Monday, August 15, 2011

Harvest Monday ............... 08/15/2011

Last week was a very busy week around here. The garden is still in full swing. I had a lot of preserving to try to catch up on, "The Italian" and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on Tuesday, lots of family stuff, I'm trying to get the fall garden ready and I had garden visitors from Maryland. Marcia from Birds, Blooms, Books etc. stopped by with her husband on Friday. We had breakfast at a local diner and then we went over to the plots. They were heading North for a family vacation and stopped in the area over night to visit with family & see the garden plots.

There were a lot of firsts this week in the gardens....so I thought that I would post pictures of some new and different veggies that were harvested this week.

Some Red Sweet Peppers, Habanero Peppers (seed from Mimi) and those funny little round green things are Burr Gherkin Cucumbers.

I ordered Gherkin Cucumber seeds from the Landis Valley Museum Heirloom Seed Project. What I expected was not what I got. The description did not say that they were a variety of Burr Cucumber. They are kind of cool looking though and I found a great recipe for them. If I get enough, I think that I will make a batch of sweet pickles with them also.

The first cucumbers were harvested this week. The two at the top/left are Japanese Cucumbers and the other two are a slicing variety. I direct sowed the cucumbers as a second crop after the peas in the garden. Next year I'm going to sow one slicing cucumber early and the cucumbers for preserving later. Then "The Italian" will have cucs for eating early in the season. I'm happy that I didn't sow the cucumbers earlier. I would really be going crazy making pickles at the same time as the tomato glut!

This is a Korean Melon.
 A friend of ours, who is from Korea, dropped off a couple of melons for us last year. I saved some of the seeds and planted a few at the plots. I don't remember what it tastes like and we haven't eaten this one yet.

Top to Bottom
Three Spaghetti Squash, One Fortina White Pumpkin, Three Long Island Cheese Squash (seed from Mimi) and Four Sweet Dumplings (or Little Dumplings)


Total weighed Harvest for the week: 85.53125 lbs.

Cabbage Red - 44 oz.
Cucumbers - 31.5 oz.
Cucumbers , Burr - 6.5 oz.
Eggplant - 14 oz.
Melon, Korean - 14.5 oz.
Peppers:
   Bell - 24 oz.
   Hot - 19 oz.
Squash:
    Long Island Cheese - 95 oz.
    Spaghetti - 128 oz.
    Sweet Dumpling - 58 oz.
    White Pumpkin - 41 oz.
Tomatoes - 864 oz. (54 lbs)
Zucchini - 29 oz.

Stop by Daphne's Dandelions our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in veggie gardens and veggie kitchens around the globe!

27 comments:

  1. Quite the harvest--love the baby cukes-so cute!!
    Those cheese squash are interesting-have you tried them before?
    I'm hoping my squash (and TOMATOES!) ripen before the frost. It's 45 this morning--it's cooling off fast. Summer sure goes fast!

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  2. Wow your peppers are even turning. I cant believe how far along your garden is. Everything looks so good.

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  3. Everything looks great! I love the pic of all your squashes! I will be interested to hear how that melon tastes!!

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  4. Lots of lovely squashes in your harvest piles this week! I think the winter squashes are going to be a bust for us this year. They are going now but way too late a start - odds are high they will not get fruits matured before the cold fall rains do them in. Enjoy that melon. My dry cleaner is owned by a Korean family and they share that same melon with me every summer. I never have kept the seeds (duh!?!) but definitely enjoyed the melons.

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  5. Sue, those little cucs are full grown! No, I have never tried the LI Cheese Squash before. It will be interesting to see how they are.

    Jane, I have had some beautiful completely red & orange peppers this year in spite of my nibbling groundhog!

    Allison, I think that the melon will be eaten tomorrow. I will post on the taste of it.

    Laura, I had no idea if that melon was a hybrid or not. It looks like it's not. My winter squash are really coming along well...keeping my fingers crossed!

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  6. I remember growing those gherkins one time, and I didn't know what to do with them! That's a pretty collection of squashes too. Happy Anniversary! we've got our 4th coming up next month.

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  7. What a great harvest! I'm very curious about that melon from your Korean friend. You'll have to report back after you cut into it =)

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  8. Every thing looks great, I love those different squash, and cukes..good harvest..

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  9. Robin nice harvest. How was your meeting with Marcia and Dan?

