Preserving

Monday, August 8, 2011

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

The week started out good, everything was pretty much under control. I had some tomatoes to can, tomato juice to make and some peppers to freeze and roast.

This was my kichen island on Wednesday. The peppers were coming in at a steady pace and the tomatoes were not out of control.

I had a nice smaller harvest from the plots on Thursday. The eggplant are quite small this year. I did make a batch of Eggplant Caponata this week and canned it. I still need to make another batch or two to get us through the year. As you can see there's a Little Dumpling in this harvest. It was accidentally knocked off the vine  when I tried to move it. That's the second veggie that I did this to so far this year. From now on, I'm leaving them alone!

I really thought that this weeks harvest were going to remain small. My harvest totals for the week on Friday were about 28 lbs. Then we had a day of much needed rain on Saturday and look what I found at the home garden on Sunday!!

The biggest tomato of the season....maybe my life! A Pineapple, seed from Diana, weighing in at 2 lbs. 9.5 oz. Boy that's one big tomato!

Then I went to the plots and picked a ton of tomatoes, cantaloupe and peppers.

This is what the kitchen island looked like on Sunday and that wasn't all of the produce in the kitchen!! It turned out to be another great week of harvests around here!


Total Week's Harvest - 84.5 lbs

Blackberries - 14 oz.
Cantaloupe - 106.5 oz
Eggplant - 38 oz.
Peppers:
   Bell Sweet - 114 oz.
   Hot & Spice - 19 oz.
Squash - Little Dumpling - 8 oz.
Tomatoes - 1026.5 oz. (64.16 lbs)
Zucchini - 26 oz.

Stop by Daphne's Dandelions our host of Harvest Monday to see what's happening in Veggie Gardens and Garden Kitchens around the globe!

41 comments:

  1. Wow, those tomatoes look wonderful. That is a great harvest.

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  2. Wow! It is amazing how quickly you can go from a manageable haul to an overwhelming number of tomatoes in only a short time. The Pineapple tomato is quite impressive.

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  3. Thanks Jane, I'm definitely getting a lot of tomatoes and have one happy "Italian"!

    Rachel, I told my husband on Saturday that we might hit 50 lbs this week if we were lucky. Well, I harvested more then 50 lbs on Sunday. I really thought that I had the kitchen under control until then.

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  4. Can you imagine how hard it is for me to look at all that bounty and I don't have a SINGLE large tomato ready yet?????? I'm honest to a fault, but really-if I could, I would STEAL one of those beauties. Nice haul for the week. You're going to be busy for awhile-LOL!

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  5. Yes, you do have a busy week of canning ahead of you. That was an amazingly huge tomato. What did you do with it?

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  6. Wow, what a great bounty of tomatoes! Have fun canning this week.

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  7. I so want to grow Pineapple next year. We keep getting these hot summers so it ought to produce for me. I love the taste of it. I showed off my largest tomato too, but it was half the size of yours.

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  8. Its look like Christmas over at your place. So many reds decorating your kitchen. Your tomatoes looks really good.

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  9. Those pineapple tomatoes are delicious, I had one yesterday. Unfortunately, they do not produce a lot but at 2.6 lbs. how many can you eat? Great harvest!

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  10. Sue, if you lived nearby, you could have more then one of those tomatoes!

    Marcia, I really need to get myself motivated this week...it's going to be a busy one for sure! I canned that tomato. Any produce that is not going to get eaten is processed into something for winter storage.

    Emily, I'm definitely going to be doing the "can can" this week!

    Daphne, I got the seeds from Diana and I have to say that it is the best producing Pineapple tomato that I have ever had. The fruits are all huge! I have to save some of those seeds for sharing.

    MalayGirl, It's defintely Christmas in August around here!

    johanna, I can or process in some fashion, everything that we don't eat.

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  11. Lots of tomato bounty to be translated into winter eating treasure! Amazing haul this week. We are just getting a couple of tomatoes a picking here and feel glad about that given our cool summer. Heat really does make a difference for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and melons.

    Pace yourself with the canning... I have a feeling you have much more yet to come. :D

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  12. Good grief! Now that is a tomato!!! :)

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  13. Your tomatoes look amazing Robin! That's it, I'm going back to growing a ridiculous amount of tomatoes next year. I miss my tomato glut. LOL!

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  14. wooHoo! Welcome to the club, you're knee deep in it now LOL! I had tomatoes rolling off my counters 2 weeks ago, I think I'm a little glad for a breather this week, only enough for a big batch of salsa :)

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  15. What a colorful and bountiful harvest. Very healthy to cook as these are all fresh.

    Cassy from Acoustic Guitar Online

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  16. Whoa Robin, I got tired just looking at all the tomatoes, and that big one! I've never seen one that size EVER!
    What did you put in the soil :o) Get busy girl, get that juicer out of the basement for some help...I ain't coming until it's all done and ready to eat :o0

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  17. You have so many wonderful varieties of tomatoes. Is 106.5 oz of cantaloupe 2 or 3 cantaloupes? Ours will come in strong together with honeydew melons over the next couple of weeks.

