Monday Harvest - 20 July 2009

Wow where to begin? It has been a really good harvest this week. When I left for the July 4th weekend, I told my friend taking care of the garden that he would have a ton of raspberries coming in. Historically - and I put these raspberries in 17 years ago - July 4th is what I think of as the start of raspberry season. Well I checked last years records and nope I picked my first berries on July 7th (3 of them) and on July 16th I showed the huge bowl of raspberries. I wonder why I think of July 4th as raspberry season? I'm thinking it is the Latham raspberries I used to have, but pulled out over a year ago. I used to use my Heritage raspberries as only fall bearing raspberries (technically they are called everbearers, but in reality they fruit in the fall on new wood and in the summer on old wood and there is a break in between) and would cut all the canes out in the winter. Now without my summer bearers I let them fruit twice. And they are fruiting like crazy. I pick them every two days and they fill up a large container. I eat them every morning on my cereal and I'm starting to freeze the excess. I just toss them into a bag and add more as I get more. I'm thinking raspberry sorbet or maybe jam.

Another wonderful new fruit coming in are my peppers. I've picked one or two before, but there were so many hanging off the plants I decided to pick them so they could set even more. I picked the oldest fruit so none would get ripe and stop production. Some are large and some are small, but they are all so tasty. I expected them to be hot. They are supposed to be twice as hot as jalapenos, but not this year. I think the cold weather has turned them sweet. They were sweet as candy with just a touch of spice. Quite tasty, but they will have to heat up a bit if I want them to spice up my salsas later in the summer. I diced them up and tossed them in the freezer. I'll keep saving them. They freeze fine. When defrosted they get a bit mushy, but for making salsa this isn't an issue.

The earliest spring carrots were pulled. They will keep me supplied for the next month until the next set comes in. As you can see I pulled the last of my cabbage too. These are all trimmed and washed and ready to be weighed.

It was a big herb week and I have more today to get dehydrated. I picked chamomile, sage, and mint (chocolate mint and candy mint). I had given all my dried sage to my son last time he was here. Now I have some again. My mint and chamomile is for tea in the winter time.

The peas are still producing. I think the Super Sugar Snaps have about had it. I have one more picking of them then they will be pulled. I'm saving seed on them and am a bit worried that the covings all have holes in them. Is this normal? The Cascadia are putting out more side shoots. The foliage on them is a bit wonky. It is thick and tough. The peas seem fine though. There are more blossoms starting so they will stay in for a while. The Mammoth Melting are still going strong. They may catch up in production to my snap peas if they keep this up. I wish I could pull them now. They are leaning in the paths so I have trouble walking by. They shade the squash a bit too.

The chard is still doing its thing every week. It is like clockwork. One picking a week at about half a pound. They have about four square feet (3' x 16") of space and this year have produced 4.7lbs of chard. I usually think the plants are doing well if I get a pound per square foot. These little troupers have already given me more than that. BTW I have about hmm maybe 400 sqft of bed maybe. I haven't really measured. But if I get a pound for each sqft of bed then I'd have 400lbs of food for the year. Somehow I don't think 400lbs is in my future, but I can dream.

Another good producer is my zucchini, but not yet. So far I have a few squash blossoms. The squash blossoms bring me to a dilemma. Which is the same dilemma I have with my cutting flowers (which I didn't do this week) and if I ever counted them my nasturium and borage flowers. I found out they sell for somewhere between $1-3 a blossom! I couldn't find them in my area so called it $1. Really? I would never in my life pay $1 for a single squash blossom. I understand why they cost that much. They are very perishable. I eat them the same day I pick them. They are good and are tasty in salads and stirfries, but really I wouldn't buy them at that price. I really think at the end of the year I'm going to put up two tallies - one that has my flowers in the total and one that doesn't. For now you are stuck with the tally that has flowers.

As to little bit of other non photographed items. I'm still picking lettuce. It is bolting faster so the heads are smaller, but it is still producing. I pick my Tropea and bunching onions when I need them. I have picked some tomatoes. The first one was abnormally large, but the last couple have been normal sized and smaller. Tomatoes are an issue though and to a smaller aspect my raspberries. I'm having shrinkage problems in my garden. No not the chipmunks stealing the fruit (yet), but the gardener is eating things out of hand. They get eaten right there. They don't get weighed. It is hard to resist a sun warmed cherry tomato. The raspberries are an issue too, but only when I drive somewhere. Luckily I don't drive much. Usually once or twice a week. The raspberries line the driveway. The drivers side opens right up onto the berries. You can't resist berries just staring you in the face. Really it is impossible. Some herbs miss the scale too. I picked a couple of basil leavess for a salad. Really a couple of leaves aren't worth weighing. They add up over time, but it is too hard to keep micro weights.

So here are the totals:

• Alliums 0.28 lbs
• Berries 1.64 lbs
• Carrots 2.34 lbs
• Greens 3.52 lbs
• Herbs 0.55 lbs
• Peas 1.44 lbs
• Peppers 0.34 lbs
• Tomatoes 0.19 lbs
  

Weekly total: 10.37 lbs
Weekly spent: $0
Yearly total: 41.2 lbs
Yearly earned: $33.33

Whoohoo! On the positive side. Finally. Of course without the cutting flowers I'm still quite negative, but for now I'll celebrate.

If anyone else is doing harvest posts, add your latest harvest to Mr. Linky. I hope it works. It is the first time using it. If not well put the link in the comments. Last year the Ottawa Gardener was trying to start up a harvest meme, but ended. Then Tessa was thinking of it, but didn't start. I was really hoping someone else would do the work because I just love seeing other people's harvests. Hopefully you will join me. Tallies are totally optional.