Monday, August 1, 2011

Harvest Monday - August 1 2011

Monday I took a photo of the harvest, but the basil leaves were covering all the pretty parts.

So I had to take another.

I also had strawberries on Monday. I always forget to take them with my other produce. I usually remember to pick them right before breakfast, so they don't get their photo taken until later.

Tuesday Harvest x 2. Tuesday had the first harvest of potatoes. They are Yukon Golds.

Wednesday Harvest x 2

Thursday Harvest x 2

Friday I took all the lovely photos of my harvest, but I didn't have the flash card in the camera. Doh! So I retook the photo of all the tomatoes I had harvested. It was a big tomato day. And again by the time I had harvested my strawberries. I'd already figured out my error.

But corn was picked the first time and not photographed. I didn't want you to miss the first of the corn photos. And really they are better with the husks removed. Dinner was a grilled burger from Chestnut Farms on a homemade bun, home made refrigerator pickles, salsa made with garden produce, grilled peas (these were mine from a couple of weeks ago, they were the last of the peas in the fridge), and of course grilled corn. The corn was two different varieties. Spring Treat and Shasta.

Saturday Harvest

Sunday Harvest

Sunday started the harvest of the dill seeds. As they ripen I put them into a bag to finish up when they are about as ripe as above. If I rub the seeds with my fingers they will fall off, but most of the head is still intact. I'll continue to harvest them for weeks as the different heads ripen. They won't get weighed until then. I use dill seed not for planting. The plants will put enough self sown seed into the soil for that. But I use them for pickles.

Sunday was also the big coriander harvest. It took me an hour to separate all the seeds from the heads. Usually such long processing would be done inside in front of the TV, but these are really really messy. So I took my muslin that used to shade my lettuces and used it to make sure I didn't lose any seeds. I can't get all the seeds off and be quick about it, but the plants and other refuse after partially cleaning the seed got dumped under the sunflowers where I want my coriander next year. There is plenty of seed in there to start a good stand.

I'm guessing I'll have about half a pound of coriander seed once it is dry. I won't weigh it until then. I've never had a harvest this large before. These put out an amazing amount of seed. What will I do with it all? I'll obviously have to start using coriander more than before. Which will be good for me, because coriander seed is an herb rich in phytonutients.

  • Alliums 2.23 lbs
  • Beans 1.24 lbs
  • Broccoli 0.61 lbs
  • Carrot 0.25 lbs
  • Corn 2.39 lbs
  • Cucurbits 7.16 lbs
  • Eggplant 1.81 lbs
  • Greens 0.94 lbs
  • Herbs 0.58 lbs
  • Pepper 0.10 lbs
  • Potato 3.65 lbs
  • Tomato 27.27 lbs
  • Weekly Total 48.23 lbs
  • Weekly Spent $0
  • Yearly Total 212.67 lbs
  • Veggie Garden was worth $239.03
  • Fruit 1.69 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.

47 comments:

  1. What a beautiful harvest! Look at all those seeds. I plan to just hang my coriander in paper bags in the garage and let the seeds fall to the bottom of the bag. I couldn't imagine sitting there picking all those seeds off!
    It is so hot here I think my tomatoes are about to slow down. I don't think they are setting in this heat! You have a lot of beautiful ones!

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  2. What a beautiful, diverse harvest. This is a great time of year for diversity. I usually get loads of coriander seeds and not enough of the herb before it goes to seed. But I use it in a lot of my cooking in the winter months.

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  3. Great Harvest Daphne! Look at all of those tomatoes. I'm still waiting for the BIG tomato harvest. They're still only trickling in slowly. So annoying!

    That's a nice coriander haul. The birds or mice got to mine before I could pick them.

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  4. See now, I think the basil is just as beautiful as the rest of the harvest! I forgot to add my herbs to my harvest. I had about as much basil as you did, and dill too. I guess because I use them so often in small quantities I don't think of it as a real harvest? I dunno.
    You harvest looks truly wonderul. I can't get over the abundance of tomatoes AND cucumbers!

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  5. Instead of Harvest Monday, it looks like Feast Day for you! Here in Florida it's just now time to start the fall and winter garden, the best gardening season of the year. Fortunately, I have plenty of fruits that produce through the summer months until the vegetables kick in again.

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  6. Daphne, those coriander seeds would be good for putting in curries or for the Greek dish "Afelia"...
    I love the photos of tomatoes. There is little that looks more appealing than a bowl of ripe tomatoes. Even the "ugly" purple ones!

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  7. Oooo I miss basil, sigh, looks lovely also the seeds are fabulous - thats looks to be a decent amount of coriander - envious.

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  8. So many tomatoes!!! I'm waiting for our first (big) tomato harvest. So far it's only been one or two at a time. Your harvests continue to amaze me! I am totally jealous of the volume you harvest, as well as the diversity! I'm not sure our family of three could eat all that you harvest...we'd have to share with lots of friends :-0

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  9. Beautiful harvests Daphne! I'd do just about anything for some of those strawberries right about now!

