Did you ever have one of those weeks? I did try to time my beans so they would start fruiting when I came back. And I think my timing was good for the above Kentucky Wonder bean. However I also think this plant was under water stress so most of the initial flowers fell off. The sprinkler didn't quite reach. The beans on the other side of the bed are doing fine, though they seem to be a later bean so haven't started yet. The last week however has been wet, so I'm assuming they will all start to produce soon. I see flowers even if they are way over my head. And some are starting to set.
I did harvest some chard on Monday. Chard is always there. It always needs harvesting. What would I do without it?
Though technically I didn't harvest it this week. It was finished curing and that is when it gets into the tally. So I took off the tops and bottoms. Though every other website in their right mind will tell you not to, I always take off the one outermost layer of the garlic skin. Technically this would leave it more open to rot. But with German Extra Hardy, I haven't found rot a problem and I hate the dirt in the kitchen when I use the garlic. I want my pretty white garlic. Though the heads weren't particularly large. None of the cloves had the rot that I'd had in the past, so none got tossed. Maybe my garlic is getting used to my soil. Or maybe it was just a good year. I'm happy though.
I harvested pea seeds. I will not weigh or add these to my tally as they are just seed for next year. I won't have to buy it so it will end up not being a negative.
And last but surely not least were the first two peaches. Now I had to pick them as something had started to get into them and they would have just been eaten by all the ants if I had left them on the tree. I let the big one sit one day on the counter, but as it was more eaten up, that was all I could give it without risk of losing the whole peach. And oh my, it was heaven. It was indeed ripe. I've read that some trees will still have some green on their undersides when ripe. My tree, a New Redhaven, must be like that. That is going to make it hard to figure out when to pick it.
Since this is the first harvest every of my peaches (it is their third year, though Reliance still hasn't set any), I don't have a price for them. I'll be at the farmers market on Wednesday, so I can check it out there. The weight I used was what you see in the photo. There was enough to cut off on the big peach that I didn't want to weigh the whole thing. My peaches will hardly be those pretty ones you see in the stores. They taste really good, but they will all have some damage on them. You might not see it in the small peach, but trust me it is there.
I'm hoping this week is a better week for harvests. I do see my first zucchini starting to grow. A couple of cucumbers are sizing up. And maybe those beans will actually start. If it drys out a bit I can also get to my dried beans. I think some of the Tigers Eye are ready to pick. But it has been too wet in the garden all last week to deal with the beans. The tally below is for this week and the tiny harvest I had last week.
Alliums 9.34 lbs
Beans 0.24 lbs
Greens 0.79 lbs
Squash 0.12 lbs
Weekly Tally 10.49 lbs
Yearly Tally 143.14 lbs, $155.04
Fruit
Peaches 0.46 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.
I love the photo of that one bean! I hope it will have lots of buddies to hang out with soon. Your garlic looks great. Some of mine has missing outer wrappers that just vanished before harvest.
Your poor lonely bean :( The garlic is so lovely! My husband has been dying for me to make some peach pie. We may have to find some at a farmers market. How nice for you to have your own.
Hope you are feeling better. It has been a rough year in the garden for almost everyone. My beans and squash are all late but hopefully will produce soon. The peaches look wonderful from a distance, I'm sure that first peach must taste great.
Congratulations on your first peach! It looks lovely and I am glad it tasted so good. Hopefully more beans will be ready for harvesting over the next week.
I love how perfect your garlic looks! And peaches, oh my! It doesn't matter how they look, they taste so good. Your bean cracks me up, but it is a great metaphor for how I've been feeling about my garden lately, especially after my potato disaster!
Your garlic is absolutely perfect! I don't blame you for prepping it all now so you don't have to worry about the dirt later! And those peaches? Oh man...how wonderful!
Yummm!! Peaches look delicious! How many garlic heads did you harvest this year and how do you store them? I always wondered if I refrigerated them, would they last all year?
I harvested 1 green and 79 as you see. Lots of garlic. The variety that I use, German Extra Hardy, will last 9-12 months in storage I've found. It is a very good keeping hardneck garlic. I cure it for 2-3 weeks in my bike shed then clean it up and put it in my basement in a mesh bag. I leave on long necks as the necks are where the diseases can enter. When I need some I bring a few up and put it in a dark basket that I use for my short term garlic storage.
Garlic and refrigerators are weird. If you think about their life cycle you can understand. If you cool it down in the fridge for a while and then put it on the counter it will start to sprout. Garlic pretty much stays dormant until it sees cold weather. So it is best not to do that. You can store it in the fridge, but if you do that it has to stay there until you use it. Some people say the texture and taste is spoiled by the fridge. I wouldn't know as I never keep them there. Honestly the basement works fine. No reason to waste refrigerator space. But you do need cured garlic to do this. Green garlic from the spring is probably best stored in the fridge.
Oh and though mine last 9-12 months it is only because the variety is a good keeper. Some will only last a couple months. It really depends. Most places that sell seed garlic will tell you how long it tends to keep.
