Harvest Monday Oct 11, 2010

The potatoes are finally all in.  The russet bed was the one I was most interested in.  They're our favorites.  In all, I ended up with close to 200 lbs of potatoes.  It sounds and looks like a lot, but they'll be eaten in our house.  We love our potatoes. 

Unfortunately, so do the groundhogs who dug a hole in my potato bed.  They took bites out of around 20 pounds of potatoes that then ended up in the compost.  The stinkers built their hole by the back fence where I couldn't see them.  Toby couldn't get to them because his electric fence is inches from their hole and he would get shocked.  There isn't anything for them to eat now.  I'm sure they will disappear until next year.

The week saw the last of the tomatoes and peppers that were pulled.  I have to admit, I was so sick of tomatoes that many just got composted.  I'll probably regret that next year.  Not pictured is broccoli and a few more carrots.

All that is left now are the fall crops.  They're doing very well, so they'll be regular players from now on.

This is part of Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Mondays.  Head on over and check it out.

Harvest Monday Oct 4, 2010

We've been getting lots of rain and wind over the past week.  As a result, I still haven't been able to harvest the last bed of potatoes.  We've been getting plenty of other harvests though.

The tomatoes just keep on coming.  Although, the plants themselves are looking awful.  Most of them are fully diseased and looking awful, but they're still pumping out plenty of tomatoes.  If we get a break in the weather this week, I intend to pull them out.  I got a load of fresh cow manure yesterday, so I can put the garden to bed now. 

While I was looking at the tomatoes with a neighbor, I decided to take a closer look at the carrots that I had planted in between the rows.  They looked far better than I had anticipated.  The variety is a shorter type, so many of them are a decent size.  I'm not a fan of carrots, but my family had them for dinner last night and said they were incredibly sweet.

The broccoli continues to do well also.  In addition to the head pictured, there was also a meal of side shoots that I didn't get a picture of.

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

Canning shelves

The year in canning is slowing tremendously.  Here I have my whole tomatoes, salsa, peaches, peach butter and bread and butter pickles.  I didn't make any jams or jellies this year.  I made so many last year that I still have enough for quite a while.  If I can find some grapes at a nearby farm, I may make some grape jelly.

Under the stairs is more of a mish mash of things.  There are a few more jars of salsa and whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef stock and chicken stock.  There are also a few leftovers from last year like applesauce, minestrone soup and the last jar of tomatillo salsa.    I love looking at all the pretty jars.  It will all be so very yummy in January.

Since there are still tomatoes coming in, a few more jars of things may make their way downstairs.  There are still 3 qts of tomato sauce sitting on the kitchen counter, along with more tomatoes waiting to have a place to go.  I'm out of pint jars, so everything from here on out will be in quarts.

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.

Gardening with the kiddoes

Today has been gorgeous.  True fall weather after some pretty significant heat.  What better day to dig potatoes?  I have already dug the bed with the All Blues and Yukon Golds.  Today was the day for the Kennebecs. 

It started out with just me digging.  Then the kids realized that they got to play in the dirt.  It became a contest to see who could get the bigger potato.  Some were huge, with a few at the bottom over a pound each.  I ended up with about 50 lbs from the 5 lbs that I started with.  Those potatoes sure seemed to like the chicken manure they got.  I still have to dig the Rio Grande russets, but they'll have to wait a bit.  We're due to get rain this week and I just don't think I can dig anymore today.

When the kids got tired of digging, they started searching for worms, grubs and bugs.  It became a game of naming them and then feeding them to the chickens.  The chickens were very appreciative.  They got moved into the garden a few days ago and have been happily weeding, turning the soil and fertilizing for me. 

After the potatoes were dug we moved on to the tomatoes.   J's son N started eating them like an apple.  When we got to the peppers, they were all excited.  D, from up the street said, "I love jalapenos" and proceeded to eat one right in the garden.  N, Morgan and Noah decided that sounded like a great idea and did the same.  Many glasses of milk later, they decided that it was probably not the best idea.

They were all thoroughly exhausted and napping on the patio.    I think I may go do the same thing.  Enjoy this wonderful weather!

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.

What a great harvest I had today.  The broccoli finally decided to do something.  There were 2 heads to harvest this morning and several more on their way.  We've had such a hot summer, that my broccoli just didn't do anything.  I had beautiful, big, healthy plants, with no heads.  Patience prevailed and now I have a bunch to put up.  The potatoes went into homefries for breakfast and the tomatoes went into tonight's chili. 

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately.  With the start of the school year, several weddings to shoot with Hubby and prep for vacation, I haven't had much time.  We're headed off to vacation tomorrow, so blogging will probably cease until I get back in a week or so.  We'll be going to Monticello for the Harvest Festival and then to Williamsburg for homeschool week.  The kids are so excited for Busch Gardens and Water Country.  I'm excited for the gardens at Monticello and the fact that I'll get to meet Patti Moreno and Sharon Astyk.  They are both amazing women, doing amazing work.   I'm sure the gardens and speakers will give me lots of inspiration and ideas for my garden.

See you soon!

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.

After the deluge

This is what my tomatoes look like after 4 days of pouring rain. 

