Monday, July 25, 2011

Harvest Monday - July 25 2011

Can you believe this post is a little late because I forgot about Harvest Monday? I always write the post as soon as I get up in the morning. I never forget about it. When I travel I even schedule them so you can all have fun without me. But no. It was cool this morning and the garden just took me in. I didn't even think about the post. After all the heat, I was just loving being outside in the cool breeze. I was out until 7:30am when I harvesting. Yes harvesting the crop made me remember. So it isn't out by 8am EST which is usually my self imposed deadline. But I was still close.

Monday's harvest

This week the harvest was a little repetitive as all seasonal harvests are. This is probably the best bean week since it was the first full week of bean harvesting from the Kentucky Wonder beans. But who needs three pounds of beans every week? Well OK VeggiePAK obviously needs more, but I'm not a fan of preserved beans of any kind. I won't even eat fresh beans from the market. If it isn't fresh from the garden and Kentucky Wonder, I'm not a fan. So if I just get one pound a week from here on in I'll be set. I'll even have enough to share.

Tuesday's harvest

Wednesday's harvest x 3

Then there is also the cucurbits. The cucumbers ought to give me enough for a long long time. But sadly this is the last good week of zucchini I think. The vine borers are killing the vines. I hope to nurse them to enough health to give me something in future months, but I don't know.

Thursday's harvest

Friday's harvest

Saturday's harvest

Then of course there are the tomatoes. I've got Cherokee Purple, Heinz, Sungold, and Chocolate Cherry coming in. I also have Gabby which is my Sungold F4. So far its fruit are larger and more elongated and more prolific. Sadly it doesn't have the fabulous Sungold taste. It is OK, but not great. I'm thinking of having one of my temporary townhouse mates do a back cross with Sungold. She is a college student studying biology. And yes her love is plants.

Sunday's harvest x 2

Also a Sunday harvest. I needed onions for my breakfast so I weighed one of the ones that had been drying. Not bad for an onion. But then again it is one of my larger Alisia Craig onions. It is a Scottish heirloom that was introduced in the 1800s. Supposedly these normally get to 2-5lbs depending upon which seed company you listen too. Obviously my onions are runts if they are supposed to get that big. Runts or not, I'm happy with them. Maybe next year I should grow them side by side with Walla Walla to see which one grows better here.

  • Alliums 3.24 lbs
  • Beans 3.39 lbs
  • Broccoli 0.16 lbs
  • Carrot 0.74 lbs
  • Cucurbits 6.31 lbs
  • Eggplant 0.61 lbs
  • Greens 3.14 lbs
  • Herbs 0.38 lbs
  • Pepper 0.36 lbs
  • Tomato 6.82 lbs
  • Weekly Total 25.16 lbs
  • Weekly Spent $0
  • Yearly Total 163.45 lbs
  • Garden was worth $82.04

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

37 comments:

  1. Nice colors this week! That is what I love so much about gardening! The beautiful colors! Who knew vegetables made such great photographs! ;)

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  2. Wow! What a beautiful and colorful week of tasty harvests!

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  3. Great week of harvest! I love all those dark tomatoes.

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  4. All those great looking cherry tomatoes have inspired me - I think this year I will grow small - they look beautiful.

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  5. Those tomatoes have me drooling. As always, it all looks great. I am so sad to hear you zucchinis are being hit by the evil borer. I am hoping that is one bug that never makes it up here to Henbogle!

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  6. Very nice variety in your harvests this week! Boy, that's one big onion to me! I didn't have one that was that big and I've been thrilled about my onions!

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  7. I understand your feelings on wanting to eat Green Beans only right from the garden. I had a period when I was like that, as a child. A neighbor (rest her soul) just had tons and tons of beans; eating them could never come close to matching the frozen or canned I grew up on.

    Also great looking harvest for the week :) Glad the temperature was cool enough for some morning garden work, for you!

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  8. Great harvest - your sage looks beautiful! I started harvesting my KY Wonder beans this week too! First time I have grown them :) How do you usually prepare yours?

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  9. You make me miss fresh cukes. Hope your zucchini recover from the attack. Nice harvest, each day was breathtaking. Colourful harvest.

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  10. Not sure which thing to comment on first! I guess it would have to be those tomatoes because they are really beautiful. I especially like the color of the Cherokee purples and the abundance of your cherry tomatoes is impressive. The green beans look wonderful to me too. My bean plants are all blooming profusely but I have a bit before I have beans to pick. Fresh green beans are indeed a treat but I also think they are one of the best vegetables to preserve by freezing. We eat alot of frozen beans in the winter from our summer garden.

    I'll end by saying that your onion is a beauty!

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  11. Oh Daphne...getting lost in the garden is so easy to do! No worries :-)
    Your Cherokee Purples are by far my favorite this week! So beautiful! I'm sure they tasted absolutely fantastic!!!

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  12. Great harvest Daphne! I love string beans and this is the first year I've been able to grow a good amount of them. We'll be freezing the excess - which should be interesting since I've never eaten them from the freezer before. Hopefully they won't be too mushy.

    That's a nice sized onion you have. This was another failed year of growing onions for me. Hopefully third time's a charm.

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  13. I would expect you to forget more often in the summer. I do :) All the harvesting and garden work does make you forget time and everything else ! lol! Nice harvest too!

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  14. Is that sage in the second photo? Beautiful!

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  15. Nice harvest. The sage is very pretty. I wish I had some green beans. I planted two beds of beans and they aren't doing well. Some just started laying over at about 4in tall. This is my first time trying to grow green beans, I planted several varieties, pole and bush and none are thriving. Are beans picky? What do they like as far as water, soil and weather? Everything else I'm growing is doing fine, but I'm stumped on the beans.

