Monday, June 25, 2012

Harvest Monday............06/25/2012

The harvests are starting to pick up a bit around here. The spring broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage were started a bit late since I didn't think the plots would be ready. In spite of the late start, the broccoli is doing well. I planted 3 varieties. So far, the Premium Crop has produced the biggest heads. Four varieties of cauliflower were planted. To date, only one variety has produced heads. This was the Silver Cup, which is a 45 day variety. As you can see from the picture below, the heads started to bolt on the first day of our heat wave this past week. It still tasted wonderful though! Since the temps have dropped significantly, maybe the rest of the plants will be able to produce something.

This is a drawer in the kitchen refrigerator. We are so so happy to have some broccoli and cauliflower this year!

The strawberries are trickling in a little at a time. Some of them do make it back to the house.

I pulled a Walla Walla onion the other day for dinner. It wasn't ready, but we had no onions left from last year.

This is the Silverskin softneck garlic.It was pulled on the 21st since it was completely lying on the ground. The heads are a nice size and it it now hanging to cure.

The Music hardneck variety was pulled on the 22nd. As you can see from the picture, the bunch to the left is bigger then the rest. This bunch was planted in a different bed. I guess it liked the soil better in that bed. All of the garlic is at least 2 weeks early this year. It will be weighed once it is finished curing.

I snuck a few more potatoes for dinner the other day. These are Kennebecs. It looks like we will have more potatoes this year then we can possibly use. I'm sure my in-laws will be happy about that!

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in Veggie Gardens around the globe!


55 comments:

  1. I'd be happy to have more potatoes than I could use. Last week I bought some for the first time this year, i have soem more coming on so hopefully that will be the last lot. Your brassicas look great.

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    1. We do love potatoes....but, we would be big as a house if we ate too many!

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  2. I wish cauliflower would grow in my garden. Tried but was unsuccessful so I gave up. Nice garlic harvest, I need to keep an eye on mine so that I harvest on time.

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    1. Cauliflower can be tricky to grow. Sometimes it's fine and sometimes it's not.

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  3. Ah, everything looks great! I think I'll be harvesting most of my garlic in the coming week, about the same time as last year. What a blessing to get lots of potatoes! I have some planted, but not likely to get too many. I'm still learning the ins and outs of potato growing.

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    1. There are several ways to grow potatoes. I started mulching mine with straw instead of hilling it when I moved here. It's much easier.

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  4. What a bountiful week! Congratulations! I can only hope our potatoes do as well as yours seem to be doing! How many pounds did you plant?

    Our garlic is acting funny this year...not sure if it's a Santa Fe thing but apparently several people are having garlic issues...tiny heads (but super strong flavor) and falling over way too soon. Maybe it was our warm winter? Not sure...I'm curious to see how ours turns out!

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    1. I planted 15 pounds of potatoes. We only need about 20-30 lbs for the two of us to eat for the year.

      I bet it was the weather that made the garlic strong tasting and small. My heads were a little smaller then usual. We haven't tasted it yet. So, I don't know how strong it is.

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  5. Cudowne zbiory warzyw. Brawo..:) Pozdrawiam, Ula

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  6. I didn't plant much garlic, just got three but will plant more this fall. My onions did not do well, I think it's the soil, but that is always improving so maybe next year will be better.

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    1. I don't think my onions will be as nice as last year. Time will tell!

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  7. More potatoes than can be used? NAH! You can always preshred them and throw them in the freezer for hashbrowns. My family is on a HUGE hashbrown kick right now and I don't know what I'd do without preshredded ones! LOL. They do look lovely. Nice garlic, too. Mine didn't take well at all.

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    1. We love potatoes. But don't eat a lot of them. I gain wait just looking at them!

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  8. Potatoes are a staple in our food pantry so I look for big harvests each year. Your garlic looks like it formed good bulbs/cloves. I am watching my patch carefully as I think it will be ready fairly soon to be pulled. Excellent work with the broccoli and cauliflower. Those are really beautiful heads on both of them. Our broccoli is still producing side shoots but I am declaring them done (the fall ones will be planted out in just 4 short weeks) and pulling the plants up two a day to give to the hens. They adore broccoli leaves.

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    1. Thanks Laura, The garlic did pretty well. I really need to get my fall broccoli and cauliflower started tomorrow!!

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  9. Beautiful. I'm just starting to pull onions as I need them. I have tons of Alicia Craig onions and they don't store well - just like the Walla Wallas. So I figure I'll eat the biggest ones as I go along. Last year I didn't harvest until the beginning of August so I might pull a lot before then. My garlic is usually ready to pick in the first week of July, but the foliage has just started to die back now. If it doesn't get a move on, it will be late this year. The old garlic is still going strong though. I have enough heads to last a while from them.

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    1. I still have a little garlic left from last year. I think I'm going to make some garlic powder with it.

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  10. Beautiful harvest! That's alot of garlic to process. I planted few this year but only 6 survived so next year will be planting alot more.

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    1. My husband is Italian....so, we must have lots of garlic around here!

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  11. Looks like you garden is doing great. I haven't had time for the blog as so overwhelmed by the gardens, yard and house as well as caring for my DB that is seems like I am going 24/7. It has not been gardening weather here. Another 5" of rain in the month of June on top of all we had in May. Our night time temperatures are still in the 50's most night but we did get a couple of 80s and 1 90s weather when everyone else got hit with the heat.

