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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Harvest Monday: July 26, 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.

Here in the Garden Spot, the Early Girl Tomatoes are living up to their reputation by ripening the first in the garden. The ones pictured below were allowed to ripen on the vine before harvesting:

Since the danger of Late Blight is near, all other tomatoes will be picked at first blush and placed on a windowsill inside to finish ripening. I know from my devastating Late Blight experience last year that this disease hits fast. Once you detect the tell tail signs, it will be too late to save any tomatoes. I would rather have a few ripen on a windowsill than lose them completely. I will consider them a harvest and include them in Harvest Monday photos once they are red.

Cucumbers pictured above were combined with those left over from last week’s harvest and made into Granny’s Bread & Butter Pickles.

It is a great year for blueberries. We are picking a bowlful every day and eating them by the handful, in our cereal, and as dessert topping:

Almost 5 pounds of Dark Red Norland Potatoes were harvested this week:

Again with Late Blight near, I didn’t hesitate to harvest whatever we could consume in a week. We enjoyed garlic-mashed potatoes, hash brown potatoes and onions, oven fries, and potatoes baked on the grill.

Not pictured are onions, celery, and herbs that are harvested as needed. It is so nice to run out to the garden and pick what is needed to use right away. Some cucumbers also missed their photo opportunity as I gathered them quickly to give away. I definitely overdid it with cucumber plants this year.

We are between lettuce crops now that we have cucumbers and tomatoes for salads. The last of the lettuce harvested several weeks ago and stored in the fridge was composted this week. There wasn’t much left. I am amazed at how long the lettuce stayed fresh in the refrigerator. It will be a while before the new lettuce is large enough for salads.

The melons are growing, the pole beans are flowering, and the peppers are finally forming. I am trying to keep a positive attitude, but the fact that Late Blight is in the vicinity is weighing heavily on my mind. There are 34 tomato plants and 32 feet of potatoes in the garden. All can be lost in a matter of days if Late Blight hits the garden spot.

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

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Early September Garden Overview: Part 2

This is a continuation to part 1 of the garden spot overview.

The celery grown in the Self Watering Containers (SWC) was a huge success. We had plenty for fresh eating and I have several bags in the freezer to add to soups and stuffing’s this winter. I thought the celery was finished and was going to pull it, but I noticed some new growth. So I trimmed out the old stalks and gave them a drink of fish emulsion to encourage it to produce again:

Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash have always been a staple in the garden spot. However, when planning the spring garden I still had a supply in the freezer from last year. When room became a problem, I elected to delay growing Zucchini and Yellow Summer Squash. I tried to grow Zucchini in a pot, but it really wasn’t happy:

I planned on planting both squashes mid-season once space opened up in the potato patch. One row of mid-season potatoes was being harvested little by little as early potatoes. I started some summer squash seedlings and thought I could transplant the potted zucchini in this area.

Once moved from pot to ground, the zucchini responded really well to its new location and has increased in size and produced more fruit:

The mid-season Yellow Summer Squash has formed its first fruit that should be ready for harvest soon:

Lettuce seedlings were started in soil blocks then transplanted to the garden along with some Evergreen Bunching Onions:

Unfortunately the Simpson Elite Lettuce is bolting after our heat wave last week. Luckily there is still time to reseed:

Also soil block transplanted were Pak Choi and Michihili Cabbage. Hopefully they will make it in spite of the insect damage:

 Spinach has been transplanted into an area shaded by tomatoes and peppers:

Carrots were planted where the garlic was harvested:

Most of the potato patch now stands empty. The final Sugar Baby Watermelons in the melon patch will be harvested soon and shortly the melon patch will stand empty as well.

The temperature was much more comfortable today for working in the garden and I was able to accomplish some much needed cleanup. The abnormal 90-degree temperatures we had last week are hopefully gone for good.

I made another batch of tomato sauce yesterday and canned it early this morning. More beans were blanched and frozen. One more day to enjoy, then I'll be back to work.

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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: July 5, 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 was nice to harvest some new items this week along with some young onions and some celery clippings.

The most exciting harvest is the Dark Red Norland Potatoes that I dug out earlier this weekend:

Once the Carouby de Maussane Snow Peas began producing, they really put out a substantial amount of pods. Unfortunately my poor planning resulted in the need to cut the lifespan of these plants short.  I was still lucky to harvest enough pea pods to freeze. These pods will be added to many stir-frys to come:

The first cucumber was picked just this morning. This is a National Pickling cucumber:

This one won’t be used for pickles though. In fact, it will be lucky to survive long enough to be added to a salad today. I love to snack on fresh cucumbers.