Thanks Daphne for you advice! I actually bought my first (seed) garlic at the farmers market $1 for one bulb and have now expanded onto 50+ bulbs(not bad, huh!) I too will put it in a mesh bag and keep in basement. Let's see how long they last...
i thought, finally daphne won't totally show me up this week--ha! then i saw the next photos. peaches are exciting.
your garlic looks beautiful. i was away for 2 weeks in july, took a chance on not harvesting before, based on a prior year's harvest. bad bet; mine will be done for by thanksgiving. almost no papers on some varieties. thank goodness for the farmer's market.
I'm glad I planted some bush beans, or my bean harvest would look like yours. Our extreme heat (plus early earwig damage) must have taken its toll on the Fortex beans, as they are just now finally beginning to set blossoms and beans.
Some bean plants are just sensitive to stresses. Royal Burgundy bush beans seem sensitive to temperature variations, nice lush plants with only a single bean per plant. Ugh.
Your garlic is just so pretty. Isn't stashing away food and saving seed wonderful? It feels like a person is getting next year's chores out of the way.
Your chard is like my zucchini at the moment, always there. It looks like you've got enough peas there for a few seasons. I hope your beans recover and produce lots of company for that lonely fellow.
Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well. Hopefully you're on the mend. Garlic and peaches look fantastic. I have a 4 yr old Flat Wonderful peach tree that has yet to give me a single fruit. Oh, it's been fruiting, just never ripening. They all turned dry and hard half way point. After extensive research I concluded it was brown rot. Now, the question is, how do I deal with brown rot?
Sorry I'm a total novice in fruit trees. I know brown rot is the typical problem and I know the conventional way to deal is to spray constantly. I've lost some peaches. I've been watching and picking them off the tree whenever I find them and putting them in the trash.
Congrats on your first peach harvest, the garlic looks lovely. I have a patch of bush long beans, they are not doing anything YET, don't know what's the problem with them.
Oh, my, your green bean harvest looks worse than mine! But at least you have hope! Your basket of white garlic looks so pretty that it could be a picture in a magazine. That peach looks delicious. I thought I might get some from my tree but they are all falling and something is getting inside them. Nancy
How luscious do those peaches look, so lovely! I have to admit I'm coveting your basket in that first photo too - would love to be harvesting my broad beans in one of those.
I am envious of your fab garlic . I am so hoping that my garlic is a success this year. And your peaches are making me hope that I dint get a late frost to wipe out my blossom.
Your harvest is beautiful...I really like the basket that you have the bean/garlic in. I'm looking for a good harvest holding basket - I'm not enjoying the tin bowls that I have.
Such a wonderful crop of garlic! I definitely have those weeks, at the moment we are in the middle of winter so the garden has slowed right down, hopefully with some warmer weather in the next few months we can have some progress in the garden.
Sorry I got my post in a day late. Hope that is ok. I am really enjoying reading all the Harvest Monday posts. You have nice looking garlic, it looks so clean like store bought garlic.
Is German Extra Hardy your favorite garlic for taste? I grew Chesnok Red, Siberian, Pskem, German Red and Georgian Crystal this year, but am thinking of trying German Extra Hardy also, since it will grow well here, but I've never tasted it. Good that you say it stores well.
I couldn't really say. I've grown different types, but they all taste like garlic to me. Some are stronger, some milder, but I've loved them all. And I've never really done a taste test.
I love the photo of that one bean! I hope it will have lots of buddies to hang out with soon. Your garlic looks great. Some of mine has missing outer wrappers that just vanished before harvest.
ReplyDeleteYour poor lonely bean :(
ReplyDeleteThe garlic is so lovely! My husband has been dying for me to make some peach pie. We may have to find some at a farmers market. How nice for you to have your own.
Hope you are feeling better. It has been a rough year in the garden for almost everyone. My beans and squash are all late but hopefully will produce soon. The peaches look wonderful from a distance, I'm sure that first peach must taste great.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful peaches. There is nothing like homegrown tree ripen fruits. Glad you got to those 2 before the critters.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your first peach! It looks lovely and I am glad it tasted so good. Hopefully more beans will be ready for harvesting over the next week.
ReplyDeleteI love how perfect your garlic looks! And peaches, oh my! It doesn't matter how they look, they taste so good. Your bean cracks me up, but it is a great metaphor for how I've been feeling about my garden lately, especially after my potato disaster!
ReplyDeleteMan, do I wish I could grow garlic like you. Mine didn't even bulb out this year. There's always next year.
ReplyDeleteYour garlic is absolutely perfect! I don't blame you for prepping it all now so you don't have to worry about the dirt later! And those peaches? Oh man...how wonderful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful peaches!! We are planting a peach tree this fall so we are looking forward to peaches in the years to come!!
ReplyDeleteThat bean photo pretty much sums up all of my efforts.
ReplyDeleteYep.
