Harvest Monday, 28 September 2015

I started Harvest Monday in 2009. It wasn't my original creation. The Ottawa Gardener started it but only kept it up for a few months. I thought a regular harvest celebration was a wonderful thing and I kept doing it, then I started hosting it. I've been blogging for even longer - 8 1/2 years. I started for very different reasons than other people. I was crafting and not using a good portion of my brain doing that. Though I loved crafting, I wanted to challenge myself in other ways. Writing was very very hard for me. It used to take me hours to write a post. After a few years it became much easier, but I kept with it for the community. You all are such wonderful people. But it is time for me to move on. I'll still be gardening and preserving the harvest, just not blogging anymore. I might put up an end of the year post to finish out my totals. I do hate when things aren't completed.

I would love if Harvest Monday or a monthly harvest celebration still existed. So if anyone would like to continue the tradition and play host, email me. Personally I've always thought it should be split into two. A northern gardener that did June-November and a southern gardener (probably Australian) that did December-May. I didn't do it that way because everyone begged me not to. If we do get volunteers, I'll let you know next Monday with a link to their blog(s).

Anyway onto this week's harvest. Early in the week I had a very nice harvest of broccoli, a small bit of zucchini, and some celery and parsley. And the first of the fall carrots. I finally used up the last of the June harvested carrots. The fall carrots really aren't that big yet. The storage ones are bigger, but will stay in for a month or two more before the big harvest of those. The fresh eating ones just aren't getting a lot of sun right now so are growing slowly. But I am getting enough to harvest and they taste pretty good.

I had a total of three small harvests, just picking what I needed to give them as long of a growing time as I can.

And I had a very respectable zucchini harvest. The bottom one got large, but was still quite firm and good.

And I was hoping that this weeks would go over 500 pounds as it would be a nice number to go out on. But I'm half a pound short. I was really hoping to be able to dig up the sweet potatoes, but I never got a chance. I will for sure this week. I don't want them to get too cold and the night time temps are starting to dip lower. I suspect that this year's totals will be over 600 pounds, but I won't know until the end of the year.

• Broccoli, 1.90 lbs
• Carrots, 1.66 lbs
• Greens, 0.22 lbs
• Herbs, 0.38 lbs
• Summer Squash, 2.35 lbs
• Weekly total, 6.51 lbs
• Yearly total, 499.56 lbs, $1059.41

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.

Harvest Monday, 21 September 2015

I had very few harvests this week. I picked the last of the cucumbers. Then I pulled the dead plants. The zucchini are still producing in a small way. And I had one picking of the ever reliable chard. Though I forgot to take a photo, it looks like every other week I've picked chard. A nice huge tub of it. And I grabbed some celery during dinner and neglected to take a photo of that too.

This week I used up the last of the carrots that I picked in July. I'm hoping the next batch of carrots are ready for this coming week, but I haven't checked them. I don't want to lift up the row cover and let any of those nasty carrot flies in.

Usually I'd be picking my fall brassicas starting now, but that bed ended up first with a horrible case of aphids then with alternaria. I ripped up the whole bed and tossed the infected plants. I'll have to buy my cabbages and kohlrabi from the farmers market this week if I want any. Hopefully the fungus won't spread to the neighboring kale and turnips.

I now have two beds I've put to bed for the fall. This one and one of the two sisters beds that had finished producing.

• Cucumbers, 0.59 lbs
• Greens, 1.87 lbs
• Herbs, 0.06 lbs
• Summer Squash, 1.51 lbs
• Weekly total, 4.03 lbs
• Yearly total, 493.05 lbs, $1041.46

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.

Harvest Monday, 13 September 2015

I harvested broccoli not once, but twice this week. The first was all the side shoots from the spring planted broccoli. The second was the first of the summer planted broccoli to produce.

The amaranth was big enough again to harvest. It is trying to put out flowers at this point, but I keep cutting the plants back when I see the first buds. You might also notice in this and the rest of the above photos have cucumbers and tiny zucchini in the baskets. I'm surprised to be getting cucumbers still. They are still tasting good too. The plants are almost all dead. I think one plant has survived the wilt so far.

