Preserving

Monday, July 25, 2011

Harvest Monday ...............07/25/2011

The harvests this week were pretty good in spite of the horrible hot weather we had. I finally got around to harvesting the celery at home. I thought that I had left it in a bit too long...but, it was fine. 

Five nice bunches of celery. I think that there were originally 7 plants and two grew together.

After they were cleaned and cut I ended up with 6 lbs of celery. A lot of it was frozen and some was left in the refrigerator for daily use.

A basket of goodies from the plots on Monday. The first eggplant, Rosa Bianca, a couple of peppers,  a zucchini, red cabbage and the biggest and last head of cauliflower from the Spring planting. That cauliflower is supposed to be white, not yellow! It was even covered to blanch it for a couple of weeks. I guess it was due to the stupid weather.

The pepperoncini peppers are producing like rabbits!

and so are the blackberries!

The remaining onions were pulled this past week. Some of the other onions were ready for storage. But.....

we still have onions hanging around!

I pulled most of the carrots that were growing between the tomatoes in the one smaller bed at the home garden on Sunday. Although my carrots aren't as big as Granny's...I'm definitely doing much better growing carrots this year then in the past.

These carrots were growing in big containers. They were also harvested on Sunday. I still have quite a few left in the containers that aren't ready to be harvested. Now, if I could only get my fall carrots going!! The first planting failed due to the heat and the second one is looking too good either. I just may have to plant them again...now that it has cooled down a bit!


Total Harvest weighed this week: 52.8125 lbs.

Blackberries - 76 oz. (4.75 lbs)
Cabbage - Red - 17 oz.
Carrots - 49 oz. (3.06lbs)
Cauliflower - 16 oz.
Celery - 96 oz. (6 lbs.)
Eggplant:
   Rosa Bianca - 7.5 oz.
   Lunga Violetta Di Firenze - 6.5 oz.
Onions weighed:
   Red - 105.5 oz. (6.6 lbs)
   White - 56.5 oz. (3.5 lbs.)
Peppers:
   Cayenne - 3 oz
   Paprika - 2.5 oz.
   Pepperoncini - 20.5 oz.
   Marconi Bell - 8 oz.
   Orange Bell - 14.5 oz.
Tomatoes - 308.5 oz. (19.28 lbs)
Zucchini - 58 oz. (3.625 lbs)


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

31 comments:

  1. We've never grown celery - does it need anything special?

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  2. Stupid weather indeed. Your harvest looks really good considering the conditions.

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  3. Wow, it all looks great! I hope the weather has cooled down for you guys! It broke up here yesterday morning.

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  4. Your carrots looks great to me! They are definitely bigger than mine. I'm also still waiting for pepperoncinis, so yours look yummy.

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  5. I don't even know where to begin, everything looks wonderful! Those peppers - oh my! I am jealous! And I love how your onions look!!

    For my celery, when I harvest it, I slice it off close to the root and I have had succces with the root then regrowing more stalks!

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  6. Robin, I never even thought about growing celery! And to hear that you froze it, WOW! never tried that either. Tell me more about that. Your gardens have done a terrific job..You will be eating all winter from it (maybe even into next year :o)

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  7. Sue, The celery grows great at the home garden...but, it's not liking the soil at the plots. The soil over there has hardly any organic matter in it. I grow the self-blanching variety and have never given it any special attention. It does take a while to germinate and grow. I started mine inside at the end of February. I'm in the process of germinating some more for the fall/winter. We will see how it does.

    Jane, Stupid is not the word I would like to use for this weather! I'm not complaining about my harvests considering our weather this year

    Ali, Our weather has really cooled down this morning.....now all we need is a good rain!

    Villager, These are the best carrots that I have ever grown! I am really happy with them. Once those pepperoncinis start...there will be no stopping them!

    Allison, You know, I heard that about celery and totally forgot to do it!

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  8. Ginny, I just cut the stalks of the celery in pieces and freeze it. I also freeze the leaves and smaller stems separate. I use those for making soup stock.

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  9. Do you blanch your celery first before you freeze them? When we had a nice year of celery, I forgot to freeze them and they bolt too soon. I love your celery, they are beautiful. Your carrot is looking great. Ours never grow like that :), always forky.

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  10. Wow! What a bountiful harvest! Congratulations!!!