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  10. Very nice harvest, looks as though you have been eating quite well this week. What variety are those lovely red tomatoes in the bowl?

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  11. Great harvest, Daphne. Are you keeping up in the kitchen ok?
    I was up to my neck in processing yesterday--and it was so hot to boot. But we'll sure appreciate it this winter!

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  12. You must be the healthiest woman on the planet, Daphne...all those lovely vegetables. Beautiful!

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  13. Wow, what a beautiful harvest, and so much variety!!
    Everything looks so great, especially the strawberries and that giant bowl of tomatoes!!

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  14. Lovely harvests. You are definitely in the throws of tomato season. We're just beginning and so savor each one individually.

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  15. Gorgeous harvests. Those tomatoes make me drool.... as do the strawberries.

    I have never used coriander in cooking, I am curious to see what you use it for.

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  16. Very impressive harvest! The cucs are all so uniform. And it looks like you're now in tomatoes too :) The number of coriander seeds you got makes me want to try to harvest some in the future.

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  17. The tomatoes are really rockin' along! Do you let the coriander seed ripen on the plant or like you do the dill? I cut my dill seed last week and it is ripening also in a paper bag but I wasn't sure what to do with the coriander.

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  18. Daphne, you are my inspiration. I just posted how my delay was my biggest GOOPS thus far. I love seeing your food. Keep it up, girl! You'll make a farmer out of me yet.

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  19. I am sooo envious of your tomato harvests, mine are nowhere near ready. All of your harvests look fabulous!

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  20. Eye popping tomatoes! Wow, you probably got my share of them :) That's a ton of coriander seeds!! Please tell me how to grow them correctly. Somehow, mine just goes to seed when it is an inch tall (:

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  21. Wow, lovely large and varied harvest. I love this time of year so much. Especially those strawberries.

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  22. Beautiful harvest! Love your tomatoes - how many plants do you have?

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  23. As usual, your post makes my mouth water! :) I'd like to know your secret of growing coriander too - mine, like RandomGardener, bolts almost immediately.

    I like your dill photos too...My Wonderfully Efficient Husband threw out my drying dill when he cleaned the garage this weekend. Ooops!

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  24. Shawn Ann, I had way too much to hang in a paper bag. I had a huge armload of it all. I suppose if I used a couple of grocery store paper bags it might have worked out. My tomatoes weren't growing in the heat. They really hated it and are pouting now. I hope they perk up soon or the tomato harvest will be shorter than usual.

    Johanna, I'll be using it too. This one was a slow bolting variety, but of course that meant it held up for about another week than usual.

    Thomas, Most of the weight in my tomatoes so far has been from Heinz. It is so early and produces over just a few weeks. But then it stops dead. Literally. The plants die from producing it all.

    Barbie, lol yes the basil is pretty too. I never weigh them when I use them for just daily eating. For instance today I picked both basil and parsley, but they didn't get weighed. But the bigger harvests do. Like the ones I freeze or dehydrate.

    Grower Jim, lol yes it is feast day for me. My problem is I have so much I never know what to eat.

    Mark, I've used them in curries before, but never heard of Afelia. It sounds good though. I'll have to try it.

    Liz, it is a lot of coriander. I use it in cooking, but usually not enough to go through even half of that. But I'm going to try this winter.

    Bee Girl, well I share with lots of friends. Today I made a pasta salad with about 5 times the normal amount of tomatoes. I've got friends coming over tonight to help me eat it. They will also be eating a cucumber salad made by my townhouse mates, but with my cukes.

    Robin, honestly I would now too. Sadly the squirrels have found the strawberries. I've got the bird netting around them tacked down with tent stakes now, but I think I might need to have another layer to keep them out.

    Mr H, hmm well there are two bowls. The top bowl has Amish Paste, Purple Calibash, and Cherokee Purple. The bottom bowl has Heinz.

    Sue, well I did my first batch of sauce today. Six and a half pints. It is a good start, but I'll have to do it again toward the end of the week too. This week and next will be my biggest weeks for sauce as most of my paste tomatoes will get ripe then.

    Melissa, lol sadly no. Gardening is so bad for me. I have allergies and asthma. I'm allergic to mold so I have to wear a dust mask when I turn my compost. Pretty sad. But compost is basically a lot of fungi. Then this spring I injured my elbow shoveling dirt. It has mostly gone away, but not totally. The last little bit just doesn't want to heal up. But it is true that I eat really well over the summer. I have trouble keeping up with it all even though I give a lot of it away.

    Fred, thanks. I'm really loving the strawberries every morning on my cereal.

    Emily, yes tomato season has hit hard. You have to love August for that.

    Ali, I love coriander. It has a nice citrusy taste to it. I used it in the salsa that is pictured above in Friday's harvest. But I used green coriander. So it also had some cilantro flavor too.