I had another tub of the prolific chard.

But the big news is the first of the squash to be picked. Last year I lost some squash because I let it sit out on the wet ground for too long. This year I've been more proactive in testing if the squash is ready.

This year I've been trialing two new squashes for me. The Thai Rai Kaw Tok is the green one in the photo and the very aggressive vines overtook one of my butternuts. Also they have set three more squash, but it remains to be seen if they will ripen in time. The Upper Ground Sweet Potato squash has set its first squash, but I don't think it has time to ripen. We will see. One of my butternuts really went crazy and set a lot early on (seven) and won't produce anymore. But the other two squashes have some immature ones on the vine still. Right now I'm at 40 pounds. Last year broke 100 pounds for the first year ever. I don't think I'll get near that number, but if I'm lucky I'll get close to 75. But only if they hurry up and size up and ripen. Trailing new squash never gets me the best return, unless of course I find a really productive one. And so far in my garden, nothing beats Waltham butternut. And luckily for me it is one of my favorite for taste too.

The Thai Rai Kaw Tok is interesting. It doesn't look so much bigger than the butternuts, but it is twice the weight of the largest of them. It weighed in at just over 7 pounds. It is also not orange yet though it has an orange patch on the bottom and orange spots. It also has an interesting bloom on the surface. Dave has grown these in the past and says they get orange after a couple of months in storage. I'm glad I read his description as I wouldn't have even checked if they were ripe enough to pick. I don't usually pick my winter squash green.

• Broccoli, 2.94 lbs
• Cucumbers, 2.00 lbs
• Greens, 2.39 lbs
• Summer Squash, 1.18 lbs
• Winter Squash, 40.44 lbs
• Weekly total, 48.93 lbs
• Yearly total, 489.01 lbs, $1030.81

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.

Harvest Monday, 6 September 2015

There were some large harvests this week. Though technically the onions were harvested a while ago, I only weigh them in once they are cured and braided. I only braid the best of the onions, the rest go right to the kitchen for immediate use.

The last of the melons were harvested. The melons weren't as good as last year. This year they got wilt and slowly struggled. I don't think melons are as susceptible and seem to resist it fine unless the cukes are near them. Or at least the only two years I've had trouble with it where the two years the cukes and the melons grew close. I'll be better next year. That said the yield was good again. Not quite as high as last year, but within 10%.

There were plenty of cukes, some of which weren't shown. The zucchini have slowed way down. They get barely any sun now and powdery mildew has hit hard. But I'll take tiny zukes over no zukes. Nothing else had time to grow at this point. The garden has too much shade. So I'll just let them put out little bits now and then.

And did you notice my first Chinese cabbage? I had to pick it as it was dying. I think I let them dry out too much and that one was hit the hardest. I've got to water better. Usually this time of the year is wet and cools down, but the unusual hot dry weather is continuing.

I picked the corn last week. It was s dismal corn year. Last year I got about 46 pounds. This year it was only 26. I was blaming it on the aggressive squash, but I had one block that had just the typical butternuts under them and they didn't size up well either. I don't know why they did so badly this year. But at least what we got was delicious.

My old reliable came in again this week.

And a nice pile of broccoli rounds out the vegetables.

The only perennial fruit on the tally is the raspberries. When I remember to pick them I'll go out in the afternoon and store them for breakfast. Right now it is my favorite way to eat them.

• Alliums, 13.94 lbs
• Broccoli, 2.83 lbs
• Corn, 2.33 lbs
• Cucumbers, 6.02 lbs
• Greens, 1.51 lbs
• Greens, Asian, 0.74 lbs
• Herbs, 0.13 lbs
• Melons, 16.30 lbs
• Summer Squash, 0.42 lbs
• Weekly total, 44.21 lbs
• Yearly total, 440.06 lbs, $929.38

• Raspberries, 0.27 lbs
• Fruit Yearly total, 100.55 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.