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    1. Hey Wilderness, I figured you have been crazy busy! I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for you to have some better weather!

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  12. LOL, we eat potatoes like The Italian eats pasta, so I look forward to large harvests. Great cauliflower...mine has yet to even show a button. I sure wish I could find a variety that performs well for me.

    That sure is a lot of garlic.

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    1. That's the problem Granny! I can't eat a lot of pasta and potatoes...or "The Italian" would have one short fat German wife!

      There are a couple of things that my Italian must have and one of them is garlic! That is just the right amount of garlic for eating and planting.

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  13. Wow you guys must be really big garlic fans!! That's a lot of garlic. Our cauliflower has stalled in the heat, I've never been very good at growing cauliflower. If they don't get heads soon they are heading for the compost pile!!

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    1. I harvested 85 heads of garlic. We probably use one a week and we need some for planting in the fall.

      Good luck with your cauliflower. You can always try it again this fall.

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  14. That all looks superb! Yummmmmm! Garlic and potatoes and strawberries! Hooray!

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    1. Thanks a bunch!! We are very happy with the harvests this week!

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  15. Great looking garlic harvest! Looks like I'm not the only one who loves it. Nice strawberries too. I can see many of those not making it inside. And congrats on the broccoli and cauliflower!

    Our potato crop looks good this year too. Which is amazing, given the drought. But last year they had too much rain and that wasn't good either, since many rotted in the ground.

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  16. Nice garlic harvest and those strawberries are to die for, wish I could grow regular headed broccoli and cauliflower, still trying......

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    1. Thanks Mac, Don't give up on growing broccoli and cauliflower. Sooner or later you'll succeed!

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  17. Lovely harvests, especially those lovely strawberries, I'm envious.

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    1. Most of the strawberries get eaten while I'm under my umbrella admiring the tomatoes!

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  18. Nice haul on the garlic! Wow!

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    1. We definitely have enough garlic this year!!!

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  19. Wow your garden is really starting to produce! It looks so good.

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    1. Jane, I am very happy with the garden so far. I think we will have enough to get us through the year!

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  20. Lovely broccoli and cauliflower and your garlic harvest is fabulous! This was my first year growing garlic and I wish I'd planted more. I'm sure you can get creative with all those potatoes.. enjoy!

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    1. Thanks Julie, Garlic is pretty easy to grow. Just plant it and wait.

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  21. Hi Robin, You are getting lots of yummy things to eat! Those strawberrys look sooo good! Nancy

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    1. Thanks Nancy, The strawberries have been nice and sweet!

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  22. Great harvest, the garlic looks wonderful. I love the photo of the caulis and broccoli too, pity I didn't get around to planting caulis this year. Isn't it funny that while we're in completely opposite hemispheres it's brassica season for both of us, it's a winter crop here in Melbourne. Though the strawberries are definitely a summer treat, now I'm hanker for their sweetness.

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    1. I too find it interesting that those of you going into winter are harvesting some of the same veggies as those of us going into summer.

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  23. Replies
    1. Hi Sue, yes, all of the garlic formed nice cloves.

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  24. hey baby! i have something funny for you over at my place.. come on by!
    http://adventuresinthegoodland.blogspot.com/2012/06/nicholas-weighs-in-hard-day-7.html

    ps wow on the harvest!!!!! my taters seem a little small but they are delicious - i think i'm gonna pull them out b/c we are so dry here.

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    1. It's been a bit dry here too.....but the taters seem to be doing fine.

      Alvin is hiding in his box over all this publicity!

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  25. Like Barbara, I'm in Australia so I was thinking the same about growing brassicas at the same time in different hemispheres.

    Pardon my ignorance, but as you seem to be growing a lot of brassicas in your plots, what do you do with them all? I understand that onions, garlic and potatoes store well for future use and tomatoes can be turned into all sorts of useful things but not so much brassicas (that I'm aware of). Do you give them away? Freeze them? I'm not overly keen on (my own) frozen veggies - probably because I haven't mastered the art.

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    1. Hi Nina, I freeze and can a lot since we try not to buy any veggies that we don't grow. The broccoli and cauliflower that isn't eaten fresh is frozen for use during the year. I blanch it, cool it, vacuum seal it and then freeze it. It's absolutely wonderful. What is the problem you are having with your frozen veggies??

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    2. I should have said 'some' of my frozen veggies. Some, like corn or broadbeans are fine but something like green beans are awful (mushy and limp - and I was careful with the timing of blanching and cooling). I do freeze veggies when I have a glut (like my celery, recently) but I only use them in, say, a soup or stew, as that works okay but as a 'side', not so much. I must admit I haven't tried freezing cauliflower or broccoli - I just assumed they wouldn't be very successful. If I ever have enough to freeze, I'll give it a go.

      In general, I think Aussies aren't particularly skilled at preserving our produce (or maybe that's just me!!) as our weather is relatively mild and we can grow, at least something, year round.

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  26. I so miss my garlic this year! Yours look fantastic. When I grew spring cauliflower last year, the heads were rather small and tended to bolt prematurely. The fall crop was MUCH better.

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    1. Hey Thomas, I sure would miss my garlic too! I'm going to start my fall broccoli and cauliflower today. Hopefully it will do well.

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