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!!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.........8/16/2012

With all of the harvesting going on around here and my 11-12 hour days away for work, it's been quite a task keeping up on the preserving! To top things off, last weekend we froze corn. My mother orders corn from a local farm and picks it up within minutes of it being harvested. She showed up on Saturday morning with 150 ears of beautiful sweet corn to be processed!

They pick the corn at 8:30 in the morning. So, Sophia was here at 9 to help me get set-up outside. First, we husked the corn on the round table on the deck. Next we set-up for the Big Sweet Corn Processing.

The Corn was blanched in this pot on a propane burner on the upper porch.

Next, it was cooled in ice water

Then the kernels were removed from the cob. 

We had a great set-up and nice weather! The whole process took us about 3 hours. My mother put her corn in freezer boxes with plastic bags inside. She had those boxes for years. My corn was put on trays, flash frozen and the next day vacuumed sealed in bags. I think we will have enough corn for quite some time! 

The worst part was cleaning up after we were done. The corn sticks to everything like cement. It's definitely not a job to do in the house.

I also froze some Chinese Red Noodle Beans this past week......

and some Celery.

Of course tomatoes were canned this week as well! I hope you're all keeping up with preserving your harvests!!

What's been going in or out of your Kitchen Cupboard Lately???

Mystery Tomato Update & The State of the Plots Mid-July Part 1

This morning I heard from Lisa at Amishland Seeds regarding the mystery tomato. At first she thought it was a variety of tomato called Schimmeig Striped Hollow, since it looked similar and she files her seeds in alphabetical order. After I looked at the description on her site, I knew it wasn't. I emailed her back and she is going to do more research and get back to me. I have purchased seeds from her for years. She has very interesting seeds with detailed history and is a very kind lady. The week I ordered the seeds from her, she was moving from her home of 20+ years. So....the Mystery Continues!

Now onto "The State of the Plots Part 1". I was going to do this is one post....but, it would be way too long! The gardens are really holding up surprisingly well despite the weather. I'm really not sure how many heat waves we have had already this year and the lack of rain continues. The rain just goes right around us! Thank heavens Doug fills my barrels with water in return for an occasional jar of jelly and I weed whack the front of his plots. Thanks Doug!

Click on any picture to enlarge 

The front of the plots.

These are Red-Seeded Asparagus Beans. The vines are supposed to get 10' tall. Well, they are about 1' right now.

These are Chinese Red Noodle Beans. They are also supposed to get really tall. They are much taller then the asparagus beans.....but not nearly as tall as I would have thought they would be by now.

The King of the Garden Lima Beans are at least 8' tall! I guess they are just going to have to hang over. And...yes, the gates are finally up!

Bed #1 The Potato Bed

As you can see, the plants are dying off already. I have dug more then half of the Yukon Golds.

Bed #2 Tomato Bed 1

The plants are looking good.....kind of like a jungle!

They are loaded with tomatoes!

This is the Mystery Tomato plant.

Lots of big beautiful Cherokee Purples!!

Bed #3

This end of Bed #3 has the Three Sisters Planting. They are all looking good. I did have another squash planted on the other side. But, it just died. I have no idea what happened to it. It looked like SVB. But, when I pulled the plant, I couldn't find any evidence of SVB damage.

Behind the Three Sisters are two trellises. The one in the front of this picture has pickling cucumbers. They are struggling along with this weather and just starting to produce cucs. The trellis behind the cucs has Ottawa Cranberry Dry Beans growing on it. They are slowly moving along.

Next in Bed #3 is a recent planting of Great Northern Dry Beans. This is where the spring cauliflower was planted. It's been so dry that I decided to cover the area with straw to keep the moisture in. It worked and the beans are starting to pop up through the straw!

The next area in Bed #3 is where the Eggplants are. They have quite a bit of fruit on them. I'm not sure how big they will get with the lack of rain. Time will tell.

Following the eggplant in Bed #3 are the Hot & Spice Peppers. The plants aren't nearly as big as they were last year. Most of them have a good amount of peppers on them. One variety that is having a problem is the Paprika Peppers. Many of them are getting what looks like BER. I just cut the ends off and hang them to dry. We are out of Paprika Powder....so, I'm using every bit I can.

At the end of Bed #3 are two Watermelon plants. I think I planted Sugar Baby.

The jungle in the misty background is Bed #4.

This is the second tomato bed. They are also loaded with tons of green tomatoes.

Stay tuned for The State of the Plots Part 2!

The State of the Plots Mid-May

It seems like it has been non-stop since we got home from vacation! I spent a few hours at the plots on Saturday and then we had to go shopping for Sophia's BD Bar BQ on Sunday. We always seem to be away on her BD. So, I told here we would have a BD Bar BQ on Sunday after we came home. After shopping there were important things to do, like bake a cake and start the homemade baked beans. Sunday was packed full of putting the cushions on the outdoor furniture, cleaning up a bit, cooking and then putting up a canopy since the temps were in the 90's! The Bar BQ was a great success and Sophia was very happy!

Yesterday I had planned to catch up on blog reading and visit everyone's Harvest Monday posts. In the morning I decided to clean out the refrigerators and some canned peppers that I was not happy with. All went well until I managed to clog the plumbing in the under-slab in the basement between the main pipe coming from the kitchen and the floor drain. The remainder of the day was plumbing related, including a visit from the Roto Rooter man!

