August Garden Harvests

I've been a little ambivalent about my garden lately. We took two week long trips in August, so the peak of garden time kind of got neglected. But luckily, the veggies kept on growing. I still haven't succeeded in planting much if a fall garden. I attempted to transplant Brussel sprouts and broccoli. But only ended up with one measly plant of each. We'll see...

Look Amelia harvested a rock! She probably also ate all the tomatoes that I picked that day. The girl is a thief!

Haven't baskets were pretty small in early August. But the theme is the same. Tomatoes, beans and cucumbers (yay!)

 

In mid-August things started to pick up.

Too many beans....

 

 

 

This was the one of the biggest and last basket of August. Luckily, there is still a lot of harvesting time to go and lots of things growing. Plenty of carrots and onions left too.

Th fall raspberries are also keeping Amelia and I quite busy picking them.

If I stop neglecting things, I might be able to get my 5th attempt at spinach growing.

 

Ooooh --- and I have a pumpkin growing! First time ever!

Actually, I have this huge white squash pumpkin thing growing too! It's beautiful. I think it was seed from a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch we went to last fall. I can't wait to see what it looks like inside.

 

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July Garden

I have neglected the garden blog a bit, so here is a recap of the past 3-4 weeks.

I found a few more potatoes. Man, it's a mystery to me when potatoes are actually done and ready to harvest. Are my plants dying because I neglected them....? Or are they just done for the season. Not sure I'll ever figure this out.

Lots of beans are ready! In fact, I gobbled them up so quickly I didn't take any pictures. I've been eating them young and tender, fried up in some sesame oil and stir fries. My favorite summer dish.

And.....look! (Amelia's favorite new phrase)

Carrots! Finally! My first year I had way too many carrots. Last year I had none...except for one huge fat one.

So this was pretty awesome. I should have a few more, but not a ton like I'd like.

Swiss chard. I've kind of grown to like this. It's super yummy in stir frys. I might like it better than kale.

Oh yeah, kale. I froze a big bag of that too for winter soups.

View from under the raspberry bush

This has been the best summer for raspberries. We actually had more than we could eat in one sitting! Amelia and I spent lots of time sitting under the bushes looking for those juicey red berries. She's an excellent berry hunter.

These are the first tomatoes we found after returning from our long 4th of July weekend. They are the sungolds. We've had maybe 5 others. I think a sweetheart grape was ready too. I feel like I'm a little late on the tomato harvest this year. I've got plenty of green fruit, they are just taking their slow time. I did start a lot of plants from seed this year. And the only ones ready were the two transplants from territorial seed. Hmmm. But it's been MUCH warmer this summer than the previous two summers. 80-90 every day, which is a big deal for us. Guess, I'll have to start seeds a little earlier next year. Or splurge on transplants. Yeah, probably that...

And here are a few other recent harvests:

Look at that cool flambo hot pink speckled bean! These will be dried beans.

The royal burgundy is by far the most prolific, but I really enjoy the taste of the Masai and Speedy green beans. The Fortex of course are super delicious too!

Finally a zucchini! I've only gotten one. So weird. I'm gonna dump a bunch of fertilizer on that thing and tell it to kick it in to high gear. Enough already.

 

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Harvest Monday 6.24

 

This week we had a few new garden treats -- like broccoli! I've never grown broccoli before and now I wish I had. The heads that I harvested were minuscule. So.Tiny. But so delicious. The broccoli had a rough start from seed and I think I transplanted them a little late. So I'll do better this fall and next spring.

Look -- we had enough raspberries to actually take some in the house! This happened twice this week. That never happens. Usually we just stand at the bush and eat three times this much in one standing.

• And I harvested a bunch of overwintered onions. These usually want to start flowering due to our crazy not warm enough all the time spring/summer weather. And they end up so small. But they still take great! There are plenty more that are bulking up well in the new sunnier spot for this year. The red marble looks particularly yummy.
• The rest of the pac choi was also pulled as it was starting to flower. I froze it for future stir fry's.
• We picked two new potatoes. One blue fingerling from last year and another red potato from a potato left over from the grocery store. Amelia and I gobbled these up for lunch.
• Of course, we've also been snacking on small mountains piles of sugar snap peas. There were a few Dakota shelling peas that weren't snacked on garden side that I ended up cooking in a curry.
• Lastly, Amelia has picked every last strawberry to be found. Man...we need more of those things. STAT. I hope I get another late summer harvest. I'm not sure what type of berries I have.

 

Overall, things are growing...slowly, but growing.

