Monday, October 8, 2012

Harvest Monday, October 8th, 2012

The week started out with a pretty basket of beans and peas that were buried under the other things, Chinese cabbage, Japanese turnips, zucchini, and the first choy sum. I also picked a cantaloupe, but it was never put in the tally since I'm pretty sure it never ripened right. The plant was long dead before it even came close.

I'm just shocked by this year. I've never seen tomatoes in October before except little cherry tomatoes. As usual they all went over to my townhouse mates.

Lots of kale got thinned out. It has to be washed well now as it has a case of aphids. Maybe a frost will come through and kill them all.

Carrots! I finally have fresh carrots again. They aren't quite full size, but they don't have nematodes like the spring carrots so they are growing well. I planted them after the brassicas instead of after the tomatoes this time. That works much better. Also they were grown under a row cover because last year the fall carrots were riddled with carrot fly. This time they are all pristine.

My fruit tally moved by just a tiny bit. I made some rhubarb strawberry crisp. I forgot to take photos of the rhubarb, so took one of the crisp itself. Oh it was good. I've been told the red varieties of rhubarb get stringy starting in the summer, but the green ones stay good all year round. I guess that is a good reason to stick to green. This plant grew way too big last year and blocked the air conditioner (not allowed). I figure if I don't replace it I'll have to keep it pulled constantly to keep it smaller. If I can't keep up, I'll replace it with a smaller red one.

You wouldn't know the rhubarb was green from this dessert since it had my frozen strawberries in it. I was trying to get a version that was fairly low sugar. I tried 1/4 c of sugar with 1 c of rhubarb and 1 c of strawberries. I think I can go lower. I'll try half that much next time. I also used cornstarch to thicken it, but didn't like the gummy quality, so next time I'll go with flour. The taste was perfect though. I love the mix of strawberries and rhubarb. I think rhubarb really adds the right sour touch. Maybe next year my jam will be a mix of strawberry and rhubarb instead of just strawberry.

  • Beans 3.13
  • Broccoli 0.16
  • Carrots 1.11 lbs
  • Cucurbit 2.22 lbs
  • Greens 4.19 lbs
  • Peas 0.36 lbs
  • Turnips 0.19 lbs
  • Tomatoes 3.21 lbs
  • Weekly total 14.57 lbs
  • Yearly total 578.43 lbs
  • Tally $1080.19

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.

31 comments:

  1. Gorgeous choy sum and napa, when did you plant the? I need to plan better next year.
    Those tomatoes sure look delicious, wish I had some to add to my salad.

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    1. I have two beds that get done at different times. The first one with the napa was started around July 8th I think as indoor starts. I like to do indoor starts because it is hot outside at this time of the year. They were planted out in the garden at the end of July. Though it is still hot they seem to do better in the bed anyway at about three weeks. The second bed gets direct sown usually at the end of August. I do sow some napa here too, but the odds are slim that it will produce in time. I really ought to sow it at the same time I do my earlier napa. Mostly this bed is radish, Japanese turnips, baby bok choys, tatsoi, fun jen, and choy sum. So it is things that produce quickly.

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  2. Wow, what a great harvest! Lovely pictures on both asian greens, zucchinis, tomatoes, lovely carrots and a fantastic looking crisp! Must try that! Thanks for the inspiration! Have a nice week! :) Mia

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  3. Wonderful you got carrots! Everything looks great. I have some aphids on my carrots and brassica's. So annoying! The cabbage leaves are just curling all up and look terrible. Great tomatoes you have there! I bet your neighbors are quite happy to get them!

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  4. YOu know I have never had rhubarb. It's not really eaten here in the south...maybe bc it doesn't grow well here; but they import everything else, so who knows. Just one of those regional dishes I suppose. I would like to try it one day though; I see it every now and then at the grocer and thought it was a vegetable...like celery. (Don't laugh..at least not too much)

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    1. Well technically it is a vegetable. It just doesn't taste like one. It has a wonderful very tart taste. Of all the fruits it reminds me most of gooseberries. But only because a gooseberry has that tartness too.

