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.

Time to save some seeds

Every year I try to save more and more of my own seeds.  Most are relatively easy to save, especially if you are a lazy gardener like me. 

Tomatoes are easy.  You get a good, slightly over ripe tomato and cut it across the equator.

Then you stick your finger in and squish out the seeds into a bowl.  Leave the bowl on a counter for a few days until it gets good and disgusting.  The rot is what you want.  Tomato seeds have a protective coating on them that has to be broken down by a bit of rot, so that they are then able to be planted.  After a few days, put them in a colander and rinse all the yuck off. 

I then put them on a piece of paper to dry with the name of the tomato type on the paper.  (It looks like an ink blot test)  When they're good and dry I will put them in an envelope to keep.  This of course, can only be done with open pollinated seeds.  Hybrids will not produce true to their parent plant. 

I also have bags of parsnip seeds, lettuce seeds and spinach seeds to be done.  These are easier.  In the case of the lettuce and spinach,  you just let them go to seed and ignore them for a while.  I then snip off the seed heads when they are fully mature and stick them in a bag to dry in the house.  When dry, I crunch them up to separate the seeds out. 

In the case of the parsnips, they need to go through a winter and then go to seed.  Carrots are the same way.  These parsnips were planted last year.  Most were dug this spring for eating, but a few were left in the ground.  The picture in my header is of the parsnip seed heads.  They are quite pretty and very tall.  This way, I have tons of seeds for myself and to share for free. 

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.

Watering

Watering is something that can make or break a garden.  It is also something that new gardeners tend to overdo.  I'm asked constantly "Why aren't my veggies ripening?"  This is followed by surprise when I tell them to stop watering their gardens.

Now, don't get me wrong, watering can be crucial.  I water several times a year.  I don't water daily. 

It's crucial that seeds and seedlings have a moist environment to start off in.  It's also crucial that you make them work a little for the water.  They need to be kept moist to stimulate germination and rooting. 

After they've rooted nicely, you want to do deep, infrequent watering.  I know that your first inclination is to water them daily because it's dry.  What the plants want is to be watered every few days deeply.  They need that water to penetrate a few inches into the soil.  Plant roots go deep searching for food and water.  If you water every day, they won't develop those good deep roots that are crucial to a healthy and productive plant. 

You also need to be aware of the disease that too much water can bring.  Those of us in the Northeast can well remember last year's tomato debacle.  Once blight was found, it probably wouldn't have spread so fast if it wasn't for all the rain.  In fact, this year there was blight found in a few places, but because of the dry weather, it stayed under control.  The same can happen with over watering.
When you water, mud splashes up from the ground onto your plants.  The mud can carry spores onto your plants that will cause disease. 

This time of year, I tend to stop watering altogether.  The fall beds that are just getting started will get a bit of water, but the rest of the garden is done.  We'll have frost in a few weeks and I want the fruit that is already formed to ripen.  I'm not looking to develop new fruit.  If the plant has a little water stress, it's more likely to put all of its energy into ripening existing fruit.  That is what we want in August and September. 

Lastly, the best way to ensure that watering will be the most effective, is to build your soil.  The richer your soil, the more organic matter like compost and manure, the more it will hold onto water in the first place.  Mulches such as straw can also be helpful for cooling the soil and retaining water.

I water more frequently in the spring, slow the frequency in the summer while adding mulch and completely stop in late summer to force maturity of fruit. 

Corn on the cob

This is my first year attempting corn.  I grew a variety called Incredible from Fedco seeds.  These were grown in a 4x12 plot.  I added compost at planting time and think that I could have added more.  They were fertilized with fish emulsion every 2 weeks after they broke ground.  There is such a wide variance in how they did. 

I am a bit confused.  I had heard that corn did well in large patches, so that they could all pollinate properly.  Having seen corn grown in the fields nearby, the edges seem to be smaller.  In my case, the edges were producing the largest ears, with very little in the interior of the bed.  This is certainly not all the corn to be harvested, but I'm not expecting to get too much more. 

They were very tasty.  The family was thrilled with the perfect level of sweetness and corn flavor.  I'm not very happy with the yield.  It seems like a waste of garden space.  Should I have been more aggressive with the fertilization?  Did I just need a bigger bed?  I would love any wisdom from the more experienced corn growers.

Quahogs for the winter

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday.  Hop on over and check out who else is living simply.

If you're from New England, you know what quahogs are, if not.  For those of you from somewhere else, you probably call them clams.  We call the little ones clams, but the big ones are quahogs.   (pronounced Ko-hogs) 

I got these from my sister in law.  This picture is of only a few of the many giant quahogs that she gave me.  She and her family have a blast out clamming.  They gave me what must have been about 30 pounds.  Unfortunately, that doesn't end up as much when all is said and done.  Since I don't have the time or the inclination to do anything with them these days, I cooked and froze them.  Quahogs are usually either stuffed with a spicy sausage stuffing, or made into clam chowder.  I decided on the latter.

It was really quite easy.  I just brought a pan of water to boil.  Then put a large roasting pan in a 400 degree oven and poured the water in.  The quahogs were put in, in batches until they opened and were removed.  I then just chopped the meat.  The clam broth is essential in a good chowder, so that was saved as well.  Finally, the clam shells were thrown out back to eventually be crushed and added to the garden to add calcium to the soil.  Nothing gets wasted here.

The final product.  It doesn't look like much from so many clams, but will make a nice big pot of chowder on a cool fall or winter day.  I'm quite excited about it and am hoping that I may get a few more before summer is over.