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  18. Laura, I'm trying to pace myself. But, there is a lot to get done.

    Allison, That tomato was something! I don't think that I will out do that one any time soon!

    Thomas, If you really miss it then you better get prepared to do a lot of canning!

    Erin, I'm very happy that I planted my cucs really really late...if not, I would be having cucs galore and having to make pickles and relish too!

    Cassy, We do a lot of healthy eating around here!

    Ginny, I add compost twice a year to the soil and I think that I fertilized twice this year....that and lots of love goes a long way! I just tried that juicer. I don't like it for what I'm doing right now. I need a Champion!!

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  19. Jody, I that was actually 4 cantaloupe. The first one of the week was small and the three later ones were bigger. I don't plant varieties that get very big as there is just the two of us here to eat them.

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  20. Holy Tomatoes Batman! They look really wonderful, too.MMMMmmmm... .I have one (slicer) tomato left on my counter and it's nearly ripe now. Then what shall I do to pass the time until my little plants start to produce? *sigh*

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  21. wow what a great harvest this week.84.5lbs is amazing. That tomato is HUGE.I hope it tasted as good as it looked!

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  22. Amazing tomato harvest especially that big pineapple mater, I've never seen one that big.

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  23. Barbie, Holy Tomatoes for sure! You can always come up here and help me can!!

    Perdita, OK, you can chuckle...but, it's a busy week for me and this just adds to it!!

    Mrs.P, We didn't eat that big tomato. It was very ripe, so I canned it. The other Pineapples are very tasty though!

    Mac, I've never seen one that big either!! It was a whopper of a tomato!

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  24. OMG! I thought my one pound Cherokee Purple looked big! I guess you did have a great harvest week!

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  25. What fabulous colours - great looking photos and harvest.

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  26. Wow that is a huge Pineapple tomato! I have a pineapple tomato plant for the second year in a row. I think they are beautiful and taste wonderful but they take a long time to grow and mine don't produce too much, I need something that has more output. I noticed you have a few pineapple tomatoes in your haul, is that from multiple plants or just one?

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  27. Granny, that's probably the biggest tomato I will ever grow in my life time!

    Thanks Liz

    Vanessa, I have had problems in the past with the Pineapple tomato plants. Although we loved the flavor the production was very low and very very late to ripen. These seeds were given to me by another blogger. This plant has been absolutely amazing. I will be saving these seeds for sure. Those tomatoes are all from a single plant.

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  28. Looks like you are staying busy. Isn't this a fun time of year though, with the garden producing so much? Your harvests look wonderful - a product of all your hard work!

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  29. I was hoping you would say that. I've saved a lot of my seed too. I'm hoping to snag some Pineapple tomato seed from someone growing them this year. Yours sound good since they are producing so well.

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  30. Thanks Villager, It's definitely a very busy and happy time around here!

    Daphne, Don't worry I will have some seeds for you. This is the best & most productive Pineapple Tomato plant ever!

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  31. Wow, I don't know how I missed your post yesterday, but geesh! Amazing!

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  32. Don't even bother handing me a tissue this time. Just start shoveling the dirt in the hole!

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  33. Shawn Ann, It's hard to keep up with posts! We all have lives!

    APGal, You are just too much girl! It's all OK...it really is.

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  34. Beautiful veggies...caponata was the first recipe my Sicilian grandmother taught me. Her "secret" was to add tiny dices of hard pecorino cheese at the last minute to give a surprise when you bit into it. Shhhh...don't tell!

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  35. Patricia, that's a wonderful idea! Don't worry, I won't tell a soul!

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  36. Robin, I'm so pleased that I stopped by, specifically to tell you about the beautiful Eggplant 'Violetta lunga'; first harvest of 5 beautiful ones. Thank you for the wonderful seed. Eggplant Caponata happening today!

    Your bounty is wonderful and how tickled I am to see the pineapple tomato! you may have to send me some seed. :) I am looking at only our first ripe one soon to be picked. Our cooler than normal summer has kept the tomatoes/peppers/eggplant coming along very slowly.

    We have been harvesting a few tomatoes each day and are pleased that that has been the habit the past month... most of our neighbors have NO tomatoes. So I've started more brassicas. Our nighttime temps remain around 50 and this past week we saw our first high 80's.

    Now I best read your other posts to catch up or I'll never get it done. Have a great week.

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  37. Diana, I am so happy that you are having success with the eggplant. All of my eggplant with the exception of the Rosa Bianca are about 1/3 the size of normal. It's been a strange growing season this year.

    I am saving seed and will have plenty to send you. Hopefully you will get some tomatoes this year.

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  38. Way to go, Robin!! Your gardening rocks! I'm loving that Pineapple tomato of yours!

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  39. Lynn, That was the biggest tomato I have ever grown. All of the fruits on both plants from this seed have been really big. I have already saved some of the seed.

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  40. A 2 pound tomato!! My goodness!!!

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