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  25. What a great harvest. ALL those tomatoes and all that coriander. You are a very lucky this week!

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  26. Foodgardenkitchen, Usually I can fill up a spice jar with my coriander harvest, but this year I'm not sure it will all fit into a pint canning jar. So it is a lot bigger than normal.

    Vanessa, I picked the coriander all at once this year, just as it was ripening up. Some had shattered already, but not a lot. This is not my usual habit. The seeds were at all stage of ripeness. The green ones I saved separately for green coriander, but all the others were just tossed together. Most of them were ripe, but not all. Some were partially ripe. They will still taste good though so I'm not too worried. And if I need them for seed they were ripe enough that they should still germinate fine. When I have a smaller harvest I just pick what is ripe each day. But with this much it was too much bending over and wasn't worth the effort.

    Wendy, you make me blush. But I have been gardening for decades. You learn a lot over the course of years and years. I think persistence and just trying new things to see what works is the best strategy. Eventually you figure out what works for you.

    Deb, thanks

    Michelle, you all on the west coast are so behind this year. But I hope you get your tomatoes soon.

    RandomGardner, It is a spring plant. It likes to be started early. It is best to just let it self sow after the first year. As I noted above I took the partially stripped plants and waste with seeds in it and scattered it over the bed I want it in next year. It will self sow well and at the correct time. I transplanted mine, but it doesn't like it and can bolt prematurely. I used soil blocks and transplanted as soon as the seed leaves were up to minimize the shock. You can also use a slow bolting variety. Mine is a slow bolter. It is the first time I've tried one and the foliage does last a lot longer than normal and the plants grow a lot taller. With regular coriander I got 18" plants when they were flowering. This year it was 3'. But yeah. coriander likes to bolt. You need a nice spring to keep it from bolting. If you weather goes from freezing to heat without a good spring the plants just can't get big enough.

    Ottawa Gardner, I love the strawberries too. I can't wait for next year when I'll get to harvest the June bearers.

    zentmrs, I have 21 plants. I have one fulll 4'x16' bed planted in them. And then there are four in another bed.

    Mahes, thanks

    Hanni, Well I wrote him a long answer. And so sad that your husband threw out the dill. Be he cleaned the garage. If my husband did that I wouldn't complain one bit.

    Mrs. Pickles, thanks

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  27. Twenty seven pounds of tomatoes! The cherokee purples are really beautiful tomatoes. Yukon golds are way better from the garden than the store.

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  28. Ha! I published mine late last night, and forgot to link this morning. I'm here!

    Boy are you ever ahead of me with tomatoes and cucumbers. My cukes are finally blossoming today, and I actually saw some babies on them. My weekly total fell to half of what you are harvesting. Thank heavens for my Fortex beans and the lettuce!

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  29. Another great hravest! The cherry tomatoes look awesome.

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  30. Just remembered to link my harvest post to you. Had it prepped last night to post this morning which it did but I forgot about coming here to link.

    That was some basket of tomatoes! And you got corn. I have to settle with buying it from a produce stand which I did this afternoon in PA near my mom's home.

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  31. What a fantastic harvest! It's all so beautiful! You do really great work. Thanks for sharing.

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  32. I grew fennel last year as my first experiment growing my own spices. I loved it - sometimes I would just go open the fennel jar to smell that lovely perfume and know it came from my garden. Good luck with your coriander and dill (and everything else, of course).

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  33. Yeeoooza! I think I will have cucs next week. I am eyeing yours!

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  34. I love getting to see everyone's harvest each week, but having to look at a plate like that (homemade burger bun and everything) while stuck in a chair with an empty stomach feeding a baby at night is just cruel :P

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  35. Coriander seeds can be toasted and grinded, or used as an ingredient for many homemade spices mixtures like curry powder.
    You tomatoes and corn looks amazing, I wish I had a real garden to grow them!

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  36. Ground coriander seeds are nice to marinade chicken satay. I wish our tomatoes will ripe red like yours. But that will be me asking too much in this winter season we are in. I really enjoyed looking at your tomatoes. So many variety!!!

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  37. You are getting a tremendous amount of variety as well as quantity from your garden right now. The dinner featured mid way through the post looked delicious!

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  38. I love seeing the daily pix of what you're harvesting. I should try that for a week.

    I just did the potatoes on Monday, and got a very small amount from my potato buckets. I'm hoping the beds produce more. The tomatoes are going full bore and the green beans are starting again. I also have kale that I've been drying and grinding up to add to soups, etc.

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  39. Wow now that is some dedication harvesting all those coriander seeds! Wonderful harvests again, Daphne!

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  40. Beautiful and varied harvest and your dinner looks yummy, very berry envious of your strawberries.

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  41. Wow, your harvest is totally outstanding! I am so jealous!

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  42. It's wonderful all the vegetable are looking very fresh an everyone has given very beautiful comments on it..keep on doing the best..Thank you

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