Monday, October 3, 2011

Harvest Monday - October 3, 2011

Though this was harvested ages ago, I finally had it all dried and weighed this week. I had enough to send to my CSA and my townhouse mates. I still had plenty for myself to use as a spice and for seed. Though the odds of me needing seed are slim. I put the chaff which had a ton of seed all over the place in the garden. I'm sure I'll get a lot coming up next spring. Cilantro (same plant as coriander but called a different name when grown as a leafy herb) really is best self planted. Or sort of self planted like I did. Just toss the seed heads where ever you want them when the seeds ripen. The only flaw is that you do have to plan ahead.

The squirrels have been tasting things this week. I was afraid to leave the butternut squash out any longer. Though the skin is hard to get through if they get desperate enough they will succeed. For now I've got a couple with little teeth marks that tried to get through. I'm sure they will scar over just fine, but they will be the first used. None are terribly large. They average just over two pounds each. I didn't pick any of the Black Futsu. It isn't quite ripe. I have one starting to turn orange, but the others are quite dark green. The squirrels haven't touched them. I have to be honest. With the weird warty black skin and the strange grey cast they get as they ripen, they don't look very edible to me either. I hope they do ripen up though. I really want to try them.

It is raspberry season. Though most of the raspberries are picked and eaten out of hand, I finally took a photo of one day's harvest. This variety is Jaclyn. At my old house I grew Heritage which I loved. These taste just as good and the berries are huge which makes for easier picking. Our Alpine strawberries are getting picked and eaten out of hand too. A photo of them is elusive. The Yellow Wonder are so tasty. I wish I had only planted that one variety. Our red variety Ruegen just doesn't hold up.

Then came the chard. I had to clean it out. I hadn't looked under the row cover and some moth had gotten under. They looked like cutworms - those grey worms that curl up, but unlike cutworms they didn't hide in the dirt. They hid at the base of the plants. Some were out foraging during the day. I had to cut out a lot of too damaged leaves. Boy they did a lot of damage. As I was cleaning the place up I harvested three pounds of the leaves. The chard didn't do as well this year as previous years. I think they do better when I harvest them more regularly. Either every week or every other week. I just let them go this year. And the carrots and onions look so small in this photo, but don't be fooled. That is a pound and a half of green onions there. And almost that amount of carrots. Those chard leaves are huge. I've been really impressed with the Argentata chard this year. The Ruby chard just isn't pulling its weight. I love the red color, but I like the taste of the Argentata and it is way more productive.

  • Alliums 1.57 lbs
  • Carrots 1.32 lbs
  • Cucurbits 16.36 lbs
  • Eggplant unknown
  • Greens 3.00 lbs
  • Herbs 0.19lbs + lots unweighed
  • Lettuce unknown
  • Pepper unknown
  • Raspberries 0.18 lbs
  • Tomato unknown
  • Weekly Total 22.44 lbs
  • Weekly Spent $0
  • Yearly Total 495.80 lbs
  • Veggie Garden was worth $1037.69
  • Fruit 1.87 lbs

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.

30 comments:

  1. You had a really great harvest this week! Those darn bugs and squirrels! I really hate squirrels! They are digging in everything right now!

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  2. I was thinking of chicken satay when I saw you coriander seeds photos. Never knew that squirrel likes squash. Nice harvest.

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  3. THose raspberries look delicous! I've just put butternut seddlings in . Hopeully I'll get as good a crop as yours (and luckily there are no squirrels in Australia!)

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  4. Those are some nice butternut squash...I didn't get any, there is one beginning to grow out there, but I think it is out of time! Those are some nice big chard leaves! Mine are getting pretty big out there too, I think I am going to have to do a big chard harvest one of these days. Funny how some things can make your other stuff appear so small!

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  5. I love cilantro, though they grew quite poorly in my hot, dry clime.

    Those raspberries are picture perfect.

    Re winter squashes I harvested quite a few calabazas and several babies are on the new vines.

