Harvest Monday, July 23, 2012

I needed onions early in the week to make pickles. So I took a few that were drying.

Yesterday they seemed dry enough and I braided them and weighed them. Once they are in a braid they really can't be weighed on the scale anymore. they are too big. So I used my bathroom scale with me holding them. These are my Ailsa Craig onions. They are sweet and won't store well, but supposedly are better storage onions than other sweet onions.

The most exciting for me is my gooseberry harvest. It is the first year they have cropped. Most are from my Hinnonmaki Red, though Invicta gave me a couple of green ones. My Trixia gave me absolutely zero berries this year. My biggest issues was trying to figure out when to pick them. I picked them ripe - well I think. When is a gooseberry ripe? Either way they are delicious. And if you have never had a gooseberry pie, you are really missing something. Gooseberry pie is why I planted them in my garden. It is my all time favorite.

I picked all of the carrots. They were a disappointment this year. Last year the yields were about three times for the space. The nematodes are bad since I planted them after the solanum crops. The fall carrots I'm going to plant after the brassicas and maybe stick some in after the mustards. No nematodes can live with mustards. They do a better job of control than my Ground Control Marigolds.

I also picked the last of the spring beets. I immediately brought them over to my townhouse mates. They can eat them.

It has been a good broccoli week too. The side shoots are coming in. The Fiesta side shoots are fairly large. I keep a good amount of stem on since I like to peel and eat them. But I need to cut them about and inch shorter as the bottom most part is too woody for that.

Then there are the typical harvest baskets for the week. Cucumbers, beans, and broccoli. Basically that is what I've been eating for my meals. I have some cucumber salad for lunch and any leftover veggies cold and dipped into a yogurt dip. For dinner it is beans and broccoli. I really like having so much broccoli. It is the first good year for it. In a year where so many things aren't doing well, the broccoli is doing just great.

• Alliums 15.88 lbs
• Beans 3.01 lbs
• Broccoli 2.43 lbs
• Carrot 7.46
• Cucurbit 12.10 lbs
• Herbs 0.18 lbs
• Beets 1.12 lbs
• Weekly total 42.76 lbs
• Yearly total 270.82 lbs
• Tally $272.35

• Fruit:
• Gooseberries 2.6lbs
• Yearly total 25.86 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.