Harvest Monday: August 2, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

I am a little late with posting my Harvest Monday post. It was a very busy weekend here at the garden spot. The weather was so beautiful with much less humidity than we have been experiencing. It was so much easier to work outside in the yard and garden without the oppressive heat. I was so motivated.

We ran out of tomato sauce, which is a staple in this household. So I needed to make a batch to tide us over until the garden tomatoes are ready. Everything that went into the sauce was from the garden except for the tomatoes, which came from cans. Good quality canned tomatoes, but canned nonetheless. I was thrilled to use my own grown garlic, onions, basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano in the sauce.  I can’t wait to use my own grown tomatoes.

I also took advantage of the cooler weather and canned up some Kosher Dill Pickles and some Salsa. In addition, the garden paths were weed whacked and gardens weeded. The plants were pruned, fertilized, and watered.

I am so thrilled to have tomatoes coming in fast and furious this year. The ones pictured below are Early Girl, but the paste tomatoes also began ripening this week as well. I will have some to show for next week’s Harvest Monday:

This week I also harvested a few of the first Nante carrots from the Square Foot Garden. These are shown below with some celery thinnings. The celery growing in the SWC was looking a bit ratty, so I took some scissors and cleaned it up and thinned it out. Some of these trimmings went into salads, but most were chopped and frozen for later use in soups this fall and winter:

More cucumbers were harvested:

I gave away some cucumbers and will probably be giving away much more in the future. I’ve made one batch of Bread & Butter Pickles and this weekend canned up 12 pints of Kosher Dill Pickle spears. We now have more pickles than we could ever consume. If they taste good, most jars will be probably given away as well. Here is the Dill harvest that was used for the Kosher Dill Pickle recipe:

I also harvested another batch of basil that was turned into pesto and frozen for later use:

The first Fast Break Melon was harvested on Friday. I don’t expect much from the first melon. It has usually struggled to grow and is pollinated early when the temperatures are quite cool and the plant is still trying to establish itself. This one was small, a bit deformed, and only about 4-inches across. It had already slipped from the vine when I found it. I ate this first melon for breakfast this morning, it was delicious:

A few more Fast Break Melons ripened over the weekend:

More Dark Red Norland Potatoes were harvested:

Blueberries, a few raspberries, and blackberries:

The first Kentucky Wonder Pole beans:

These were snacked on right after the photo. I usually grow bush beans for an earlier harvest, but decided against them this year as we had too many beans last year. Kentucky Wonder and Purple Trionfo Pole Beans were planted and they have just begun to form beans. Soon I will be harvesting beans every day. I can’t wait.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Harvest Monday: September 27, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas. Below is an overview of some of the bounty harvested over the past week:

The peppers seemed slow this year, but this week I was able to harvest 2-pounds of Anaheim Peppers:

These were used to make some Chicken Enchiladas with Dan’s Green Chili Sauce. Dan’s recipe (Urban Veggie Garden Blog) can be found here. I modified his recipe a little bit to cook in a slow cooker/crock pot. There was enough Green Chili Sauce to freeze for another meal.

The tomatoes are still coming in. After this weekend, only the San Marazano plants remain in the garden. There are still many tomatoes on these vines and a few are harvested each day to finish ripening on the windowsill:

These are the fruit that were salvaged from the pulled tomato plants from yesterday's post:

A large amount of eggplant was harvested and used for Eggplant Parmesean:

Yellow Summer Squash, Bell Peppers from a branch that bent over from their weight, and some more San Marazano Tomatoes to add to the overflowing windowsill:

Another Yellow Summer Squash and a Zucchini that went from small to large in less than 24 hours. Must have been a result of the warm weather we had last week. It will be seeded, grated, and frozen for zucchini bread later this fall/winter:

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Harvest Monday: September 13, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

It’s hard to believe that only two weeks ago the temperatures were in the 90s here in southern Maine. Beginning this weekend, they are more seasonably in the 60s. The summer garden is responding by slowing down production.

I spent most of the weekend making and canning 18 pints of sauce and 14 half-pints of salsa. I also blanched and froze another batch of string beans. I have enough of each preserved now for at least a year. I am feeling very satisfied.

The tomatoes continue to ripen and I anticipate making another batch of tomato sauce next weekend. However the yield harvested each day has dropped tremendously.

