Preserving

Monday, September 5, 2011

Happy Harvest Labor Day.........09/05/2011

The summer is definitely coming to an end. The nights are cooler, days shorter and the harvests are dwindling.

Here are a few pictures of some of what was harvested from the gardens this week.

The first harvest from the plots after the hurricane.

I was going to pull the celery at the plots awhile back and then decided not to. I'm happy that I didn't. These plants turned around and gave us a decent harvest. They aren't nearly as nice as the celery from the home garden....but, I am happy with them. I also separated three small plants from these bunches and planted them at the home garden. We shall see if they take root and grow.

One of the two remaining Moon & Stars watermelons from the plots. As you can see, there is a little nibble mark from a few weeks ago when the groundhog was using the gardens as a buffet. It's just a surface mark and did not hurt the melon. We haven't sliced it open yet. We will do that later today. If it isn't edible, I will remove the weight from my totals.

Part of the harvest from the plots yesterday. I thought that I would be pulling the tomato plants. But, they are still managing to produce some ripe tomatoes. I did harvest some green tomatoes this week which have been used in hot sauce and pickled green tomatoes.

Also harvested this past week but not photographed were two more leeks from the home garden. With the four that have been harvested so far this season, I made a wonderful Leek & Potato soup! There was another nice Spaghetti Squash harvested and a couple more on the vine. I have started to shell some of the dry beans and will weigh and take pictures of them at a later date.

Total harvest for the week: 41.1875 lbs

Beans - Purple Pole - 16 oz.
    Slicing - 11 oz.
    Burr - 6 oz.
Celery - 4 lbs.
Eggplant - 13 oz.
Leeks - 6 oz.
Peppers:
    Bell - 60 oz.
    Hot & Spice - 75 oz.
Tomatoes:
    Green - 47 oz.
    Red - 190 oz. (11.875 lbs)
Spaghetti Squash - 60 oz. (3 lbs. 12 oz.)
Sweet Dumpling Squash - 12 oz.
Watermelon - 5 lbs.
Zucchini - 19 oz.

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

23 comments:

  1. What a great variety of vegetables, especially for this time of year. I see you harvested some leeks. That's great. Ours have a long way to go yet. Your celery looks very good. We've never tried it before. It looks hard to grow.

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  2. Nice harvest! That's the niftiest looking watermelon. I've never seen one like that before.

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  3. Your celery looks beautiful, Robin! I've left mine untouched all summer since we don't use it very often in our cooking. I love how it smells in the garden though.

    I hope that watermelon is edible. I'm dying to see what it looks like inside! Moon and Stars is such a pretty variety.

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  4. Jody, I don't know what's up with the leeks this year. I never harvest any of them until late October and through the winter. I hope that we have some left in the garden to enjoy over the winter! Celery isn't hard to grow....for me anyway. I have a hard time with spinach though!

    Kaytee, Those Moon & Stars watermelons are the funniest looking things that I have ever seen!

    Thomas, The celery does smell delightful in the garden. I cut most of mine up and freeze it for use over the winter.

    I hope that watermelon is edible too! We shall see.

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  5. What great harvests! So diverse! Good luck with the moon & stars melon! I hope it tastes phenomenal!

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  6. Robin, you freeze Celery? How do you do it? Not that I've ever grown any that looked that good, I'd sure like to know that one...You have enough harvest to feed you for two years ...your garden is like the energized bunny.

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  7. I love the appearance of the moon and stars melons. If they taste half as good as they are pretty - then they are a keeper.

    Love the boxes of produce you are harvesting! Such abundance from your gardens. Did you end up with all the canned tomatoes you were hoping for?

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  8. BeeGirl, I hope that it tastes good too!

    Ginny, I wash the celery and cut it into chunks and then freeze it. I freeze the good leaves separately and use them to make stock. They have a good flavor. I may try to dry some of these celery leaves.

    Laura, I just hope that the watermelon is ripe! I have enough tomatoes and tomato puree to get us through. Due to the tomatoes cracking and not ripening, I have been making puree now instead of canning the tomatoes whole. There is a lot less waste that way.

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  9. What a wonderful harvest. You have had a very successful season and all your hard paid off. Buon appetito!

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  10. what a great harvest. Such variety!

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  11. Robin - It's nice to see such a big harvest. That celery did turn around from what we saw a couple of weeks ago.

    I have stinkbugs now in the garden attacking what tomatoes are left making them inedible. I really need to pull tomatoes but haven't had the energy. My mom is here and for awhile and needs supervision.

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  12. Everything looks so great. So sad that a few weeks it is all over. But I guess that is just time to plan what will be next year.

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  13. Can't wait to see that melon sliced open!

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  14. Your celery looks terrific. It was my first year growing it--I don't know--they seemed "short" !?!?
    But, I've chopped a bunch for the freezer--the smell is incredible! So I'll have to be happy with SHORT celery--LOL!

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  15. Wow look at those boxes full of colorful veggies! What a load you hauled in! Lots more preserving in your future! Hope your melon turns out tasty! Great harvest!

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  16. Wonderful harvest! And the celery plants must indeed have made a turnaround if you were once thinking of pulling them up - they look great.

    We also planted moon & stars watermelon. It looks like no melons for us this year. We don't know why because the plants grew (and are still alive) but have yet to produce even a small melon. I'll have to live vicariously through your m&s melon :)

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  17. Those boxes of produce are so colorful, I've been able to get my leeks grow to decent size.

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  18. Patricia, Thanks, it hasn't been a bad season considering the weather and setting up the new garden.

    Thanks Mrs.P!

    Marcia, That celery was a big surprise! I had to toss the celery plants at the end of the one bed though.

    Jane, I don't want to think about next year! I need to get my fall/winter garden planted in the cold frames asap!

    Erin, me either!

    Sue, Hey, short is better then nothing! I do love the smell of home grown celery...amazing!

    Shawn Ann, I just love it when the harvests are so colorful! I'm running out of ideas of what to do with all the hot peppers!

    Perdita, Those celery plants looked horrible all summer. I was going to pull them a long time ago...but, I just kept putting it off. I'm so glad that I did!

    Mac, my leeks ar so ahead of schedule this year....it's strange. We definitely enjoyed that soup!

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  19. Celery and celeriac just never seems to like our soil!

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  20. Been a tad bit chilly here too. You are still getting awesome goods tho!

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  21. Your harvests are still looking great! I am curious about the celery... hopefully you make a follow up post to let us know how your re-planting experiment went.

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  22. Sue, The celery at the home garden was beautiful this year! I really thought that the celery at the plots was going to be a total failure. That's too bad that celery doesn't seem to like your soil. I plant Golden self-blanching. It is the only variety that I have ever grown.

    APGal, The weather here has been chilly then muggy....and now I'm looking for Noah and his arch! I hope all my fall plantings don't rot in the ground!

    Praire Cat, We shall see how the small celery transplants make out. It has been raining constatnly since I planted them!

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  23. Everything looks great! Thats funny about the leeks.

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