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  11. That is a great harvest week! I would be in heaven to be getting 19 pounds of tomatoes - heck I would be glad to get 2 lbs of tomatoes right now! LOL!

    The celery looks like it great beautifully for you. And the blackberries are particularly nice looking too. We don't see those until the end of August first of September typically.

    Glad to hear the temps have moderated a bit. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday!

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  12. Let me just say, I have none of your harvests! I hear you on the weather, but your harvests are just beautiful!

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  13. Wow-the celery looks great. It's my first year with it. Did you blanch yours? My stalks are so dark green. That's not right, I think. Hmmmmm

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  14. MalayGirl, no I do not blanch my celery before I freeze it.

    Thanks Bee Girl!

    Laura, It was a really good week considering the weather. It is much cooler here today and we are even getting a few sprinkles of rain here and there. It will be nice meeting with you on Friday!

    RandomGardener, Thanks a bunch...this weather has been just horrible!

    Sue, No I did not blanch the celery. I plant a self-blanching variety. I don't think that there is anything wrong with dark green celery.

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  15. Oh my gosh Robin...I can't take it anymore!!! Astounding! You are having such a wonderful year! I want your celery...

    Someone hand me a tissue.

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  16. Now thats a harvest! I have never thought of growing celery, but boy yours looks great.So what do you end up doing with all those peppers?

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  17. Beautiful carrots and celery, I struggle in growing carrots here, it's way way too hot for them now.

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  18. APGal, you are too much!! The garden is doing very well in spite of the weather this year!

    Mrs.P, Celery is on the top of the dirty dozen food list of things you should never eat unless it's organic. I will pickle the pepperoncinis. When I have enough I will give some away. I also roast & freeze regular peppers. When I have enough those will go to other family members for freezing and roasting.

    Mac, This is my best year so far growing carrots! Maybe I'm finally learning something!

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  19. 52 lbs this week...wow! That's really good! Your carrots look lovely! I am having a much better year for carrots too! I planted mine with the tomatoes too. I am in awe of all you have in your garden!

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  20. Thanks Shawn Ann, I am so pleased with the carrots this year. I have to tell you that I have been working my behind off this year and it's still too big!

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  21. Oh wow, Robin~~ your harvest is amazing! That Rosa Bianca eggplant is beautiful. We have 1 Rosa Bianca plant growing this year. It's still small. I hope it'll bear some fruits.

    I'm envious of your cabbage and cauliflower. I never have any luck with those.

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  22. What a nice looking harvest for the week :)

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  23. Your carrots are much bigger than Granny's! All of those I've harvested so far are little, stubby and hairy. In fact, I've been pulling them out and composting a lot just to get rid of them. I hope later plantings are better, it looks like they will be.

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  24. Your celery, carrots and cheddar cauliflower look amazing Robin!

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  25. Sherry, We like the Rosa Bianca eggplant. It is one of the four varieties that I grow every year. My spring cauliflower and broccoli were horrible this year. That is the only good head of cauliflower I got out of 30 plants. The cabbage did good though.

    Thanks Vanessa

    Perdita, We were very happy with our harvests this week.

    Granny, I thought that you were a pro at growing carrots! Oh, that's right it's onions! I'm sure that your later planting will do good. The weather has not been so good this year.

    Thanks Thomas, that cauliflower is Early Snowball. I have no idea why it is that color. I had the leaves pulled over it for a couple of weeks. It must have been the heat. It was good tasting.....that's all that matters!

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  26. My goodness! You have your own farmers market! Beautiful photos!

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  27. How can you be harvesting cauliflower still. Orange colored or not, that's very cool. The pepperoncinis look delicious. I didn't know we could grow them in this region, but I guess it makes sense. Wasn't the rain wonderful. I'm already hoping for another storm.

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  28. Beautiful harvest. I think the yellow color of the cauliflower is really pretty. I hope it tasted good.

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  29. Hi Hangkebon, Thanks for stopping by, your kind words and following my blog!

    Thanks Vicki, I have to say at times my kitchen looks like a farmers market!

    Jody, Isn't that just crazy about the cauliflower?? I hope that the fall cauliflower does much better and forms heads in a timely manner! Yes, the rain was wonderful and the garden and weeds responded quickly!

    Daphne, The cauliflower tasted great and was not tough. It was quite strange how it turned that color though.

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