Preserving

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Harvest Monday.............09/10/2012

What a very strange gardening year it has been. It's September and I'm still harvesting tomatoes! Last week was my biggest tomato week, harvesting 75 lbs of tomatoes. My biggest tomato week is usually in July. This week I harvested a little over 30 lbs. and also pulled some plants. How strange is that? It all seems so weird to be doing the bulk of my tomato canning at the same time I'm harvesting winter squash and shelling my dry beans.

The beans are still going strong. I basically stopped harvesting the Chinese Red Noodle and are leaving them for seed We have plenty in the freezer. As you can see, some green tomatoes were harvested. The green tomatoes will be used for Green Tomato Salsa.

The tomatoes aren't nearly as nice as they were last week.....

but, they still are pretty!

I just love looking at pictures of them!

It seems like the peppers are finally starting....in September!

I also harvested my first successful fall garden peas. There would have been a lot more....but, some Bunny thinks they are on the menu art the bunny buffet! There were a ton on Wednesday that were almost ready and yesterday most of them were gone :(

These are really the first raspberries I have picked this year. They are going to be made into something special! The plants are really looking great since the move this year. I hope next year will be a good year for the raspberries!

This basket of eggplant was dropped off to my in-laws on the way home from the plots. I think there are about 20 more beauties that will be harvested within the next week or so. How weird is that for September???

I also harvested the last of Butternut Squash. This one is small in comparison to the others. Two more Sugar Baby Pumpkins and the first and smallest of the Spaghetti Squash of the year. The Spaghetti Squash are planted at the house and are doing very well for being ignored this year.

Another crop that is doing very well is the Popcorn. The red is Strawberry Popcorn. It's absolutely beautiful! I picked about 22 ears of it. The white is Japanese Hulless. These are the first three harvested and are about three times the size of the ones I picked last year. They are just starting to get dry and will be harvested within the next couple of weeks. 

Total weighed harvest:47.3 lbs.

Beans:
    Asparagus - 11 oz.
    Chinese Red Noodle - 4 oz.
Eggplant - 78 oz,
Peas - 4 oz
Pepper:
     Hot & Spice - 42.55 oz.
     Sweet - 6.5 oz
Popcorn - Not weighed
Pumpkin, Sugar Baby - 48.3 oz.
Raspberries - 4.3 oz.
Spaghetti Squash - 26.65 oz.
Squash, Butternut - 43.5 oz.
Tomatoes:
     Green - 71.15 oz.
     Red - 416.05

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

26 comments:

  1. Awesome harvest, especially the first peas and raspberries! those tomatoes, peppers and colorul popcorn are very pretty too.

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    1. Thanks Jenny, It's a nice treat to harvest something new in the garden.

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  2. Mmmmm, raspberries! I hope mine do better next year than they did this year. The popcorn is so pretty, but my Mr. Granny would insist on the plain white hulless variety.

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    1. Granny, I sure hope the raspberries and strawberries do better next year. I hardly got any strawberries either. I can't wait to try that strawberry popcorn. It's so so pretty!

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  3. This has been the oddest year. It warmed up far earlier than normal, yet my tomatoes are the latest they've ever been. And even my raspberries, which usually don't start until a week before our first frost (USUALLY first week of Septembder!) aren't even thinking of forming yet. Odd.

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    1. Sue, I think 2012 has been the oddest year ever for the garden. Some crops were early and some very late.

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  4. Fabulous stuff - it all looks fabulous, but I am really fascinated with the popcorn. You dry it and then remove the kernals? Is that how its done?

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    1. Liz, I don't harvest the popcorn until it is dry. Then you take it off the cob and store it. My mother used to put a cob in a small paper bag and pop it in the microwave. I'm going to try that this year and see what happens.

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  5. It has been a strange season all around. I usually rip up my tomato plants at the end of August or the beginning of September. But I think they will go until the end of September.

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    1. Daphne, It sure has been a strange year for all of us. I really wish the tomatoes & peppers would have been a little more timely this year. I'll probably be canning for awhile. Oh well, better then no tomatoes or peppers!!

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  6. Beautiful harvest! Yes, it's strange to be harvesting tomatoes while harvesting fall vegetables. I love your raspberries. I would be eating them instead of putting them in a bowl, lol....
    I've never seen strawberry colored corn (can you eat this?).

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    1. Sandy, I've been eating the raspberries when I'm at the plots. These are the first to make it home! Yes, the strawberry corn is popcorn and very edible!

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  7. How much of the Red Strawberry did you plant vs how much popping corn will you yield? Just curious-we eat a lot of popcorn that I purchase from an Amsih grower and it would be fun to grow our own.

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    1. Dorothy, I have no idea how much the yield will be. I have gotten several ears from each corn stalk though. I planted the corn up against the fence and it really didn't take up any room in the garden since they really don't get all that tall, about 4-5'.

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  8. Better late than never on those tomatoes and peppers! I'm glad you are filling up your cupboard with tomatoes (finally).

    Aren't those Red Noodles beans prolific? I couldn't keep up with ours.

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    1. That's for sure!! I would be living with one really unhappy Italian with a shortage of tomatoes.

      Yes, those beans are really prolific!

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  9. Everything looks beautiful! I wish my tomatoes were doing so well so late! Those Red Noodle beans look great and so do your berries. It is an odd year isn't it?

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    1. Thanks NG, yes, I think the gardening seasons get stranger every year!

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  10. Yes, it has been a weird gardening year. Gorgeous tomatoes. My long beans are putting out new flowers, but the nights are dipping into the 50's so not sure if there will be any harvest.

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    1. Norma, the night time temps are dropping fast! I'm sure it will slow things down quickly. But, I'm really enjoying the weather!

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  11. What a great gardener you are! Delicious produce I bet! My raspberries are starting to produce more due to the rain I think. Nancy

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    1. Thanks Nancy, I'm hoping that one day I'll be as good of a gardener as Granny is!

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  12. Just wow!!! I can't believe your beautiful tomatoes! I thought the tomato season already ended a few weeks ago. You're right about the peppers though! They have been the slow bloomer. My bell peppers are still bright green....

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    1. Thanks TS, The summer crops are really slow this year. It's just crazy!

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  13. Wow 75 pounds of tomatoes! I don't think I'll be any where near that for the whole season! What an awesome and bountiful harvest you have had this year. I didn't plant it this year but a couple of years ago when my grand kids were with me all the time we planted Chires Baby Corn. This is the baby corn used in Asian cooking, if you pick it really small. If you leave it you get red popcorn, which was also fun. I think I'll have to plant some next year, ought to go over good at the farmer's market.

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  14. What a great variety you are still getting! Looks awesome :)

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