I was going to post the pics I took on Saturday. But, this morning I ran over to the plots in the misty rain to cover the strawberries that the birds think is a buffet! So, I took some more pics. There are lots of pics in this post!

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Before we went on vacation, I planted all of the Tomatoes, Eggplants & Peppers in the rain!! It wasn't the perfect time to plant them. Although Sophia is perfectly capable of taking care of the plants, I really didn't want her to have to tend to them. She does have school and track, which is very important.

Bed#1 The Potato Bed

The potatoes really took off while we were gone. Some of these weren't even out of the ground when we left. Hopefully, I can get over there tomorrow and mulch them with straw.

Bed #2 Tomato Alley #1

The tomatoes are doing very well with the exception of Aphids. I found aphids on some of the plants on Saturday. I was hoping that the pests wouldn't find the new garden the first year. I am going to make a spray today with potato leaves and see how that works.

The new growth looks great and so do the weeds!! Mulching to do!

Bed #3

The empty front section of this bed will have a Three Sisters Planting and some trellises for beans, cucumbers and cantaloupe

Toward the other end of this bed is Cauliflower, Eggplant and Hot Peppers. 

There is also space for another trellis at the end.

The cauliflower was really small when I put it in. I didn't think I would have the plots ready in time to plant spring cauliflower. We shall see if they produce. If not, I have plans for a fall planting in another space.

New growth on the Eggplants look great!

The Peppers also seem to be doing very well.

Bed #4 Tomato Alley #2

Not the best pic, but the tomatoes are doing just fine. There are two though that are struggling a bit. 

Bed #5

The empty section at this end will have trellises for more Beans, Spaghetti Squash and Korean Melons. At the far end is where the Zucchini will be planted.

This is toward the other end of Bed #5. 

I have planted Broccoli, a few Cabbage, 4 Chinese Cabbage and the Sweet Peppers. There are also some tiny Leeks planted in front of the Chinese Cabbage. Hopefully the Broccoli will produce since it was started earlier then the cauliflower. If not, there is a fall planting planned. One of the Chinese Cabbages bolted from the heat over the weekend. So, it will be removed.

Bed #6

The Blackberry & Raspberry transplants are doing very well. Since the blackberries won't get too big this year, I planted onions & celery around them. There is also space for a trellis on the end where I will plant Lima Beans.

Bed #7 The Strawberry Bed

The plants that I covered were transplanted from the old site. The new strawberry roots that were planted this year are at the far end mulched with straw. They are all doing very well.

Bed #8

This bed is along the right side of the plots. The Asparagus beds are at each end and there are onions and a few celery plants in the middle.

As you can see, the asparagus is going to ferns. I am so pleased that they made it through the transplant. Even though we did not have much of a harvest this year. The Fava Beans in the front are doing much better with the exception of ants. Last year I had the same problem with them. As soon as the rain stops I will try using cinnamon on the plants as a pest control.

That's the "State of the Plots" right now. There is still a ton of work and planting to do over there. I haven't decided what I am going to do with the paths. The gate is not up yet and I also have to sow the popcorn and beans along the front. I really think the worst part of the work is over. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and I can spend a few days over there sowing some seeds and tidying up a bit!

Pending change & Plots clean-up

I have been in a blue funk since receiving the mail on Monday. I received a letter from Farmland Preservation, the county department in charge of the Community Gardens. Subject: "THE CEDARBROOK GARDEN PLOTS - MOVING TO A NEW LOCATION!". What????

It seems that someone in the county has made a decision to move the gardens. For what reason?? They are not sure. But, it seems that the county wants to use that land for something else. The gardens have been there for quite some time (20 years + or -). They used to be in another location until the county sold that land Dorney Park.

Needless to say, I was very upset. I sent an e-mail to the woman who is responsible for the gardens on Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning I received a response and talked to her on the phone. Her department had no idea that the county had planned to move the gardens and at that point had no details on the dates. Typical goverment!!

Yesterday, I finally went over there to get things cleaned up from Irene. While I was there I talked to some gardeners who have been there since the beginning and went through the last move. Rumor has it, that it will be some time until the gardens are moved.....maybe as late as fall of 2012 or spring of 2013. Who knows at this point!!!

That being said....here's what the plots look like after several hours of tidying up and weed wacking.

The bean tepee is standing once again. I put it upright, added some supports and tied it to the fence. None of the plants were uprooted.

I put a metal stake in the ground and tied the corn and beans to it in the "Three Sisters" planting in Bed #2. The leaning posts and trellis for the Sweet Dumpling squash was removed and so were the plants. I did find one more squash.

 

I left the leaning tomato plants alone in Tomato Alley. The plants are almost dead and why bother to try to make them upright at this point. I harvested some ripe tomatoes and a handful of green ones that were on the ground. The plants will most likely be removed, if I have the time over the long holiday weekend.

Asparagus beds look great!

The corn & beans in other "Three Sisters" planting were staked  and tied up too. There are a few small white pumpkins on the vines in this bed. We shall see how big they get before the vines die off. As you can see, powdery mildew is setting in

The hot & spice peppers and celery in this bed are thriving. The eggplants are doing OK too!

Burr Gherkin cucumbers still growing like crazy!

The bell peppers did really well. I only found two broken branches and only had to harvest two green peppers. The one plant is nearly 4' high at this point! Hopefully we will have enough warmer weather to allow the peppers to turn in color.

That's about it for now. I will post any news about the pending garden move as soon as I receive it.