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  5. That's good news about the green rhubarb harvests. I'm hoping to start harvesting ours next year. I have one red plant and the green ones are growing more vigorously so far. Too bad you can't eat those tomatoes.

    Your Chinese cabbage is so far ahead of mine. I don't know if it will head up or not. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Your choy sum is lovely too.

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  6. How wonderful that you finally have some beautiful carrots!

    I agree with you about the combination of strawberries and rhubarb...it is one of my favorites! And I definitely recommend trying some strawberry rhubarb jam next year! It's the best :-)

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  7. I have never tried strawberries and rhubarb together - will have to soon seeing as they are both coming into season

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  8. Well, everything you have harvested looks so beautiful it's hard to decide which is the nicest! Those carrots and tomatoes, wow! And your rhubarb-strawberry crisp has my mouth watering.

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  9. Your greens look beautiful! As do your fall carrots and peas. Believe it or not I still have some tomatoes ripening in the garden this year. In fact, it is the Amish Paste that you shared with me. One plant is still trying to grow and bloom even though our nights have been in the 30s.

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  10. Thanks for hosting this every week!

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  11. Beautiful strawberry rhubarb crisp. I love that combo too. Your fall crops look like they are coming of age nicely and giving you a good harvest. We are also getting tomatoes in October as well. Thankfully that is happening or I would hardly have gotten tomatoes at all for the whole year.

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  12. Try using Minute tapioca as a thickener. It won't be gummy like the cornstarch.

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  13. oh, the crisp looks delicious. It is making me hungry! Your green leafy vegetables look beautiful too. What do you use to keep the bugs from chewing them up? Floating row covers?

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    1. Yes I use floating row covers. I don't have one on the kale anymore. But I do have them on the other greens. The Chinese cabbage did have damage on the outer leaves, but luckily they get unwrapped a bit. I probably threw away half of the head, but I have plenty on the inside.

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  14. your cabbage heads are wonderful. We have such difficulty getting them to form a head - we usually only get leaves.

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  15. Rhubarb is an unsung hero in the garden. It's either available in the garden or in the freezer!

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  16. I love rhubarb. I do have a patch of it in the garden but have only used it in the spring. It is a root that has been passed down through the family every since I can remember.

    Nice harvest as usually. It must be nice to still see things growing in your garden rather than everything picked and plants dieing.

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  17. Great harvest! We saw our first frost this week and that was followed by 3 more days of hard freezes so our summer veggies are done! On to fall!!

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  18. Great harvest, jealous of your Asian vegs, I don't have any greens this year, need to plan better next year.

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  19. I wish I could grow rhubarb but it would be a waste of time ... DH really hates it for some reason :(

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  20. Oh, I didn't grow carrots this year! Your carrots are so good looking, I'm envious. And I doubt that I will get a fall crop of peas this year so I'm doubly envious. It's all lovely.

    I'm warning you, my post this week is full of tomatoes and peppers. I"ll understand if you don't stop by. :-)

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  21. Nice harvest again!! Your carrots do look nice and the Strawberry/Rhubarb looks so yummy! Your harvesting over a thousand pounds blows my mind. Nancy

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    1. Just 578 pounds so far. The 1000 number is the dollar count that I'm up (which is a weirdly false number, but the best I can do).

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  22. Rhubarb and strawberries! I nearly ate the computer. Very nice fall tomatoes.

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  23. Wow, you are still getting so much. I am envious. My season is almost over and the cold is setting in. I guess all I have left are a few Beans, jalapenos and lettuce.

    I love seeing all the great colors of your garden. I am definitely going to have to grow some Rhubarb next year. Yum!

    Beautiful harvest!!

    Joelle
    http://www.growitathome.wordpress.com

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  24. That crisp looks delicious! A great reason to get some Rhubarb growing! A great treat after eating all those home grown greens.

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  25. Everything in your garden looks just wonderful...I am a day (and a month) late on my posting here....but it's finally up!

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  26. Ok, I'm in!! A day late....sorry! Your harvests are still so.....green! So beautiful!!

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  27. I didn't know that there were different color varieties of rhubarb. Great to know if we ever put it in. Crisp looked delicious!

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