Harvest Monday Sept 27th 2010

It's all about the potatoes this week. 

First we dug the rest of the All Blues and the Yukon Golds.

A few russets for dinner.

All of the Kennebecs.  We now have over 100 lbs of potatoes and I still have to dig the russet bed.  It looks like a ridiculous amount, but I keep reminding myself that these will be our potatoes for the year.  I'm hoping that I'll have some to plant in the Spring.  It will be interesting to see how much we truly use for the year.

Another butternut, some broccoli side shoots and more tomatoes.

I really can't believe how many tomatoes and peppers I got this year.  They just keep coming with no frost in the forecast yet. 

Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what else is being harvested this week.

Harvest Monday Sept 20, 2010

We returned from vacation on Friday, so all of my harvests have been in the past 3 days.   I didn't post to Harvest Monday the week before we left, but did get the first broccoli then.

When we returned, the tomatoes were looking a little rough.  The plants are starting to get diseased and tired.  I'll be ripping out the Legends this week.  It has been an amazing pepper year for me as well.  The ananheims and jalapenos were just crazy.  I have so many frozen, I'm not sure I'll plant any next year. 

This is just a sampling of the 20 pounds of my All Blue potatoes dug so far.  There are still a couple hundred pounds of potatoes to be dug.  I'm taking my time.  Last night we had blue mashed potatoes with garlic from the garden.  My little one didn't like the color, but after some coaching decided the potatoes were ok after all. 

This morning's haul.  Those tomatoes keep coming and my one and only acorn squash. 

This post is part of Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.  Head on over and check out what everyone is harvesting.

Harvest Monday Aug 30th 2010

It's not a huge harvest this week.  The tomatoes are slowing down and a majority of the rest is done for the season.

The second round of cabbages was enjoyed in cole slaw this week.  We also wrapped things up with our corn.  The jury is still out on whether we'll do it again next year.  The pumpkin may be our one and only this year.  All around we didn't have a good pumpkin and squash year. 

Tomatoes are still coming in, but at a slower pace.  I'm hoping to can up a few more qts this week, but we'll see. 

This post is part of Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.  Head on over and see what else has been harvested this week.

Harvest Monday Aug 23rd 2010

The first corn of the year came in this week.  It was a mixed bag.  There is still a bit to be harvested.

Tomatoes are still ruling the day.  This week I harvested about 50 lbs.  I'm starting to see a possible end to this, but would like it to go on for at least another 3-5 weeks.  Maybe in a slightly smaller capacity though.

It hasn't been a good pumpkin and squash year for us.  This is a very small Cinderella pumpkin that ended up getting composted as a result of damage.  There is also a very small Waltham butternut.  Maybe next year we'll have a good squash year.

The peppers are still coming in very nicely.  The egg is of course from my girls.


Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and see what else is being harvested this week.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Let's start with the good.  The things I like about my garden.  I love these tomato supports.  They're keeping everything healthy and are working out very well.  I'll be putting some twine along the outside to try to keep everything contained.

The tomatoes are producing like mad.  I haven't had any red ones yet, but there are so many on the vine, that I should have a banner year.  No sign of disease either!

This has been my absolute best year for peppers.  Usually they do nothing until late August.  Many years I've had to buy peppers to make salsa.  Not this year!

This is a Rouge Vif dTemps or Cinderella pumpkin.  It's getting bigger by the minute and is being joined by many other pumpkins and winter squash.

The corn is getting very tall and starting to tassle.  I am so excited for my first taste of corn.  This is my first year attempting corn, so far so good.

Now onto the bad.

The weeds are unreal.  This is by far the worst.  This is my strawberry bed.  It was created from the composting of all the waste removed when I expanded the garden a few years ago.  It was covered with a tarp to kill weeds and compost everything  down.  It clearly needed to cook a bit longer.  The rest of the garden is weedy, but this is insane.  I swear I could clear this away today and it would look just like this within 3 days.  There is even a rogue lettuce and pumpkin growing haphazardly in there.  I'm seriously considering forgoing the strawberries and covering the whole mess with the tarp again. 

Then there are the squash vine borers.  I get them every year.  I've tried everything you can think of to combat them.  Some years I get a good crop before they're eaten, some years I don't.  This is one of those years where I won't get much.  The gold rush are holding their own, but not producing much.  The black beauty just got pulled out with not a single squash. 

Overall, it's been a great year.  The unprecedented warmth we've had has been wonderful for many of the plants.  The accompanying drought, not so much.  I've been watering lots, but have been unable to keep up with weeds.  My asthma has made it virtually impossible for me to breath in the 90 + degree heat with humidity in the 70s.  Thankfully, things seem to be struggling through the weeds for the most part.  They got a good head start.  Next year I'll mulch better to keep down the weeds.

Garden Update

It's been way too long since I've done a garden update.  Life has been a bit crazy here, but starting to get more stable now.  So....

The garlic is just starting to look like it is dying back.  It will still be a few weeks until harvest, but it is looking good!  I can't wait to see how big the heads are.  The tops have been huge!  I've never had garlic so big before.

 The Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage is really heading up.  I can't wait for the first cole slaw of the season.

 These are my Legend tomatoes.  All the tomatoes are covered in flowers, but these are the first fruits I've seen.  Hubby has never liked tomatoes, but has decided that this is the year he will try them.   He loves all tomato products and my bruschetta, that has raw tomato in it.  He even tried a tomato on a salad at a wedding without prompting.  Of course he said it tasted of watery nothingness.  I'm sure he'll love the tomatoes from the garden!

I'm having a very hard time getting a good picture of the tomato trellising.  They are climbing nicely up the supports and so far I'm very happy with this set up.  We'll see in August when they're taller than I am, not that it's difficult to be taller than me.

 The potatoes are starting to look a bit trampled.  The foliage is getting so big that it is falling all over the place.  It's making it very difficult to get around in the garden, since the 3 beds are right smack in the middle of the garden at the gate. 

The corn is not quite as high as an elephant's eye, but it is getting big.  Everything got a good soaking with fish emulsion last night, with a big concentration on the corn. That should get things moving along nicely.  I'm really excited to try it.  On father's day we had corn on the cob with our lobster.  It was obnoxiously sweet.  There was no corn flavor at all.  I hope that is not the trend with the new varieties.  This variety is from Fedco called Incredible.

Lastly, the squash patch.  We still have no flowers on anything, but things are getting bigger and starting to vine. Pictured is Waltham butternut squash and Rouge Vif DTemps.