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  10. You are really kicking into high gear! You are producing amazing amounts on your little plots!

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  11. I hear you on being busy, I'm still trying to catch up on reading blogs since Saturday, haven't even thought of writing yet! Happy Anniversary to you both!

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  12. Lovely harvest...but I want to talk about your anniversary! I LOVED reading the post about your second anniversary and learning your story. I had not found your blog a year ago so it was new to me. Delightful story and similar to mine. Jay and I have been married 13 years...a second marriage, later in life, we were not looking for but was waiting for us. How great when life gives you such a surprise at a time in your life when you can appreciate it and "tend" it lovingly. Auguri to the two of you and many more happy years together. AND you are a beautiful couple and "The Italian" is a Bello Ragazzo (handsome man!) but don't tell him I said so.

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  13. What a great year you are having! Since our weather is so similar, I'm surprised at just how far ahead your harvests are.

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  14. Great harvest and happy belated anniversary! I hope this week slows down for you :)

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  15. Villager, Those gherkins were not what I wanted. Now I'm going to have to go hunting for small cucs in order to make sweet gherkin pickles! Thanks for the Anniversary wishes....you and your lovely wife are one year ahead of us!

    Dorothy, I will definitely post on the melon after we eat it. There are a few more over at the plots. Hopefully they will make it!

    Ginny, My squash are doing quite well in spite of everything. I also found some more Spaghetti squash here at the house!!

    Wilderness, Our meeting was very nice. We had a good breakfast and then went to the plots.

    Thanks Barbie, Those little plots aren't so little!!

    Erin, I've given up on trying to read blogs from last week. Thanks for the Anniversary wishes!

    Patricia, I was going to do an Anniversary post but just didn't get to it last week. Maybe I will do a belated one this week. I'm glad that you think My Italian is a handsome man too! I think that he is quite a fella!

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  16. Granny, Our weather is supposed to be similar...but not so much this year! It has really cooled down the past couple of days and has been raining off and on. I think we may have an early fall and you will have a late one.

    Thanks Mrs. P, I think this week will be a bit better then last. Then I can clean my filthy house!!

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  17. Happy anniversary!
    Lovely harvest, what does gherkin taste like? Those winter squashes look so nice, maybe it's time for me to pick my butternuts, this is the first time I grow it, not quite sure when to harvest.

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  18. oh you have such a nice variety of good looking stuff this week! I don't know If I will get much of any winter squash or any summer squash. I planted butternut, acorn, buttercup, and pumpkins and I have gotten a couple of acorn and some bush pumpkin but no vine pumpkins yet. Hope hope hope! Yours look sooooo nice! Glad they got to maturity before the borers did them in. I have TONS of vines and plants riddled with borer damage! That is probably why they aren't producing!

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  19. The prickly gherkins look interesting - do you peel them to eat?

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  20. Those little cucumbers look great. I might have to try and track some down; mind you, it might be a bit cold for them here!

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  21. Thanks Mac, we had a great day! We didn't taste those little cucs yet. I wasn't sure when to harvest those LI Cheese squash. They had turned color, were hard and stopped growing....so I figured it was time!

    Shawn Ann, I am very very happy to get squash this year. Last year the SVB's got every single plant and I didn't get one....not even a zucchini!! The Spaghetti Squash which I thought that the SVB's had gotten in to are doing great. The vines are still healthy and there are several more squash out there!

    Sue, No, your not supposed to peel them as far as I know. We are going to taste them tonight

    IG, Although those little guys were a surprise....I think they are pretty cool! Try them and see what happens

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  22. I saw that you got 54 lbs of tomatoes, how many plants do you have?

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  23. Beautiful veggies, Robin. I like those gherkins. It's fun to try something new every year, isn't it?

    Happy canning to you!

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  24. Hi there Kon and thanks for stopping by! This year I have 10 tomato plants at the home garden and 32 plants at the plots.

    Lynn, I haven't had a canning break for a couple of weeks now!

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  25. How do you get them to produce so much?

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  26. Kon, I really don't know. My husband, "The Italian" says it's because I love them so much! I do fertilize a couple of times in the beging of the season with organic fertilizer and fish seaweed blend fertilizer. When I plant them I put crushed egg shells in the hole and then a little fertilizer a couple of weeks later in a ring around the plant.

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  27. Aren't the habaneros such a wonderful color? I love growing them! They are so spicy!!

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