Harvest Monday, 31 August 2015

I would say that summer is almost over now, but this coming week is supposed to be in the 90s again. I was really hoping for a return to more normal weather. Often the pattern start to shift in September. At least the corn and melons have liked the heat.

There has been a lot of corn and melons. Not all of the photos made the cut. Most of the melons got frozen for smoothies as I just can't eat 20 pounds of melons in a week. I did have some help though as I had my mother and MIL visiting at the beginning of the week and my aunt and uncle over the weekend. Sadly two of the melons rotted out before they ripened. Though they were on bricks their undersides rotted. I should have turned them over more to dry out, but I didn't know how prone to rotting Diplomats were. I never have to do that with my Halona melons. They do taste good though and produce well if you can keep them from rotting.

In addition to melons we had two apple harvests. I decided after the first one that the apples were at the perfect stage and the rest needed to be picked before they over ripened. I put nylon footies on my apples when they first start to form to keep the insects out as I don't spray my trees. Ginger Golds are such a wonderful early apple.

I split the bounty in half and I got one basket and my townhouse mates got the rest. As you can see a squirrel sampled one even through the bird netting. And a few apples had some minor insect damage. Mostly they were good enough to serve to guests.

I didn't take a lot of photos, but I'm still getting zucchini and cukes. There are only a few cucumber plants that are still producing. But it has been enough to keep me in cucumbers everyday. I've even gotten enough zucchini over the last couple of weeks to freeze some.

Though they don't always get weighed - or rarely get weighed - sometimes I do remember and the herbs get on the tally.

Chard and amaranth were both picked. I didn't pick any of my own broccoli, but since I had guests I did buy some at the store. I had enough of the other veggies to keep my guests supplied.

Below you might find it weird that I put melons on the vegetable list and not on the fruit list. But the fruit list is really for perennials. And melons are grown more like the vegetables. For the perennial fruits it really is a milestone. This is the first year I've picked over 100 pounds. Last year was at 71 pounds, so it has been a very nice fruit year.

• Corn, 6.80 lbs
• Cucumbers, 2.63 lbs
• Greens, 2.72 lbs
• Herbs, 0.19 lbs
• Melons, 20.61 lbs
• Summer Squash, 2.56 lbs
• Weekly total, 35.50 lbs
• Yearly total, 395.86 lbs, $1234.77

• Apples, 28.66 lbs
• Raspberries, 0.41 lbs
• Fruit Yearly total, 100.28 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.

Harvest Monday, 24 August 2015

Though my peaches have all been picked, fruit still takes the starring role this week. My first melons were picked. Usually I get an intense two weeks of melons and then they are gone. I tried to time it so they would be ripe when my mom and MIL were here, and they are showing up today, so I succeeded.

I also picked corn several times. I wanted my corn to be late enough for the parents too. And I could have planted them even a week earlier. Corn is easier to time though as I have a month long window of picking.

I picked and froze a lot of basil.

And I'm still picking zucchini and cucumbers. I got one baseball bat of a zucchini this week as I missed picking a day. They grow so fast if you let them. I usually let them grow one day after they have pollinated and closed up. Two days is too long. I took the seeds out and grated it for bread in the winter. In addition I got another picking of the amaranth. It is struggling next to the zucchini. I try to keep the zucchini leaves off of it, but it is a hopeless cause.

I finished up all of my sweet onions, so now I've started bringing in the red onions when I need them. They are almost done curing outside.

• Alliums, 1.09 lbs
• Corn, 3.53 lbs
• Cucumbers, 4.09 lbs
• Greens, 0.75 lbs
• Herbs, 1.29 lbs
• Melons, 9.80 lbs
• Summer Squash, 5.39 lbs
• Weekly total, 25.94
• Yearly total, 360.36 lbs, $768.70

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.

