This was the week for Romanesco. I had ten very large plants ready despite my intention to only grow four this year. I must have mislabeled some of them as I only had two white cauliflowers and I planned on six. Nonetheless, I had many eager takers for the Romanesco. I now only have two left and I’ll do some of my favorite recipes with these.

Most of the Romanesco are sizable—usually about eight inches across. These two small heads were perfect gifts for two young single friends who had never had Romanesco.

To read more about the fractal architecture of Romanesco and find links to recipes, see two previous blogposts:

Romanesco and How to Grow Romanesco

Winter garden salads are an almost every day occurrence. I generally wander the garden deciding what today’s salad will be like. Will I start with arugula or lettuce or maybe spinach? Should I do some chiffonades with the Tuscan kale. Grab some baby leaf chard and celery? Is there citrus available? Cheese or nuts for protein and some heft?

Sometimes my dinner plans come together as I survey what needs to be used in the fridge. Here purple cauliflower, white and purple carrots and red onion. I concocted a chicken-cauliflower-cheese soup which would have been a better choice for Valentine’s Day since it had a distinctive and not so appetizing pinkish-lavender color.

Instead of the more typical 500 plus navel oranges in the winter months, we’ll likely only have five dozen or so. We’ll appreciate each one and hope for a more prolific season next year.

With the cool winter weather, the leucadendron takes on a deeper red hue. As I assessed the hastily put together bouquet, the flowers seemed to have rose-like qualities. Such vivid colors for pallid winter days.

Check the What I’m Planting Now page as I transplant and sow seeds in the cool season garden. Then head today to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres blog and see what garden bloggers around the world harvested last week.

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