Monday, September 20, 2010

Harvest Monday - 20 September 2010

This week was an amazing harvest looked at one way, and pretty pitiful looked at another way. The poundage was high at almost 20 lbs. Really unheard of for me at this time of year with this kind of space. But it was all squash and tomatoes. Nothing else.

Almost half of the tomato weight was in Cherokee Purple this time. Amish Paste seems to be a pretty steady producer, but the Cherokees come in flushes. My Market Miracle is sort of between the two. Those are my only big ones left. Well I have Romeo, but I can't see any tomatoes on it, but it is hard to tell since that and the Amish Paste are so entwined that some of those tomatoes could be Romeo if they got bigger. The shapes are the same so it is hard to tell until they start to ripen.

Besides the tomatoes, I'm also getting squash. This is my pride and joy. It is the only butternut that didn't get eaten by the groundhog. He ate about ten of them. Could you imagine my joy if I got 40 lbs of butternuts instead of 4 lbs? The reason it was overlooked was because a section of vine climbed up the bean trellis. This baby was hanging behind all the bean plants. The groundhog would eat by grazing down the squash leaves until it got to a squash. Then he would eat it. Since the bed is only 2 1/2' deep it was easy for him to find all the squash. When I saw it sizing up I put bird netting all around the ground to keep the groundhog from wanting to come in farther to find it. It worked like a charm.

Now that the squash has been pulled out I put the netting over the cucumbers as the squirrels have taken to eating all of them before they even size up. This is why there were no cukes in the harvest this week. There were no beans because I pulled the green beans as the rust had really taken over them and I didn't want it to get to my dried beans. I have no dried beans because I haven't bothered to shell them yet. I never weigh them until they are shelled.

But soon the fall harvests will start. I won't have a huge variety or area for them, but if they size up in time it will be a nice little harvest.

  • Cucurbits 4.36 lbs
  • Tomato 15.41 lbs
  • Spent this week: $0
  • Total harvested this week 19.77 lbs
  • Total for the year 266.82 lbs
  • 2010 Tally $835.38

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.

38 comments:

  1. It may only be one - but that is a great looking butternut squash! Good thinking to use the net to thwart the ground hog from getting to the last one. And what a great tomato year you have had!

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  2. Thankfully the fence around my garden keeps the groundhogs out for now.

    Lovely harvest as always.

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  3. Yay for the butternut squash! You need a major plan for next year and that groundhog.

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  4. I get so tired of trying to figure out how to battle different kinds of pests in the garden. Sometimes I have to take a breather and realize that dealing with pests is all part of gardening whether I like it or not. It sounds like you did the right thing with your groundhog problem. What a beautiful butternut squash you got there! Your tomato harvest is impressive, even more so for me because it's been like pulling teeth getting my small Jelly Bean tomatoes to ripen at this time of the year.

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  5. Sorry the groundhog got your other butternut squashes. That one is huge! Most of mine were around 2 pounds. The tomatoes look wonderful as always.

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  6. Sounds like the groundhogs and squirrels are preparing for winter too. Wouldn't it be nice to have enough space and produce to share? It's a good looking squash.

    -Brenda

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  7. What is up with these errors lately. It just ate my comment! I was saying, "Congrats on saving the last butternut!" and that I was hoping for a good fall growing season as well.

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  8. Nice harvest! I've had the same experience with Brandywines, they come in spurts. I've been wanting to try Amish Paste, so I was glad to hear your report on that one. Congratulations on the nice squash!

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  9. I'm thinking you might benefit from some electric poultry netting, hooked up to either a marine battery or a solar charger. A little electric shock therapy for the evil hoggus might work wonders for your totals.

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  10. Oh, Daphne, not the dreaded groundhog. I so feel your pain, but I still envy you your squash! I've read that there is a bush acorn squash plant. I'm going to try container growing one next year!

    I've also made note of your use of bird netting. Thank you for that thought!

