What's Going on in the Garden July 14, 2013

The harvests are starting to pick up and so is the preserving! This week I harvested almost 2 lbs. of peppers. They consisted of Hot Hungarian, Hot Banana, Jalapeno & Sweet Hungarian. All of them were promptly pickled and stored in the refrigerator, since we are totally out of pickled peppers from last year.

I pickle my peppers using 4 parts of white vinegar to 1 part of water, boil, cool and then add peppers and store in the refrigerator. I also occasionally add some garlic.

The first Zucchini and Cucumbers of the season.

There will probably be two more zucchinis ready today at the plots.

 

I've been pulling more onions and starting the curing process.

These are some storage onions.....

and these are some more Walla Walla onions

My largest onion has been 11 oz!!!

 

Some of the Walla Walla onions have been chopped and frozen. They do not store very long and chopped sweet onions will sure come in handy over the winter!

 

We also harvested some more Sungold tomatoes and the first of the very few Carrots we will have this year, another head of Cauliflower and the last of the Broccoli sprouts. The Broccoli plants have been pulled and a bunch of Cauliflower plants that did not form heads. Hopefully the fall cauliflower will do better. There's one more head over at the plots that may be ready today or tomorrow.

 

The big news is that there's a Cherokee Purple Tomato out there that is half ripe......maybe Monday or Tuesday it will be ready!!!!!!

 

Tomorrow, Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions, will be hosting Harvest Monday. Hop on over there to see what's happening in gardens around the globe!

   

Too Hot & Humid & Harvests

Geez, we sure are having some hot & humid weather here! Way too humid to go out and work in the garden. Yesterday I went to the plots and harvested the last head of broccoli, the first two heads of cauliflower and a few onions that had flopped over. By 9AM it was too hot and humid for me to work....so, I went home.

"The Italian" and I had grand expectations of going to the plots at 6AM this morning to do some much needed work and pick some raspberries. The plots look like a jungle! Well, that didn't happen. Instead I went to the store and then spent a couple of hours pulling weeds in the perennial beds along the side of the house while they were still in the shade. I have no idea when I will get around to tackling the bed out front! It's totally overgrown and truthfully embarrassing. It will only take about an hour to do. Maybe I'll get to it one night this week after work since we really need to go to the plots tonight.

The last head of the Spring Broccoli & some side shoots

 

Nunzio "The Inspector General" checking out of first two beautiful heads of Cauliflower.These two are "Minuteman". They weighed in at 1 lb. 7 oz. each. I think they are the nicest heads I've ever grown!

 

Speaking of Nunzio.....he sure is getting big!

He had a blast yesterday playing with some toys I hung from the fan!

 

We've been getting some wonderful sweet Sungold tomatoes!

Most of them get eaten before they can be weighed or photographed.

 

The Onions are starting....and it looks like it's going to be a great year!

These are a few of the Walla Walla Onions. My largest so far has been 8.5 oz. I know they aren't as big as Granny has grown......but, they are great for me! I planted three varieties of storage onions; Copra, Candy & Red Wing. A few of the Copra onions have been harvested. Only a few of the onions have been weighed so far. I planted 370 onions total. I guess there won't be a shortage of onions this year!

 

Tomorrow will be Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions. Hop on over there and see what's happening in gardens around the globe!

 

 

Harvest Monday....... July 1, 2013 & Harvest Totals to Date

We had two big harvests this week, a lot of the Broccoli and the Garlic. Some of you may have seen my Big Broccoli Harvest here. Well that wasn't all of it for the week. I harvested a few heads earlier in the week and a few more on Sunday. Sorry, no pics of those.

Sunday I went to the plots and pulled the remaining peas. The peas in the home garden were pulled last week. It's just too hot for the peas and they were about finished. After I finished with the peas. I thought that I better check the garlic. Well, it was ready to be pulled. I pulled all the garlic and brought it home.

Since we are in constant threat of thunderstorms lately, I had to put it under the covered part of the back porch. Now I can barely get out the back door!

38 Heads of Music (Hardneck Variety)

 

and.... 

 a total of 56 heads of Silverskin (Softneck Variety)

more of the Silverskin

 

The garlic heads are a good size and I'm quite pleased with the harvest. I think we will have enough for us and my son's household. Later this week I will hang the garlic and let it cure for storage.

 

Since I have been a bit busy and haven't participated in Harvest Monday this year, I thought I would post my year to date weighed harvest totals.

  



Baby Choi - 3.25 lbs.
Asparagus - 3.3 lbs.
Strawberries - 20.8 lbs
Broccoli - 16.8 lbs.
Garlic - 94 Heads (will be weighed once they are cured)
Greens & Lettuce - 3 lbs. (I haven't been weighing most of these)
Onions - 8 oz,
Peas - 11.2 lbs.
Peppers - 1 oz. (1 hot pepper)
Spinach - 5 lbs
Tomatoes - 3 Sungolds (not weighed)

Year to date Total - 62.45 lbs.

 

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

I just had to show off my Broccoli Harvest!

Some years the broccoli is good and sometimes not so good. This year has been a great year for us! Sorry Jody!