Yummm!! Peaches look delicious! How many garlic heads did you harvest this year and how do you store them? I always wondered if I refrigerated them, would they last all year?
ReplyDeleteI harvested 1 green and 79 as you see. Lots of garlic. The variety that I use, German Extra Hardy, will last 9-12 months in storage I've found. It is a very good keeping hardneck garlic. I cure it for 2-3 weeks in my bike shed then clean it up and put it in my basement in a mesh bag. I leave on long necks as the necks are where the diseases can enter. When I need some I bring a few up and put it in a dark basket that I use for my short term garlic storage.
DeleteGarlic and refrigerators are weird. If you think about their life cycle you can understand. If you cool it down in the fridge for a while and then put it on the counter it will start to sprout. Garlic pretty much stays dormant until it sees cold weather. So it is best not to do that. You can store it in the fridge, but if you do that it has to stay there until you use it. Some people say the texture and taste is spoiled by the fridge. I wouldn't know as I never keep them there. Honestly the basement works fine. No reason to waste refrigerator space. But you do need cured garlic to do this. Green garlic from the spring is probably best stored in the fridge.
Oh and though mine last 9-12 months it is only because the variety is a good keeper. Some will only last a couple months. It really depends. Most places that sell seed garlic will tell you how long it tends to keep.
DeleteThanks Daphne for you advice! I actually bought my first (seed) garlic at the farmers market $1 for one bulb and have now expanded onto 50+ bulbs(not bad, huh!) I too will put it in a mesh bag and keep in basement. Let's see how long they last...
Deletei thought, finally daphne won't totally show me up this week--ha! then i saw the next photos. peaches are exciting.
ReplyDeleteyour garlic looks beautiful. i was away for 2 weeks in july, took a chance on not harvesting before, based on a prior year's harvest. bad bet; mine will be done for by thanksgiving. almost no papers on some varieties. thank goodness for the farmer's market.
I'm glad I planted some bush beans, or my bean harvest would look like yours. Our extreme heat (plus early earwig damage) must have taken its toll on the Fortex beans, as they are just now finally beginning to set blossoms and beans.
ReplyDeleteSome bean plants are just sensitive to stresses. Royal Burgundy bush beans seem sensitive to temperature variations, nice lush plants with only a single bean per plant. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYour garlic is just so pretty. Isn't stashing away food and saving seed wonderful? It feels like a person is getting next year's chores out of the way.
The loneliest bean. I hope it's delicious :-)
ReplyDeleteYour chard is like my zucchini at the moment, always there. It looks like you've got enough peas there for a few seasons. I hope your beans recover and produce lots of company for that lonely fellow.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you haven't been feeling well. Hopefully you're on the mend. Garlic and peaches look fantastic. I have a 4 yr old Flat Wonderful peach tree that has yet to give me a single fruit. Oh, it's been fruiting, just never ripening. They all turned dry and hard half way point. After extensive research I concluded it was brown rot. Now, the question is, how do I deal with brown rot?
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm a total novice in fruit trees. I know brown rot is the typical problem and I know the conventional way to deal is to spray constantly. I've lost some peaches. I've been watching and picking them off the tree whenever I find them and putting them in the trash.
Deletewow that's a garlic harvest! My plants are always more similar to spring onions than garlic heads
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your first peach harvest, the garlic looks lovely. I have a patch of bush long beans, they are not doing anything YET, don't know what's the problem with them.
ReplyDeleteOh, my, your green bean harvest looks worse than mine! But at least you have hope! Your basket of white garlic looks so pretty that it could be a picture in a magazine. That peach looks delicious. I thought I might get some from my tree but they are all falling and something is getting inside them. Nancy
ReplyDeleteHow luscious do those peaches look, so lovely! I have to admit I'm coveting your basket in that first photo too - would love to be harvesting my broad beans in one of those.
ReplyDeleteI am envious of your fab garlic . I am so hoping that my garlic is a success this year. And your peaches are making me hope that I dint get a late frost to wipe out my blossom.
ReplyDeleteYour harvest is beautiful...I really like the basket that you have the bean/garlic in. I'm looking for a good harvest holding basket - I'm not enjoying the tin bowls that I have.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful crop of garlic! I definitely have those weeks, at the moment we are in the middle of winter so the garden has slowed right down, hopefully with some warmer weather in the next few months we can have some progress in the garden.
ReplyDeleteSorry I got my post in a day late. Hope that is ok. I am really enjoying reading all the Harvest Monday posts. You have nice looking garlic, it looks so clean like store bought garlic.
ReplyDeleteIs German Extra Hardy your favorite garlic for taste? I grew Chesnok Red, Siberian, Pskem, German Red and Georgian Crystal this year, but am thinking of trying German Extra Hardy also, since it will grow well here, but I've never tasted it. Good that you say it stores well.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't really say. I've grown different types, but they all taste like garlic to me. Some are stronger, some milder, but I've loved them all. And I've never really done a taste test.
Delete