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  11. Daphne, I have missed everyone on Monday Harvest!!! WOW! You have had a wonderful tomato harvest this year. I hope to learn how to get more tomatoes for my space next year. I think Cherokee Purple will definitely be on my list. Your butternut squash is beautiful. I don't think I have ever eaten one before. (I know!! I know! GASP!) How do you cook it?

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  12. Too bad about the critter problems. Groundhogs are a huge problem here. I've had to relocate about a dozen in the last few years. That is a very nice haul of tomatoes for this late!

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  13. Bad, bad, bad groundhog. Nice squash but bad groundhog. It breaks my heart to hear that you could have had more!

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  14. sounds like the Cherokee Purple grow really well for you - maybe I should try those!

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  15. I think I would be pretty irate at that ground hog! If it makes ya feel any better, my only two butternut squash together were probably about the same size as your one!

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  16. Nice butternut squash! At least you were able to thwart the groundhog on that one...

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  17. kitsapFG, it was the best tomato year I've ever seen. 150 lbs? I more than doubled the amount over last year with the same number of plants. Of course last year was our bad year and this year was a good one.

    Marcia, I'll have a fence around the new garden too. Three feet with wire underneath to keep them from digging. I hope it is enough.

    The Mom, I do. A fence. I hope it works.

    thyme2garden, there is always something that does badly. At least one thing and often much more. It could be the weather, or the insects or disease. Or in my case the rodents. It happens. It will always happen, so I try not to let it bother me too much.

    Emily, it is a nice big one. Probably because the vine didn't have any siblings to grow. It was the only one left.

    Sense of Home, Oh it would take a lot of space to share with the groundhog family. They like to eat those babies young. Or at least once they found them. They ate the big ones first then any little one they could find.

    Thomas, I don't know. I've tried commenting on a lot of blogs this last week and I keep getting those nasty 503 errors from Blogger. And they won't let you go back so you can recover what you wrote.

    Mary, Amish Paste was a nice and steady producer. And pretty disease free this year.

    Ali, lol I think my neighbor might object since she has a cat. I don't think she would like her cat getting zapped. I'm hoping that a normal fence will work. Hopefully.

    Martha, I've found the rodents can get through the netting but they only tend to do it once. They hate getting it caught on their feet. So it is just a deterrent, but a decent one as long as there is other food they can find.

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  18. debiclegg, if you want a really good tomato harvest go to the instructional page on Love Apple Farm:
    http://www.growbetterveggies.com/growbetterveggies/instructions-on-how-to-gr.html
    I don't listen to all of it but in general it works well. It is very close to what I do in a lot of ways. I cook my squash usually by baking in the oven. I cut it in half and put the cut side down on a pan with water in it. Or sometimes I do them right side up to get a more roasted flavor. We tend to like the pureed squash for things like casserole or pie so that is mostly what I do.

    villager, I don't think I could lift the big one around here. It is huge. The kids though are much smaller. I think it is a very well fed family.

    Ottawa Gardner, yeah very bad groundhog. Now I've got to buy my stash from the farmers market.

    Stevie, it did. I think in normal summers we won't have quite the yield with it. I think it liked our hotter weather and warm nights. But I'm going to grow it again. It is very very tasty.

    Shawn Ann, I'm mad at him, but I don't put a lot of energy into it. I always lose something from the garden. Last year it was the weather that took things down. Next year it will probably be something else.

    EG, yup. I'm going to be happy to have the one squash. I wonder if I should save it for Thanksgiving.

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  19. Lovely harvest. those Cherokee's are making my mouth water!

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  20. Oh, so sad that the groundhog got 90% of your butternut harvest. I'm glad you salvaged at least one. I'm excited that I harvested my first gingerroot this week, but night critters are raiding my tomatoes. We all seem to have our critter woes.

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  21. Whatever you do, do NOT read my Monday Harvest blog. I mean it, Daphne. DO NOT GO THERE!!!

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  22. Darn groundhog, one nice butternut squash is better than none. I've never grown butternut before, I should give it a go next year.