• The tomatoes haven't really started fruiting yet. Just a few green cherry's and grapes. I just gave them a little fish fertilizer, so hopefully they will takeoff.
• The beans are flowering and there are tiny tiny little beans growing. Can't wait for fresh green beans!
• And I think my 1 zucchini plant has a load of baby fruit. So that should be exciting in the next couple weeks.

• Next week, I anticipate pulling a garlic stalk to see if the rest are ready to pull. They are starting to fall over and yellow a bit. But I harvested my garlic mid-late July last year. I'd really like to use the space for something else. Maybe another summer squash or some carrots or even fall brussel sprouts or broccoli?

 

Check out Daphne's Dandelions for more delicious harvests!

 

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Harvest Monday - Lettuce and Chinese cabbage

I always wait too long to harvest all the lettuce. I worry it will go bad in the fridge...so instead I let it bolt--oops! But I managed to pick all the rest of it today before it gets too bitter. I'm really loving the small miniature butter heads, the ones with the crinkly leaves. Although I can't remember what it is....Victoria? Little Jem (I think this is the mini romaine) or Tom Thumb?I have some growing in labeled containers so I hope to figure it out this time around.

The raspberries are finally ready! This is the best part of summer...going out every morning to pick a handful of berries.

These are a few Dakota shelling peas. I should have planted way more. Also, not pictured are all the snap peas we've eaten. Those never make it into pictures or the house.

And these are only 1/4 of our strawberries. Every day for the past week or two we've been eating at least 6-7. Amelia has learned to pick the ripe red ones and quickly shove them in her mouth. It's about the cutest thing ever.

And I have two big heads of Chinese cabbage that's ready. Plus 3 bunches of bok choy. This is my first year growing it and it did really well in the garden. Now I just have to figure out how to eat it, other than in stir fry's. Although, the stir fry I made last night was totally delicious. So I'm glad I chose to grow it this year.

 

Today, I also noticed the broccoli heads starting to form. Wahoo! This is my first time growing broccoli. This is typically my lettuce/greens bed because it gets more shade.

Everything else is looking good. There are even a few green fruits on my tomatoes. Although the plants aren't very big.

As usual, the pretty cilantro is taking over. The garlic will be ready soon and I just filled that bare patch where the cabbage was with some late zucchini.

I'm excited about all the onions this year. I never get very big bulbs, but at least this year I'll have a ton (for our little family anyways) even if they are small.

I also have a row cover that I move around. Right now it's over some peppers, since its a little cooler today

And I'm excited to try a few new varieties of beans this year.

 

So far I'm really enjoying our garden this spring/summer.

Check out Daphne's Dandelions for more delicious harvests!

 

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Late Aug to Early Sept Harvests

Here are a bunch of harvests from the past month (I'm a little behind...)

Things are still a little slow around here compared to last year. But the weather is still nice, so I'm hoping for a few more decent harvests.

My zukes and squash JUST NOW finally started fruiting! I probably have almost 10 growing now...right when powdery mildew has set in. Figures.

Also, I got just a few cukes. The bugs just eat them up all early summer.

A few peppers are growing still.

Lots of onions are bulbous and aren't so pathetically small.

I think I've managed to actually grow a few nicely sized beets! Wahoo!

And best news...I finally got a few carrots to grow!!!!! If only I could remember when I planted them for next year...oops? Maybe end of July/early Aug?

We have tons of raspberries which are giving us a nice breakfast treat each morning.

NEXT YEAR

I like all my tomato choices. Stupice is nice and plentiful and I think I'd get more if it wasn't in a pot. The early Oregon cherry didn't do well. Maybe try it in ground next year too. Cherokee purple ended up too shaded next to the beans - only 1 fruit so far and it's still green! I miss the romas.

I should space out the pole beans a bit more and use more trellising.

A whole front bed of bush beans was perfect!

Also, the peas were good.

More hot pepper plants! Since I only get 1-3 peppers per plant, I should just try and grow a bunch from seed.

FALL/WINTER
The past few weeks I planted more lettuce, arugula and spinach. It's doing well in the shaded bed. I should plant more!

I transplanted some Chinese cabbage in a few different areas. Its doing very well, but I hope it'll grow fast enough before its too cold.

Transplanted some onion starts. Doing ok?? Will they make it through the winter?

I need a place for my garlic which goes out in about a month.

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July 6th 2012: Garden Update

(note: reader beware...i fully intended to just post pictures and somehow its morphed into a giant novel about vegetables. I sincerely apologize in advance.)

I've been a little slack on my garden updates. Must be because I have something else to grow and take care of :) And she is much cuter!