The Purple Trionfo and a few Kentucky Wonder pole beans are still producing. From this point on, I will be picking only what is needed for fresh eating. The remainder will be allowed to mature for seed saving. I am hoping to save enough Purple Trionfo seeds for next year. It will be my first seed saving attempt and the Purple Trionfo were grown right next to Kentucky Wonder, so it should be interesting to see what happens.

Here are some of the harvests from the garden spot this week:

I’ll post more about the grapes later this week.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Harvest Monday: September 20, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

Not much harvested this week from the garden spot. I did use up the Concord Grapes harvested last week to make some Grape Jelly:

This was the first time I have been able to harvest enough grapes to make something with them. I used the recipe on the pectin box and the jelly came out good. I apologize for not posting more about the grapes last week as promised. Things were a bit crazy here last week. I do promise to post more about the grape and the grape vines this week.

Tomatoes are still ripening, but at a much slower pace now. I am picking them as they blush to avoid insect damage. They also seem to ripen quicker on the windowsill as our nights have been much cooler lately. Also, a few cucumbers were harvested along with some beans to add to a salad:

I made yet another batch of tomato sauce this weekend. I am re-heating it now and will be canning it tonight. Most of the tomato plants are looking very sickly. This upcoming weekend, I will be harvesting of all the remaining tomatoes, then pulling the plants and putting them out of their misery. They have served me very well. I have canned more sauce and salsa than I ever dreamed I would this year.

Next week looks more promising. The peppers are finally putting on some size and the summer squash are still slowly producing. Fall crops are also coming along. I also will be harvesting some herbs for drying this upcoming week.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Melon Update

It was a busy weekend in the garden spot. The weather turned a bit cooler for a few days….almost fall-like with low humidity and nights in the 50s. Although great for gardening chores and wonderfully comfortable sleeping weather, the cooler night temperatures we not enjoyed by the melon patch. It is beginning to look a bit ragged. I gave all the melons a shot of fish emulsion. The weather is supposed to return to hot temperatures this week, so I hope the melons hang on and continue to grow into fall.

We have had such a warm summer. Overall, the garden is thriving as a result. The melon patch has produced numerous fruit nestled among the zealous vines.

Fastbreak Melons are a favorite in the garden spot. They are a muskmelon that appealed to me because of the fast maturing rate of about 70-days. The fruit are about 5-inches in diameter and taste like a sweet and small version of cantaloupe you would purchase in the supermarket. One melon is a perfect for breakfast for two.

Sugar Baby Watermelons are a new melon in the garden spot. It is an 8-inch average watermelon that matures in 80-days and is described as having a crisp, mouthwatering, sweet rich flavor.

Charantais Melons are new to the garden spot as well. They are a true European cantaloupe that has a thin, smooth skin with light green stripes that advances to creamy yellow. Charentais melons typically take 70-90 days to mature and may grow to softball size, weighing about 2 pounds:

Black solar mulch was used in the melon patch to help keep down the weeds and increase the warmth. The vines quickly intertwined in the patch as they grew.

I could easily recognize the Sugar Baby Watermelons vines because their leaf shape was different, but the Fastbreak and Charantais melon’s foliage looked similar. As the melons formed and grew, they were easy to identify. Not surprisingly, the Fastbreak Melons were the first to form fruits:

In the past few weeks I have recognized the Charantais Melons among the vines. They were late to the melon party, but are catching up quickly:

Sugar Baby Watermelons were forming fruit only a few weeks after the Fastbreak Melons. Their dark rinds cause them to stand out in the melon patch as silent sentinels:

As shown in the Harvest Monday post, the first Fastbreak Melons were harvested this week. I know from experience that the first melon is no prize as it has struggled to grow in cooler conditions in its early life. The first melon harvested is much smaller and slightly deformed than the others growing in the patch. The rind had turned a slightly yellow color and shown as a beacon among the green vines. When I reached for it, I found that it had already separated itself from the vine:

The second was quite a surprise. The melon shown brightly in the patch the following afternoon having turned to a golden color in only a day. I reached in to adjust its position so I could see the stem and it effortlessly slipped from the vine. It was ripe and ready for harvest:

This one was larger than the first, about 6-inches wide and tasted sweet and fresh. There are many more to follow.

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