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  16. The garden should always take precedence over the blog!

    What you say about the taste of the Sungold hybrids is very interesting. There are few tomatoes that really stand out from the crowd, and Sungold is one of them.

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  17. You beat me this week, but I'm still ahead on the total. Beautiful harvest, and I saw your toes, LOL!

    I hope I get some pretty carrots this week. I'm tired of those short, stubby, knobby, hairy things I've been pulling. I want them all out and gone from my garden!

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  18. Just beautiful! I love all of your different tomato varieties. Not sure what we'll have this year in our all-volunteer tomato army ;-), but I think next year we'll try to be more purposeful in our planting.

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  19. I am admiring the cucumbers. They look so perfect! Hopefully I have a few armenians next week.

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  20. So, this is my first year with green beans. The critters got most of them but I did harvest one plant yesterday. The plant looks a bit puny. Do they have one crop and that's it?

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  21. Wow, your garden responded really well to the heat last week and the care you have been giving it. Wonderful and bountiful harvest!

    I am sorry about the squash vine borers. You could try again. Last year I seeded a late batch of zucchini and summer squash around now and there was plenty of time for the plants to mature and produce.

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  22. Sorry about your squash plant, but the harvest is beautiful and varied.

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  23. Such beautiful harvests. The colors are amazing. And I'm done being sick of strawberries--they look delicious!

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  24. Shawn Ann, I love the color of the vegetables. In the spring I get pretty tired of green, but summer is great.

    Fred, thanks

    Graziana, thanks

    Liz, I love cherry tomatoes. They are perfect to put on your desk and just snack on.

    Ali, wow they don't have them in Maine? I need to move. lol

    Robin, I'm pretty happy with my onions too. It is amazing that people say they get that big though since I'm not seeing it. I'll take 12 oz onions any day though.

    Ben, there are certain things I don't eat much in the off season. Tomatoes, melons, and beans come to mind. Some things I love frozen, but just not beans.

    Allison, I boil them until tender then drain them. Sometimes I dress them up with butter, salt and pepper, but not always. There are a lot of veggies that I much prefer plain.

    Diana, I know some people don't like cukes, but I love them all ways. They are especially good in the summer since they are mostly water.

    Laura, I had my first CP tomato last week and it was good, but a bit mealy. I'm sure this week they will be better. I'm still shocked about how far behind you are. I'm used to you being ahead of me in the harvests.

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  25. Wow, what a great onion! I love that you remember to photograph what you harvested each day...I may just have to photo my tummy as I ate most of what I harvested before I got pictures taken. :)

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  26. I love the baskets full of tomatoes and other veggies, they are so colorful. Don't worry about being a little late :) Enjoy those early morning hours in the garden.

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  27. I am glad to hear that you are finally able to make it back out in the garden without melting. Lovely daily harvests!!That little eggplant is so darn cute!! On a side note put my name into your Mr. linky so I can show off my goods too. Such a wonderful idea thank you for allowing me to take part :)

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  28. Wow Wow lovely harvest. Wondering what effect this record heat in east has on the garden? Are you seeing multitudes of harvest, happy plants and vigor?

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  29. Beautiful harvest! I'm glad you were able to get out into the garden!

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  30. Another great looking harvest, especially the tomatoes. I feel the same way about the beans, I start looking forward to them as soon as the ground thaws. I've not grown Kentucky Wonder, but will have to try them after your endorsement.

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  31. Ahh summer harvests. I grew Cherokee purple last season and LOVED them. ALmost time for me to plants tomato seeds here in oz....can't wait!

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  32. Very nice harvest. I love your commitment to details and all the variety is very appealing. We have a special eye tonight for your pickling cucumbers. They've been a big part of our harvest this week too.

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  33. Wow I am impressed with all the tomatoes, once they start coming you can't stop them.

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  34. What do you do with all of your sage? Herbs never seem to make it very far for me and I think part of the problem is just neglect because I don't know how I'd use it all :/

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  35. I wish I was coordinated enough to plan a Harvest Monday post in advance. I'm always scrambling (like this week) to set mine up in time to qualify as a Monday. I love participating, though, because it gets me to make a regular record of my garden and I get to see how wonderful everyone else's plots are looking!

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  36. I am so behind. I haven't had a chance to read one Harvest Monday post yet. I think this afternoon I'll get some time. So for now I'm just going to answer questions people have asked instead of talking to everyone :<

    Deb, yes that is sage.

    elizabeth, no beans aren't picky. They tend to like moderate heat (like 80s) best. Sometimes they won't set beans in really hot weather. I've had them grow well in both sandy and clay soil. And they love the sun. The more sun the better. I have no clue why yours are falling over. Cutworms? Damping off? Hard to tell.

    Karen Anne, it depends. Pole beans produce over a long time. Bush beans tend to be more once and then done. But that being said, sometimes they will send out more growth and set again.

    Sonali, Well I had to pull all my lettuce due to the heat. It was too bitter to eat. I just composted it. So I lost about four pounds of lettuce there. Maybe more. I'm sure the tomatoes didn't set anything for a week. It was too hot for tomato pollen to live. I had a beautiful stand of bok choy and should have picked it before the heat. It is recovering but its leaves started turning yellow in the heat. Mostly those kinds of temps are really hard on the garden. Nothing I grow likes temps in the 100s. I think the massive heat hurt us more than helped. If it were 10F cooler it would have been great fo rthe garden.

    Nikki, I dehydrate it. Then I use it in chicken soup and other dishes occasionally.

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  37. What a fab harvest! We are now heading into the hot/hurricane season so our veggie growing is winding down, mostly just have pumpkins, herbs and greens now.

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