Harvest Monday, 16 August 2015

First picking

Half of second picking

Fruit takes the staring roll this week. I had to pick the rest of the tree as some of the peaches were starting to fall. In addition I started to pick our Ginger Gold apple tree. Not many. I'll let most of them ripen up more. And the fall raspberries have started, though very slowly. If you notice on my side bar I tally my fruit differently than my vegetables. Vegetables for the most part are grown as annuals and each year is potentially just as good as the year before. But fruit is on mostly on bushes and trees and takes time to start producing. So there is a huge outlay of money at the start and it takes years before the trees pay off. I'm no where near that. But every year my fruit production has gone up. This week I topped last year's record. So far everything has been higher in production except the peach tree. The peaches were very small this year. I've still got most of the apple tree left to harvest too and I expect the harvest to be pretty good. I'm wondering if I'll be able to top 100 pounds this year. It is going to be very close.

One of many corn harvests

Corn continues to be the biggest producer. Though I think I'm way behind last year's production. I'm getting some really small ears and no second ears like last year. Some started to form - even some third ears, but the squash overtook the plants too much and the corn couldn't support them well enough. Also the squash leaves were so tall they blocked the pollination on some of the ears.

One of many cuke and zuke harvests

The zucchini finally picked up some this week. It still isn't super productive, but at least it isn't too bad. I'm not sure why they aren't producing like crazy. This year they missed the squash vine borers. The cucumbers are fading fast. Wilt has taken half the plants down. I'm sure the rest won't be long. But I'm enjoying them immensely while they are still around.

One of two onion baskets

I brought in the last of the sweet onions. I've almost finished eating them too. Yum. I don't think the Walla Wallas are as sweet as the Ailsa Craigs that I grew in previous years. But I like the taste better. I might switch over to them permanently. None of them ever got particularly huge, but they sized up well considering the tiny seedlings.

I should sing odes to my chard. It is so reliable. When I need greens it is always there for me.

And last but not least is one truckload of broccoli side shoots. I eat the leaves and peel the stems and eat those too, so it all comes inside. Broccoli is one of my favorite greens.

• Alliums, 6.23 lbs
• Broccoli, 6.27 lbs
• Corn, 6.63 lbs
• Cucumbers, 3.34 lbs
• Greens, 2.00 lbs
• Herbs, 0.13 lbs
• Summer Squash, 3.20 lbs
• Weekly total, 27.78
• Yearly total, 334.41 lbs, $703.88

• Apples, 2.98 lbs
• Peaches, 21.86 lbs
• Raspberries, 0.03 lbs
• Fruit Yearly total, 71.22 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.

Harvest Monday, 10 August 2015

Ah summer. It really has some of the most wonderful harvests. The largest harvest this week was the peaches. They are really small this year, but still delicious. I probably should have thinned them better to get bigger peaches. The peaches are a condo harvest which means the trees are owned by both townhouses - for those that don't know I have a shared city yard. The veggie garden proper is mine and the wall garden, but all the landscape trees and bushes are shared which means half that fruit goes over to them.

The second biggest harvest is the corn. I have more than in the photos, but those were the biggest. As you can see not all of them are fully pollinated. Sometimes the edge ones don't do as well. But they are all tasty.

And of course lots of cukes and not nearly enough zukes. I have enough zukes to eat fresh, but not enough to freeze yet. They seem pretty steady at 1.5 pounds or half a pound per plant per week, which is pretty dang bad. I need to try another variety next year, though I love Costata Romanesca for its taste.

And I got a few greens too. I harvested some amaranth and broccoli side shoots. I don't take off the leaves of the broccoli as I eat them too.

The turnips didn't go into the tally. Last time I had turnips I had to cut a lot of bad parts out. I'm guessing these are just as bad. Together they make one picking, but not by themselves.

And last but not least the alliums. Green onions (not leeks even though that is what they look like), sweet onions, and storage onions all braided up and ready for the basement.

Needless to say it was a really good harvest week.

• Alliums, 20.71 lbs
• Beans, 0.19 lbs
• Broccoli, 1.31 lbs
• Corn, 6.28 lbs
• Cucumbers, 3.87 lbs
• Greens, 1.17 lbs
• Herbs, 0.17 lbs
• Summer Squash, 1.66 lbs
• Weekly total, 35.35
• Yearly total, 306.63 lbs, $680.82

• Peaches, 8.85 lbs
• Fruit Yearly total, 46.36 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.