When I picked corn, I found this.  The poor pollination makes it look like it has some kind of disease.  Random kernels look rather silly.

Then I found this smart aleck grinning at me.  He's kind of cute, so I'll let him stay.  At least until lunch.

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.

Tomato Tuesday

I apologize if you're sick of them.  But I'm just ecstatic over the production this year.  This is about 30 pounds of tomatoes.  Guess what I'm doing today?

Harvest Monday Aug 16th, 2010

It's tomato time!  After 2 really bad tomato years, we're celebrating here in the northeast. 

That's not even half of what I harvested this week.  They're coming on quite strong and we're loving every minute of it. 

I'm also still harvesting potatoes as needed.  These are Kennebecs that were used for a potato salad.  We had a big birthday party to celebrate the kid's birthdays with family and neighbors.  Since they're so close together, we always have one big party for the both of them.  It was nice to have all the vegetables come straight from the garden.

This is the second harvest of beets.  There are still quite a few more to go. 

What isn't pictured are the cucumbers, beans, green peppers, jalapenos and anaheims. 

We're finally getting some rain this week, which is wonderful.  I'm hoping these harvests keep up.  We're well on our way to having a majority of our vegetables come from my garden this year. 

This post is part of Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday.  Go check out what everyone is harvesting this week.

Halfway there

We're halfway through August and I'm already halfway to my tomato goal for the year.  Today I canned up 7 more quarts of tomatoes and a large batch of Annie's Salsa.  It certainly looks like we'll exceed the number of quarts of tomatoes that we need.  They'll be put away for a rainy day, or year, as the case may be.  A glut of tomatoes is a very good thing. 

This is the first year that I've been able to make the salsa entirely from produce that I grew.  Usually the peppers are way behind and I have to get them from the market.  This year they beat out the tomatoes.  I love running out to the garden for green peppers and jalapenos.  It's so much more wonderful than getting in my car.

Weird and Wonderful

We had a good giggle over this one.

Harvest Monday Aug 9,2010

This post is part of Daphne's Dandelions' series for Harvest Monday.  Click on over and check out what everyone is harvesting this week.

We're really into the heat of summer here.  Some things are starting to give up and others are just coming into their own.

These are the first of the Yukon Golds.  I'm only harvesting as I need them.  There are tons of potatoes (hopefully!)  still awaiting harvest, but the longer I keep them in the ground, the longer they'll keep in the house.  Most will probably stay there until October or so.  In the meantime, we'll continue to eat fresh potatoes every so often.

A typical harvest for this time of year.  The cucumbers are not looking terribly healthy these days.  I should get a few more from them though. 

Hubby had a hankering for swiss chard in his eggs the other day.  It is holding up remarkably well despite the heat.  This is actually a volunteer that showed up in the bean patch this year.  The beets need to be frozen.  They are such a winter veggie in my mind.  Can you see my sourdough starter in the background?  I'm very proud that I started that little guy myself.  It's happily bubbling away.  When it gets a bit stronger, I'll post more about it.

These poor green tomatoes are casualties of war.  I was desperately trying to tie up my overgrown vines and lost a few tomatoes along the way.  They'll ripen up nicely inside and be gobbled up just the same.  The green beans are looking to make a comeback with lots of new fruit forming these days.  I'm glad I didn't pull them up yet.

Harvest Monday Aug 2, 2010

The tomatoes are coming in now.  It's a glorious thing!  I didn't get picture of everything, but you certainly get the idea.

This is the basics of what we're getting these days.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and a smattering of beans.

They look about the same, don't they?  We're really enjoying the produce.  I think I finally have enough cucumbers for pickles.  The family is so excited since we just finished the last of the bread and butter pickles from last year.

Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions to see what everyone is harvesting this week.

End of July garden

After a long hot month, we're having a lovely few days.  The cooler temps and lower humidity are so refreshing.  It makes me wish for this weather everyday.  August is usually slightly cooler here in New England, we'll see if that's the case this year.

The corn is looking like it's almost ready to harvest.  I can't wait for the first taste.

The pumpkins are starting to grow into the bushes again.  My neighbors joke that whatever pumpkins grow on their side, they get to keep. 

The garlic bed is now the fall planting area.  This is a red cabbage.

This is from my second planting of cabbage.  The bugs have left them alone for the most part, so they look much prettier.

My broccoli steadfastly refuses to produce a head.  I'm not quite sure why, but not a single plant has produced a thing.  Any help is appreciated.  I suspect it's the heat we're having, but there may be something else to blame.

These are the Legend tomatoes.  They are certainly prolific.  They have produced a large flush of tomatoes on very small plants.  They don't seem to want to grow up, but rather sprawl no matter what I do.  If I grow them next year, it will be in cages.  The other tomatoes love the A frame support, but the Legends don't.

The green beans are giving up, but I'll be leaving them in to see if the cooler weather will prompt them to put on a second flush of fruit.  The tomatoes are really coming into their own now.  We have too many to eat fresh, but not yet enough to can.  I think within the next week or so, I'll be able to get a canner load going.  Boy, do we need a good year for putting up tomatoes. 

Most of the fall garden has been planted.  There will be a few more odds and ends put in in the next week, but it's mostly done.  Now I need to go get the supports for the hoops.  That can wait a while though.