Preserving

Monday, October 3, 2011

Harvest Monday...................10/03/2011

It's definitely been the year of the pepper! Tuesday, when I cleaned out the cold frame beds, I had to harvest a few peppers. There were two broken branches on one plant and one plant that needed to be removed.

4.7 lbs. of  peppers from that one picking!
My wine collecting neighbor took only two since they were going to the shore. Two peppers = 1 bottle of French wine! Not Bad! His wife said that peppers are going for $5.99 a pound! That's $28. worth of peppers in that colander!

I also picked these 5 beautiful Eva's Purple Ball tomatoes from the home garden on Tuesday. I thought that these would most likely be the last good tomatoes harvested this season.....But on Sunday I picked two more! We are very pleased with this variety. They are very prolific, have a wonderful flavor for slicing, are good for canning and sauces and don't seem to disease or crack no matter what the weather. Next year we will be planting a lot of this variety.

The Matt's Wild Cherry plant had to be pulled from the one cold frame bed on Tuesday. I have been really bad about not picking the cherry tomatoes this year. My "Little Garden Helper" always ate most of them. But, he has been in Florida all summer with his other grandparents and his mother.

Sunday I made my weekly visit to the plots in between the rain. The fall raspberries were really destroyed from the hurricane. I always eat the few ripe raspberries that weren't blown away while I'm there harvesting. Of course there were lots of peppers to harvest!

These peppers and....

these were harvested and taken directly to my in-laws. There were 6 lbs. 9 oz. of sweet peppers. I was so happy to leave them with my in-laws! How many peppers can two people eat in a year??

And of course there were more hot and spice peppers to pick at the plots also.

I harvested some more dry beans and a little squash on Sunday. I think the squash was a small Long Island Cheese Squash. I will weigh it when I'm sure it is viable. All of the dry beans will be weighed at one time when they are all shelled.

Total weighed harvest this week: 15.8125 lbs

Peppers:
   Bell - 11.25 lbs (180 oz)
   Hot & Spice - 28 oz.
Tomatoes:
   Eva's Purple Ball - 2 lbs.
   Matt's Wild Cherry - 13 oz

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

31 comments:

  1. You're peppers are so colorful-I just love them. I only had a whopping TWO this year....I will be doling out the frozen chopped peppers a LOT more carefully for my omelets this year!

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  2. Those peppers are gorgeous! I love peppers, and wish I could grow more of them up here.... Nice harvest! I may have to try the Eva's Purple Ball Tomatoes.

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  3. Sue, We have so many peppers frozen, pickled and now I'm trying to make hot sauce. I don't think we will need any peppers next year!

    Ali, I have saved a lot of seeds from the Eva's Purple Ball tomatoes. So, don't buy any.

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  4. What an incredible and beautiful harvest of peppers! I can't grow a bell pepper to save my life! You really did great!

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  5. What a beautiful pepper harvest! I think the early warm and humid weather in July was really good for peppers this year. Not good for tomatoes though because they seemed to be affected by fungal diseases much earlier this year. Your Eva's Purple Ball tomatoes seem to have taken the challenge in stride. They look absolutely perfect.

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  6. I nominate you for Queen of Peppers! Have you tried drying any? That's what we do with our excesses (lacking any wine-swapping neighbors). Our Eva's did great this year too. I plan on growing more of them next year.

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  7. All those peppers and tomatoes are glossy and shining. They look very good. Beautiful harvest.

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  8. VP, It may be peppers for you. For me, it's spinach. I have only grown one good crop of spinach in my life! I'm not giving up though~

    Rachel, You may be right about the peppers. Those Eva's really take just about anything and are still nice!

    Villager, Well, I guess that a girl has to be Queen of something! No, I have never dried any peppers. Those Eva's are just great!

    MalayKGirl, Thanks a bunch. I don't think we will be getting many more tomatoes this year.

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  9. That is a GREAT harvest! You make me want a cold frame to extend my pepper & tomato season (i'm zone 5b/6a).

