Monday, August 4, 2014

Harvset Monday, 4 August 2014

This year I experimented with growing salad turnips over the summer. Many aren't pretty, so those I wouldn't slice up for a salad. But they make some really good roasted, grilled, or fried turnips. I've been enjoying them. I don't eat a ton, but they do provide some nice variety. In the same bed I put just a couple of mizuna plants. This is one after I trimmed its leaves off. Again it is better in the fall and spring, but it still tastes good and provides something different than cucumbers.

I think I harvested cucumbers and beans six of the seven days last week. I get a lot of them and they come in waves. Some days the cucumbers give me just tons. And some days just a few, but they never seem to stop.

I harvested a little broccoli at the start of the week.

And tons at the end of the week. I'll be eating this over the next couple of weeks. I so love broccoli. This year the stems have been very tender and long. I'm harvesting as much as is tender and I peel the stems as the skin can be a little tough during the summer. The last couple of summers the Fiesta broccoli got very strongly flavored in the summer. I'd eat it with cheese sauce to tone it down a bit. The Arcadia seems not to do this. At least so far. I need an excuse to make cheese sauce again.

Two days I harvested a good crop of herbs to dry. This one is tarragon. I love its licorice scent as it dries.

This week the garlic was finally dry, so I took it out of the bike shed where it had been hanging for the last three weeks and trimmed it up and cleaned it off. The harvest was a bit lower this year than normal. I'm blaming it on my mistake last year. I put the best and biggest heads of garlic in a paper bag to save for planting. Well the garlic didn't like that. It got all moldy. So I had to plant the mid sized heads. This year I'm storing all of the garlic in the basement in mesh bags. I'll sort them in October before I plant.

And did you miss what I always am supposed to have in my harvests every week, but didn't? Well it was chard. I was going to eat it on Friday and I decided to have enchiladas so I didn't pick it. Then there was a party on Saturday. Then Sunday I picked a zucchini and broccoli so I wanted to try fritters for the first time. And have the broccoli as I love it so much. I figured a third veggie was a bit much so I left them on the plant. Maybe tonight? They are going to take over if I never pick them. I also know from past experience that they produce better if I keep them picked regularly. I probably should have froze some on Friday, but I really did think I'd get around to eating it last week.

  • Alliums: 9.75 lbs
  • Beans: 0.87 lbs
  • Broccoli: 2.42 lbs
  • Cucumbers 9.25 lbs
  • Greens, Asian: 0.74 lbs
  • Herbs: 0.55 lbs
  • Roots: 1.85 lbs
  • Squash, Summer: 1.59 lbs
  • Weekly Total: 27.03 lbs
  • Yearly Total: 216.80 lbs
  • Yearly Tally: $180.58

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.

28 comments:

  1. Your garlic looks wonderful even if you think it's smaller than usual - i think it's very large actually. Love the veggies. Never tried tarragon, though it's now growing I'm yet to snip it and try it out.

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  2. Wow, you already harvest over 200 pounds of produce, congrats. My broccoli did not do well this year, many had stem rot after harvesting main shoot, only 3 healthy plants left to send out side shoots.

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  3. I hope your seed garlic keeps this for you this year. I did not plant any turnips this spring, and I am looking forward to them this fall. I've had them roasted, but not grilled. I bet the turnips are so good that way. I'm curious, how do you fry your turnips?

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    1. I just stir fry them in butter or olive oil until they are starting to brown.

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  4. Wish I were getting that many cucumbers every week. Wilt is slowing knocking off my plants. I have been poaching some heads of garlic out the pile that is drying and even after several weeks the garlic is very wet. Too much cool, humid weather.

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  5. All that broccoli looks delicious. It's one of my favorites. I just started seeds for fall, so it'll be a long time before I harvest any more broccoli. I'm always amazed at how quickly cucumbers grow. My cucumbers are very sad looking and not really producing now, but they definitely had a good run this year.

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  6. Such an array in your baskets. Lots of cucumbers!

    I tried one of my garlic this weekend but it still wasn't quite dry. Needs to cure longer I guess. I'll check it midweek.

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  7. Another great and varied harvest for you! The garlic looks beautiful. And so much lovely tarragon.

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  8. Your garlic does look lovely...can't wait to tally mine up but I have a feeling that they are still on the small side. And the broccoli looks so yummy - my broccoli plants are slowly chugging along but still so small. Hopefully they give me some sort of harvest before the frosts arrive.

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  9. Whoa, 9.25# of cucumbers! I'm anxiously awaiting mine which are growing well--just no cukes yet.

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  10. Your garlic is so nice and clean looking, mine second variety has yet to be cleaned and tallied, it keeps beckoning to me and I've been ignoring it. And I've not been eating chard either, there's so much else coming from the garden now. I was wondering how many cucumber plants you have? I put in just 4 this year and that seems to be producing the perfect amount for just fresh eating, we do love cucumber salads around here.

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    1. I give them a row along the back of a bed which is 8' long. So 8 sqft of space. I usually like them to be about a foot apart. But that doesn't mean I have 8 plants. I might have more. I might have less.

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  11. That is beautiful garlic you have there!

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  12. Grilled turnips? Who knew?

    You should see my sorry garlic harvest. I blame the drought that we're having in California.

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  13. Great harvest, I love the variety! I'm jealous that you're able to get broccoli so late in the summer. Our 100 degree temps starting in June and continuing until almost the end of August pretty much put a stop to cole crops. Amazingly, the kale is hanging on really well.

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  14. Wow, looking great! Your garlic looks wonderful, I'm glad for the advice on the paper bags, that is what ours are in right now so I will have to change that right away!!

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  15. I am a huge fan of cheese sauce with my broccoli. No excuse needed.

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  16. Didn't plant garlic this year, squash bugs killed my cucumber plants, no cuke for us :(

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  17. That's a bumper crop of cucumber - more pickle?

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  18. Great Harvest Daphne!! I haven't had good luck with turnips. I tried last year but underestimated the amount of space they needed. Excellent cucumber harvest! I'm still waiting on mine but I have spied some small fruit that have set. Wonderful garlic harvest as well!!

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  19. Nice cucumbers. My pickling cucumbers have nearly stopped growing after the first flush of cukes.

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  20. Your garlic looks good. The larger cloves to get you back on track for next year. Look at all those cucumbers! 9.25 pounds is very impressive. It is interesting that the salad turnips grew well over the summer. There is always a spot or two in the garden that could be reseeded with something that grows quickly.

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  21. Great harvest, Daphne. My cucumbers and broccoli side shoots are coming in waves as well. I've been really surprised by how well my arcadia broccoli plants are holding up this summer. The plants still look very lush and green. I'll be curious to see whether they'll produce into the fall.

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  22. I am already looking forward to fall turnips. I think that next year I will plant my spring turnips in succession so that I’ll harvest some in the early summer. I don’t know how they would handle the midsummer heat here though.

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  23. Your garlic looks beautiful! Actually everything you harvested looks great. Is there a food pantry near you where you could donate some of your excess chard? The food pantries near me love getting fresh veggies.

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    1. I have one a few blocks from my house. It didn't used to take fresh produce, just dry goods. But I think that has changed this year. Sadly their site doesn't really talk about it (I heard about it through the Gleaners) so I'll have to ask them next time. They don't take donations all the time, so I'd probably have to time it.

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  24. Another great Harvest Daphne. You are really encouraging me to try turnips are my "new to me" vegetable for next year. Good luck keeping up with those cukes. I think pickles should be in your future!

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  25. I love this time of year! I braided my onions from last weeks harvest and made refrigerator pickles today.

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