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  23. Dang that ground hog! I'm happy you got one squash though. And tomatoes still, how wonderful. It's hard to believe that it will officially be autumn in a couple of days.

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  24. Oh wow, those tomatoes are gorgeous!

    I am sorry to hear about the critter problem. You said you might save the squash for Thanksgiving. If you do, will you prepare and freeze it, or do they just have an extremely long storage life in their raw state?

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  25. Oh, I feel your pain about those pesky critters! At least the one butternut you've ended up with is a nice looking one!

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  26. Too bad we can't train those little critters to their own little part of the garden, which I'd gladly give them their own space if they'd behave themselves.

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  27. Your tomatoes are still looking beautiful and that looks like one tasty squash.

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  28. Barbie, They make mine water too.

    Lou, ginger is such a cool harvest. Maybe some year I'll get the gumption and try it myself. It is hard here in zone 6 though.

    Granny, lol so of course I went right over. You can't tell a person not to look and expect them to obey. It makes them go over faster.

    mac, I like them because they aren't affected by the SVB which takes down my other squash every year.

    michelle, I know. Until I read Thomas's blog title that said last harvest of the summer, I didn't even think it was that late in the year. And yes I can read a calendar, but it just doesn't sink in if the weather is warm. I think tonight might be our first night in the 40s. Weird.

    Prairie Cat, They have a long storage life. Typically you let them cure (preferable in the 80Fs and high humidity) for a couple of weeks after they are cut off the vine. This just hardens up the rind more. They can keep for six months or so. Some will start to rot earlier and some later, but Thanksgiving is an easy amount of time to save them.

    foodgardenkitchen, Thanks

    Cheryl, lol that would be nice. I wouldn't mind planting one squash plant for them, but when they take down all four of them it hurts.

    GonferalinID, thanks

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  29. I totally feel for you. Groundhogs seem to have a good taste - unfortunately! I've never seen them, because they don't exist in Europe, but a lot of garden bloggers and writers in the US complain about them. 9 butternut squashes - what an appetite!

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  30. Beautiful butternut - would make some nice soup!

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  31. So amazing how the tomatoes are still coming. Really sorry about the groundhogs, but happy for you that they left one butternut for you to enjoy.

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  32. The Butternut looks great! Too bad it's the only one though. I battled critters for my cucumbers and zucchini all season. I didn't get a single cucumber and only a single small zucchini. Lesson learned for next time I suppose.

    I hit the 50 lb mark this week and I am super excited!!! Our first bush beans of the fall, a leek, and the peppers just keep rolling in!

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  33. GRRRRRRRRRRR-oundhog. Sorry about your pest. No fun. Here, I don't have groundhogs, but instead have gophers, and they drive me up the wall. I feel your pain.

    Beautiful tomatoes.

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  34. Sorry to hear about groundhogs getting your squashes. In my garden, voles, bunnies and deer do enough damage. Fence keeps out bunnies but not the other two. I know how sad it is to lose your stuff to these pesky pests. Your other garden bounty looks wonderful, as always!

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  35. balcony/paradise, It is amazing how much they can eat. And they only visit the garden occasionally. Lots of others have gardens in the area to feed them too.

    Melissa, thanks

    GrafixMuse, I know. Just amazing. Two of the tomato plants too look very healthy. Just strange. But then we haven't had rain. Boy do we need rain.

    Fred, Oh how sad. At least the squirrels didn't start eating the cucumbers until late after I made enough pickles. And congrats on your 50lbs mark.

    Christina, Oh gophers are awful too. And they really love to dig.

    RandomGardener, My new garden will have a nice 3' fence with wire going down a foot. I hope that is enough to keep them out. Maybe I'll have to learn how to make groundhog traps.

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  36. I miss fresh garden tomatoes already! Your harvest is beautiful as always. =)

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  37. That squash looks great ! Good thing you saved it. Bummer about the groundhogs. Going in a foot with the wire should do the trick.

    Despite that potential poundage loss, the 2010 tally is looking mighty good !

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  38. What a pretty harvest! I love the squash! Yum!

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