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  10. Your "last of the season" peppers are more than I got foe the whole season"o( wish I were your neighbor :o)
    I did get a sale at Walmart's $.50 each which I put into the freezer

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  11. Robin - I can't believe you are still harvesting tomatoes. Would you be willing to share some seeds from that variety. I think I need to try some different tomatoes for next year.

    Lovely peppers. I still have them too but much smaller.

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  12. I really need to get a neighbor like that! What a great trade.

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  13. Lovely peppers and those tomatoes are tasty looking too. You really did get a bounty of peppers this year. We had a good pepper year too, but I only had five plants going in the greenhouse which kept the harvest amount contained.

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  14. Robin I am growing shelling beans and cannelloni beans for the first time in many years. I only have a few of the shelling beans that have dried on the plant so far and none on the cannelloni. Am I to assume they have to dry on the plant to be viable for seed next year?

    You are right, it is the year of the pepper.

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  15. Thanks Dorothy, I am not using the cold frame beds to extend the tomato & pepper season. They are used as regular beds during the summer and the tops are put on in the Fall & Winter. You really should build one so you can enjoy veggies during the cold months. It is wonderful!

    Ginny, I bet that there are at least 15-20 lbs of peppers still on the plants. Boy, I wish that I could ship some down to you. When are you coming to NJ?

    Marcia, Yes, I will have plenty of seeds to share.

    Jane, The trick with my neighbor is to only give him a little at a time! No matter what I give them, I get a bottle of wine!

    Laura, The peppers this year are just crazy! Boy, I wish that the tomatoes were!

    Wilderness, I brought all of my shelling beans inside and hung them in the attic to dry. It has been so so wet here that there is no way they would dry outside like they are supposed to.

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  16. Lovely harvest. Now that my peppers are finally producing again they have fallen victim. :-( Oh well! As they say - Always next year!

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  17. You certainly have lots of peppers - we have more to harvest but not as many as you

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  18. You and I are in the same pepper boat LOL! I finally pulled all the plants yesterday and today, well you guessed it... am freezing peppers! Great photos, the peppers are gorgeous.

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  19. Barbie, So sorry to hear about your peppers. As you said, there is always next year.

    Sue, This pepper thing is just crazy.

    Erin, I just spent from 7AM this morning until now working on my hot peppers. All of the hot peppers are now canned or in the process of being made into hot sauce. Guess what I found in the downstairs frig?? Two bags of bell peppers!! I thought that I had only one! I guess I'm not done with the peppers!

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  20. wow that sure is a lot of peppers! They all look so beautiful!

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  21. Peppers are gorgeous! You have nice colored peppers too! I wait an eternity for a colored pepper!

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  22. Mrs.P, They are pretty and definitely very prolific this year!

    Thanks RG, I usually don't get many really colorful peppers. But, this year there has been more then I can count!

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  23. What a Peppertastic, Pepperygood, Pepperful, Pepperlicious bounty!

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  24. Wow your peppers are really doing well!

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  25. Beautiful peppers! I'm having a bad tomato year, (cherry maters don't count), I'll have to try your Eva maters next year maybe I'll get something.

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  26. What beautiful photos and great harvest! Great pumpkin photo at top of your blog too! All the best, Kelli.

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  27. Hi LIz, Yes it definitely is!

    Vanessa, It's definitely the year of the pepper around here!

    Mac, The Eva's is the only regular size tomato that did really well this year. It will stand up to anything Mother Nature hands out. I will have seeds to share.

    Thanks Kelli!

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  28. Wow, I really need to find out what you and Erin both have that we don't around here! Your peppers are amazing!

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  29. APGal, I have no idea. I think the peppers like the soil at the plots and the weather was good for peppers this year. It definitely wasn't a good year for tomatoes.

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  30. Please tell your neighbors that I will be more than happy to send them all the peppers they need in exchange for decent wine!

    Wow, how come no one I pawn off my extras to don't come bearing wine :)

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  31. Perdita, My wine collecting neighbor is the best! I get a bottle of wine for anything that I give them!

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