We recently returned from three weeks in England and Wales visiting historic sites, gardens, cathedrals and London. We extended our time after the Rick Steves tour to visit Christopher Lloyd’s Great Dixter and the gardens of Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst, both south of London. It was memorable and my husband and I chat about our experiences every day. (The Purple Garden at Sissinghurst below).

My vegetable and flower gardens are not really set up for three week vacations, though we do have watering systems for all but the veggies. My usual garden tender was away as well so three friends each took a week and kept the vegetable garden going while enjoying beets, onions, lettuce and carrots.

Today’s post will be a compilation of some harvests just before we left in early May on through this past week. Potatoes, rhubarb and beets will garner a separate blog post. The carrots in the thumbnail are mostly Bolero pelleted seed from San Diego Seed Company. I always grow Bolero but this was my first time with pelleted seed. It was easy, with good germination and the harvest was bountiful..

Before we left on vacation I pulled out all the Black Magic kale as it neared the end and aphids showed up. I gave a mountain of it away to friends but longed for one last kale salad before season’s end. I selected a small bunch and stowed it in an extra large Zip-loc bag as an experiment. Friends tell me my kale keeps well in the fridge for extended periods. Almost four weeks after harvest my garden kale was still in very good condition and I made my favorite Apple and Kale Salad.

I cut the last of the Rosaine lettuces which persisted through May without bolting. It’s a new favorite from Territorial Seed Co.

As the cool season veggies finish, the zucchini begins.

Sunny days are rare now in our May Gray and June Gloom. Sometimes it just feels dank and cold with the overcast. That prompted a minestrone soup with green beans and bell peppers from the freezer, garden carrots and a zucchini. I made a cauldron of it and shared some with three friends.

Alpine strawberries and blueberries are a regular treat on waffles, cereal and in salads. Soon the apricots will be ready. Apples and rhubarb await me.

I’ll close with garden views from the Tower at Sissinghurst.

Check the What I’m Planting Now page as I plant the summer 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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