I mostly want to post details and pictures for my own record keeping, so ignore the excessive descriptions of vegetables and the photo bomb if you'd like.

Up until recently the weather has been really crappy. Barely into the 60s-70s and rainy! Now that July has hit we are almost into the 80s and it's forecasted to get into the 90s within the next week or two. Yippee!!

The garden definitely needs some heat.

I don't have harvest pictures, but at this point I've been eating mostly A TON of snap peas. So glad that I planted nearly 7 ft of them (thanks to my sister who helped me while I was pregnant!)

I've also been nibbling on a few raspberries and strawberries, neither of which have made it into the house or to Dan (sorry!).

The kale as you can see below is doing amazing. If only I knew a way to keep up with eating it. It has been frequenting our smoothies regularly though. I think I'm going to harvest a bunch soon and blanch and freeze it for the winter and soup season.

We've also of course been enjoying fresh cilantro (although I like to let it flower because the white buds are so pretty and delicate!) and lots of lettuce. I have a super bad habit of wanting only the freshest of lettuce and not picking it in time before it bolts. Oops! Thus, Dan and I ate a slightly bitter salad for dinner tonight. Oh well!

Also, I never really got a good batch of spinach going this spring, so I'm banking on putting in a nice sized fall crop (I like how I use the word "crop" like I've got acres and acres of land...oh in my sweet sweet dreams!)

Also, this year I've planted cucumbers in mass because I can never seem to get the plants to grow big enough before the bugs get them. So hears to lots of pickles!!

Ummm...the corn is teeny tiny. Not enough sunlight. Pathetic. Also, it went in a bit late after the chinese cabbage - which was a bust, btw. Too many slugs. I hate those things. I wouldn't be sad if I never saw another slug in my life...so sooo slimy. And they eat everything! Anyways, I'll try the cabbage again this fall. Probably need to start it now...hmmmm.

Beets - hahahahahahaha! (that is the beet god laughing at my ridiculous repeated attempts to grow the darn things! I can't for the life of me grow them!)

Potatoes - we planted the organic blue version. Um, not sure how they are doing. They give me anxiety. I felt the same last year and didn't know how exactly to maximize the yield (again, what am I some kind of cash crop farmer?!?!). Hilling them stressed me out. So let's hope they are somehow growing big and beautifully blue. Thankfully, a few french fingerling volunteers from last year sprouted. They were so delicious that I completely forgot to save some to plant this year!

Carrots - I would be exaggerating if I said I had 2 of them growing. What the heck happened this year? I sowed them 3 times and nothing! Grrrr! But I'll stupidly keep trying...

Tomatoes - actually they are just starting to take off. I have faith in trusty territorial seed. Ive got quite a few green fruits growing on 6 different plants. I think this time last year I only had a couple of my very early cherry tomatoes ripe, so we are not too far behind.

And beans! Oh the green (and purple!) beans we will soon have! The first rotation of bush beans are practically ready and I can't wait! I'm also super eager to try the Royal Burgundy beans. They are the purple ones and look fun to eat.

I'm also growing pole beans this year and it's amazing watching them climb the trellis. I'm going to have a ton of runners climbing soon!

Well, I guess I just made up for all my missing garden posts. Haha!

Now wake up and go do something productive with yourself. No more blog hopping!! :)

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Harvest Monday

Here are the harvests after being gone at YW camp for 5 days.

Sadly, this is the extent of my onion harvests. Small lil things...but I won't complain.

Cured onions, a couple baby carrots, lots of Early cherry tomatoes, a couple Oregon cherry and a Sweetheart grape. 

The tomatoes are delicious, I've picked a few more since and I've eaten most of them already...I wish they would all ripen already! It's tough waiting for them! Sadly, I also came home to see that some of my Marzano romas had BER (blossom end rot). I've removed about 10 tomatoes! I'm pretty sad, but hoping the rest will come in nicely. I think they got too much water while I was gone and must also be lacking Ca.

 The zucchini are giants! Ooops! What do with them now??

Today, I spent most of the day planting for fall harvests and pulling up all of the beets that just did not grow. I really don't know why? I think they were much too crowded. My next post will be about how I used the mini beets and the greens.

 In their spot, I planted Top Keeper onions, Guardsman salad onions and Red Marble onions. Most of these should overwinter (except the guardsman).

 I also pulled a few early petite carrots that were in the way.

Yesterday I ate 1 of the bush green beans with a little tomato/onion relish. Delicious! I need to go pick a few more beans! I'm definitely planting much more next year!

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