The lettuce shown last week is holding up wonderfully in the refrigerator. We will probably be able consume one more large bowl of salad from it before it starts browning. Just goes to show you how fresh supermarket lettuce really is since it usually only lasts a few days in the refrigerator.

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

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Harvest Monday: August 9, 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.

The most exciting harvest this week are the tomatoes. After losing all my tomato plants to late blight last year, I may have overcompensated a bit this year in the amount of plants in the garden. Personally, I don’t like tomatoes and usually plant mostly paste varieties for making sauce and salsa. Roma and San-Marzano paste tomatoes are the varieties I am growing this year:

K loves fresh tomatoes and I wanted to plant a couple eating tomatoes for him. I had both Early Girl and Bush Boy seeds on hand. More seeds germinated than I planned and I found room in the garden for all the healthy seedlings. Seriously, is it possible to have too many tomatoes?

I made a batch of salsa with Cilantro, Onions, Peppers, and Tomatoes from the garden. I had to purchase a few Jalapeno and Bell Peppers as mine are just beginning to fruit. The picture below shows some tomatoes and the first Cayenne, Anaheim and Bell Pepper harvest of the year:

The windowsill is in constant rotation. The ripe tomatoes are washed and frozen as the new harvest is added to the windowsill:

Two gallon sized freezer bags have been filled and frozen for later processing into sauce:

Other harvest this week included more Fastbreak Melons:

Dark Red Norland Potatoes (3.375 pounds) and another Fastbreak Melon:

Some small carrots and some onions:

Three bunches of celery were harvested, sliced, and frozen for later use in soups and stuffings:

There are still a lot of cucumbers coming off the vines. I have made a couple batches of pickles and will use some for a batch of sweet relish. The rest will be given away:

This is the best year we have ever had for Blueberries. Every day we pick a bowl full and have frozen some for use future baked goods:

 This weekend, the cured garlic was also trimmed and cleaned up:

The bulbs on the left are Romanian Red which will make a return appearance in the Garden Spot. On the right are Purple Glazer. The bulbs are small and fragile. I want to try another variety.

Just a reminder, if you are planning on growing garlic, now is the time to get your order in. I purchased my garlic seed bulbs from wegrowgarlic.com last year. I noticed this year they are already sold out of many varieties.

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

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Succession Planning: Getting the Most Out of the Garden Spot

Last weekend was dedicated to cleaning up the garden a bit and replanting more crops. This year I am trying to keep every spot growing. Once something is pulled from the garden, compost is added to the spot and something else is transplanted or seeded.

The lettuce had bolted and the Swiss chard had overgrown its area and has only been serving to feed the slugs:

Two Swiss chard plants remain and some of the unblemished Swiss chard was harvested. The rest was composted along with the bolted lettuce. New Lettuce and Swiss chard transplants will be planted into the squares where these were pulled. I am just waiting for the seedlings to get a little stronger before hardening them off.

I am growing a couple zucchini plant in a pot this year because I ran out of garden space. They don't look very happy:

I have been harvesting the new potatoes little by little along the edge of the potato patch. Some summer squash and zucchini seedlings will be transplanted to the area of the garden where the new potatoes have been harvested:

 The largest replanting this weekend was the Sugar Snax Carrots which were planted in the 4x4 SFG that the garlic was harvested from last week.

Several weeks ago, while it was too hot to work in the garden, I made carrot seed mats (Granny’s Seed Mat Tutorial at Annie’s Kitchen Garden). These were planted last weekend:

First a generous amount of fresh compost was added to the old garlic bed and mixed in along with a few scoops of Garden Tone fertilizer:

The SFG is 6-inches high but according to the package, Sugar Snax Carrots can grow 10-inches long. I loosened the soil beneath the bed with a garden fork by sinking the tines to the hilt in the soil and wiggling the fork back and forth. The objective is not to mix the native soil in with the SFG soil, just to loosen the soil below so the roots can penetrate easily:

Some of the soil was removed and mixed with vermiculite to cover the carrot seed mats:

 The carrot seed mats were laid out and sprinkled with some soil to hold in place:

 Then covered lightly:

 And watered generously:

There are still maybe 70+ days left to our growing season before the danger of frost threatens and I am going to try to make the most of it. I don’t think I want to try winter gardening just yet, but I will be using frost protection on two 4x4 SFGs in attempt to extend the growing season.

I also plan on overwintering some crops such as scallions, spinach, carrots, and maybe others. In the mean time, seedlings are also being started in soil blocks for herbs such as dill, basil, cilantro, and some cool weather crops that will go in the garden as the summer crops finish up: Spinach, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, and Broccoli. This is much easier to control for me this year since I am growing my own seedlings instead of purchasing transplants.

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