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  6. Your garden continues its photogenic ways. What sort of winter garden do you keep? I look forward to following your posts and seeing for myself.

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  7. Wow, what a nice harvest at this time of year! Last Year we had snow the 1st of october, but this year it is really warm, almost like summer, but I can´t pick any ripe raspberries and alpine Strawberries anymoreanymore - must be lovely (I feel the same about Rügen as You, I think, must try to get a variety like Yellow Wonder), and your crop of Coriander - Wow! I have always wanted to grow Butternut Squash, but in our cold climate it seems to never get ripe, maby I´ll try to grow a plant in the greenhous next Year? Have a nice day! :) Mia

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  8. I tried Black Futsu for the first time this year. I picked mine about a month ago, after the skin had toughened up, but while it was still dark-green/black in colour. I read from a couple of places that they'll ripen up and turn orange in storage. I also didn't trust my zone to have a long enough growing season to turn orange on the vine.

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  9. Despite the squirrel marks, those butternuts look very good. I am not going to get a single one. My plants are growing beautifully and are setting fruit but it is October and there is no way any of them will mature. Thankfully a few pumpkins appear to be ready to make it to the finish line for me so I won't be completely without winter squash.

    We also rarely get any berries into a photo (or weighed for that matter) because they are just too yummy not to eat them while picking.

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  10. Daphne nice harvest as usual and good to see you are able to be back in the garden again.

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  11. What a great harvest! Those butternuts MUST be good if the squirrels are trying to get them!!! And those seeds! WoW! Congrats on another fantastic harvest!

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  12. Beautiful harvest. The chard does dwarf those carrots!

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  13. Those raspberries - ahhh, what'd I'd give for one right now ; ) I cooked up my first ever home grown butternuts this week. They weren't as big as yours, but still tasty!

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  14. Another great harvest. I think I'm going to give butternut squash a try next year. I'v never grown it but it looks tasty!!

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  15. Hello Daphne!
    Great reminder for my coriander seeds out in the kitchen garden! I have to take some in to dry for next season:)
    Take care and have a great week,
    Charlotta

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  16. I'm glad to hear about the Jaclyn raspberries, as we are preparing a raspberry bed at last. I'll make sure that one is on the list.

    Your harvest looks awesome as usual. Nice butternuts! I loved the Futsu Black squash, I am curious to hear what your take on it will be. I didn't grow either of those squash this year, just as well considering the cool weather, I don't think my yield would have been good.

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  17. Your harvest looks great! Can't wait till I can plant berries.

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  18. I like the idea of using the coriander chaff as a kind of seedy mulch - I have endless problems with coriander so perhaps letting it do its own thing will work.

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  19. Beautiful butternut squash!! So many!

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  20. That photo of the coriander seeds is just fabulous!

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  21. Whooa, the coriander seeds look so pretty, it makes me think of curry dishes.

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  22. I don't seem to have much luck with cilantro. Maybe I should sprinkle seeds all over the garden and let it grow where it wants to.

    Nice basket of butternuts. Your raspberries look like jewels. Our raspberries never make it inside either.

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  23. Awesome harvest! Those raspberries look delicious. And I don't think I've ever seen chard leaves that big. Very impressive!

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  24. Daphne
    What a nice, diverse harvest you had this week. Those raspberries look just beautiful. And the Butternut squash might be a bit on the small size, but I bet that they taste just as good!

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  25. I love your raspberries. We've not mastered the art of fall raspberries yet, but yours are very encouraging. Thanks for including the picture.

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  26. i love the color of the raspberries next to the green chard...everything pops. beautiful!

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  27. I had such a success disaster with Waltham butternut squash this year that after I stored mine and gave some away, I left several out in the garden for the critters. It's squirrels who nibble on them? There are enough critters here that I wasn't sure which were the nibblers. I may cut one of those squashes in half so they don't have to get through the peel and see if that helps them.

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  28. Great harvest Daphne and great photos. Birds got to my raspberries before I did. Glad you are in the full swing of gardening again.

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