This year I am experimenting with broccoli and cauliflower varieties for Spring & Fall plantings . I planted 6 varieties of broccoli, 4 of each for the spring; Arcadia, Fiesta, Nutri-Bud, Packman, Premium Crop & Tendergreen. The Arcadia has been #1 so far with the two heads harvested so far weighing 1 lb. 8 oz. and 1 lb. 7 oz! That's just amazing! Fiesta is not far behind! The 4 heads weighed in between 1 lb. and 1 lb. 5oz.

This is what I picked today......8 lbs of Broccoli!

This is the largest head of Arcadia Broccoli weighing in at 1lb. 8 oz and 9" across!

 

So...how is your garden growing????

What's Growing On at The Plots mid-April

I've been spending a lot of time at the plots on the weekends. Due to the weather, some garden is behind compared to last year.....but, it's looking good and I'm happy!!!

View from the front left

Bed #1 with newly planted Broccoli and Garlic in the back

The Broccoli was planted over the weekend and it's looking good!

I put the pots around the plants to protect them from the windy weather we were having

 

All of the Garlic came up.

It's not as tall as last year. But, that's due to the dry weather. I'm sure it will catch up with some nice rain and warm weather.

 

I've been working on the Raspberry Trellises

It's hard to see from this pic. I'm adding some T's and wire to the posts to support them. I will finish them up this coming weekend.

Blackberry & Raspberry Bed

I've planted onions around the edges of the blackberries and in every location that I have room. Hopefully we will have a good onion harvest this year.....unlike last year

The Jersey Supreme Asparagus is coming up!

It looks like we will be having some asparagus for dinner this week!

 

The Purple Passion Asparagus has yet to pop up

 

I finally made a decision on Tomato Cages.

These are from Burpee. They had great reviews and I got a great deal! I found a coupon code for 25% off and then another coupon code for free shipping! I purchased 18 cages for around $200.

These cages are 5' tall before you put them in the ground and they fold up!

I hope they work as well as the reviews say they do!

There are Snow Peas & Snap Peas planted in two locations. They've all popped up since the rain!

The Strawberry Bed has been cleaned out.....

and they're looking good!

 

Another view of the plots.

You can see some additional Broccoli plants and onions planted in Bed #5.

I stopped by the plots on Monday and saw this pretty Bluebird. I think I spent 15 minutes taking pictures of him. He's a beauty!

 

I also took about 100 pictures of the Community Garden. Most of the gardeners have their plots ready to go. That's another post! 

  

Home Garden Update mid-April

Wow, I can't believe it's mid-April already and that I haven't posted in a month! I have been reading a lot of blogs though. It's just been very busy with work, life and the garden.

The cold weather and then the hot dry weather has passed and the weather has turned to normal for this time of the year. So.....I finally managed to get the home garden cleaned up this weekend.

The Right Cold Frame Bed

is planted with onions and carrots under the boards. I use Granny's Seed Mat Method.It works great!

The Left Cold Frame Bed

is planted with Asian Veggies, Kale, Collards and Lettuce

The over-wintered Spinach is really taking off!

I harvest this nice big colander of spinach on Sunday

"The Italian" sautéed it with olive oil and garlic....yum!

 

The Peas finally sprouted after our rain this past week!

They're all popping through the ground!

 

I usually plant my early Tomatoes in this bed.

This year I sowed 2 rows of Little Marvel Peas and 2 rows of Carrots.

Slicing Cucumbers will be sown on the right side in about a month

The Herb Garden has been cleaned out.

It was a mess from that Sandy blowing through here last fall!

The Rosemary made it through the winter for the first time!

Lots of Happy Daffodils in the Herb Garden too!

 

In the basement, there are a few Large Tomatoes......

smaller tomatoes......

and even smaller tomatoes!

They will be a nice size when it's time to plant them out.

There are a lot of peppers growing....medium and small

Way too much Celery!!

Cauliflower, Cabbage & Eggplant

The Broccoli has already be planted at the plots.

I'll post on the plots tomorrow.

 

So, how's your garden coming along???

 

Harvest Monday............06/25/2012

The harvests are starting to pick up a bit around here. The spring broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage were started a bit late since I didn't think the plots would be ready. In spite of the late start, the broccoli is doing well. I planted 3 varieties. So far, the Premium Crop has produced the biggest heads. Four varieties of cauliflower were planted. To date, only one variety has produced heads. This was the Silver Cup, which is a 45 day variety. As you can see from the picture below, the heads started to bolt on the first day of our heat wave this past week. It still tasted wonderful though! Since the temps have dropped significantly, maybe the rest of the plants will be able to produce something.

This is a drawer in the kitchen refrigerator. We are so so happy to have some broccoli and cauliflower this year!

The strawberries are trickling in a little at a time. Some of them do make it back to the house.

I pulled a Walla Walla onion the other day for dinner. It wasn't ready, but we had no onions left from last year.

This is the Silverskin softneck garlic.It was pulled on the 21st since it was completely lying on the ground. The heads are a nice size and it it now hanging to cure.

The Music hardneck variety was pulled on the 22nd. As you can see from the picture, the bunch to the left is bigger then the rest. This bunch was planted in a different bed. I guess it liked the soil better in that bed. All of the garlic is at least 2 weeks early this year. It will be weighed once it is finished curing.

I snuck a few more potatoes for dinner the other day. These are Kennebecs. It looks like we will have more potatoes this year then we can possibly use. I'm sure my in-laws will be happy about that!

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