By Mwillis
It's been a long time coming, but today I can announce the first harvest of a crop sown this year - in other words excluding things like the Purple Sprouting Broccoli that was sown last year and harvested this.

Yes, my first batch of Radishes. As you can see, they are of two types  - "Cherry Belle" and "French Breakfast".

 The round, plain red ones are the "Cherry Belle". This is a variety I have grown many times before, and I find it very reliable. It has a nice crisp texture and just the right amount of pepperiness.

The long ones with the white tips are the "French Breakfast".

I don't know whether French people eat these things for breakfast, but I can say that they are the type I associate very firmly with French markets. When we used to go across to Calais to bring home our wine, we used to try to get into the center of town before the market closed, mainly so that we could splash out a couple of Euros on a big bunch of these! Here's a photo of some on a market stall in Ferney Voltaire (France), near where our daughter Fiona and her family live:

The sign says 1.20 a bunch, or 2 euros for 2 bunches.


This is our favorite way to eat Radishes - raw, dipped in salt, eaten with a pre-dinner aperitif:

Finally, an arty photo for you. This one uses an effect called "Ortonish", named after the famous photographer Michael Orton, who invented a photographic technique which mimics watercolour painting. The effect is easily applied to a photo via Picasa or Google Photos.

I'm linking my post to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres. (Hooray - my first chance to contribute something, for ages!)