Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard................8/23/2012

I was going to do a post on what has been preserved this past week. You all can imagine all the canning and freezing that has been going on around here! But, when I came home from work on Tuesday evening, "The Italian" had a nice surprise for me!! He had gotten home a few hours earlier and decided to make a nice summer adult drink for us!

He was making Watermelon Martinis!!!

Oh boy....were they ever good! 

The watermelon was perfect and sweet and so was "The Italian's" welcome home!

The martini was easy to make. He cut up some watermelon, blended it with the immersion blender, added vodka, a club soda float and a slice of sweet watermelon!

After we had two martinis each, he decided to make a Martini just for Granny! Since "The Italian" and Granny both like their tomato sandwiches with Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. 

Yep, he made a Tomato & Miracle Whip Martini!!

I was hesitant at first....but, it tasted just like a tomato sandwich!!! All it needed was a nice slice of crusty bread!! So, what do you think we should call it????

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

Harvest Monday................08/20/2012

Since "The Italian" is out of town for a few days, Sophia spent the whole weekend with me. We sure did have a busy weekend!! First, we spent all day Saturday out and about. We shopped, which I really hate. But, it had to be done. I needed some pants for work and of course Sophia needed some things too. Just like any teenager does! We had a great day and then took our neighbor out for dinner. It was the girls night out!

Sunday was a full day of gardening. Before we left for the plots, I checked the two savoy cabbage plants at the home garden I really hadn't looked at them in weeks.

The cabbage on the left is a normal size head of Savoy Cabbage.

The one on the right is the Monster Head....That baby weighed almost 7 lbs!! I really didn't think Savoy cabbage could get that big!

After the great Cabbage Harvest we set off for the plots. That place was like a jungle! Sophia was a big help. She pulled weeds, took a ton of stuff to the compost and of course took a nice nap under the umbrella! When the day was done we had a nice neat garden and a full trunk of produce!

And there was some in the back seat too!

If you ever wondered what 17+ lbs of celery looks like.....

It looks like this!!! Yes, we harvest 17.32 lbs of celery! 

There is no way we need all this celery plus the nearly 4 lbs that was harvest in July. So, Sophia took a couple of bunches and I gave 3 bunches to my mother.There's also some more celery growing in the home garden.

We harvested two nice Sugar Baby Watermelons. 

They weighed in at 15.55 lbs for the two.

We also harvested these two fine beauties.

My first time growing Butternut Squash. These guys weighed in at a little over 10 lbs.

The remaining cabbage at the plots was harvested.

One Savoy, Two each of Tet Noire and Red Acre.

These guys were on the small side.....but, I think we are good in the cabbage department for the year!

The Chinese Red Noodle Beans are really doing well!!

I harvested 4.675 lbs. of them this week alone!

There were also Eggplants, Tomatoes and Peppers harvested this week.

Not pictured are the potatoes I dug last week and didn't get around to weighing until Saturday. 

All in all it we had a great week of harvests!!

Total weighed harvests: 135.34 lbs!!

Beans:

     Dean's Purple Pole Snap - 7.85 oz.

     Chinese Red Noodle - 74.8 oz. 

     Asparagus Red Seed - 8.1 oz

Cabbage:

     Chiefton Savoy - 170.9 oz.

     Red Acre - 61.35 oz.

     Tet Noire - 64,5 oz.

Celery - 277.15 oz.

Eggplant - 42.75 oz.

Peppers:

     Hot & Spice - 15.3 oz

     Sweet - 24.7 oz

Potatoes:

     Yukon Gold - 61 oz

     Purple Viking - 92.3 oz.

     Kennebec - 18.55 oz.

     Red Pontiac - 193.25 oz.

Squash, Butternut - 162 oz.

Tomatoes - 599.75 oz

Watermelon Sugar Baby- 248.85 oz.

Zucchini - 17.6 oz.

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

The State of the Plots Mid-July Part 2

In the previous post "The State of the Plots Part 1", I went through Beds #1-4. In this post we will go through Beds # 5-8 and Plot 102.

Click on any picture to enlarge

This is Bed #5

In the front of Bed #5 are French Cantaloupe. I lost one plant so far and it looks like another one is on it's way out.

Behind the cantaloupe in Bed #5 are some more Pickling Cucumbers. They are struggling along just like the other cucs and just starting to produce.

The next in Bed #5 are two Small Sugar Pumpkin plants. They are very happy right now. Let's hope that it stays that way!

Following the pumpkins are a few leeks which I forgot to take pics of. They are struggling with this weather. Next are the cabbage. There are a couple of Savoy, Tet Noire and Red Acre. All of the heads are small and I have yet to harvest one. They were planted late.

This is where the spring Broccoli was planted. I sowed some Great Northern Dry Beans here and covered them with straw. These are starting to pop up too.

The Sweet Peppers are next in this bed. They are also much much smaller then the plants last year. I'm sure we will have enough to get us through the winter. At the end of this bed are two Zucchini plants which I failed to take a picture of. One was sown 2 weeks ahead of the other and are doing well.

Bed #6

The Raspberries and Blackberries are planted in this bed. They transplanted well. Hopefully we will get a late harvest of Raspberries. The Blackberries have some fruit and new shoots on them. Their harvest will be very very small as they were cut way back to transplant.

Due to the small size of the Blackberry transplants I was able to plant celery, onions and Purple Pole Beans in this bed. Next year I don't think there will be much space for any additional crops. The celery is really suffering due to our extreme heat and lack of rain this year. The onions are also very small.

The Purple Pole Beans are doing well and hopefully will start producing soon.

Bed #7 is the Strawberry Bed.

The transplanted strawberries are much much smaller then the roots I put in at the far end.

This is where the Strawberries transition from the transplants to the new roots. Boy, what a difference! They are even the same variety. Hopefully we will have a bumper crop of strawberries next year!

Bed #8 is divided in to 3 parts. 

There is Asparagus at this end. In the front I sowed some late peas where the Favas were planted. I also covered them with straw to hold moisture in so they would germinate.

In the middle of Bed #8 there are 4 Celery plants and onions. As you can see all of the celery is really struggling with this weather. It's a good thing I planted way more then we need to get us through the year.

The onions are so so small in comparison to last year. I really don't know if we will have enough for the year.

There are a few good size onions. But these are Walla Walla onions and they should be twice this size. I'm going to dice them up and freeze them.

The far end of Bed #8 is planted with another variety of Asparagus. I also sowed some peas here.

Last but not least is Plot #102.

Patti & I pulled all of the tall weeds in about 1 1/2 hours. Yesterday, I weed whacked the rest down. Now, we just need to get it tilled. Then we will put up the fencing we have accumulated and start planting fall crops!

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-June

Everything at the plots seems to be growing by leaps and bounds this past week! It seems like every day the plants are bigger. I took these pictures 3 - 4 days ago and everything is much bigger when I went over there today. I'm extremely pleased to say the least.

click on any pic to enlarge

The plots from the road

  

Bed #1

The potato bed is totally out of control! 

Some of the plants are about 4' high!

The front tomato bed. Bed #2

You can't tell from the picture how stocky and sturdy these plants are. Some of the branches are an inch wide. The plants in this bed are bigger then the other tomato bed. I'm certain it's due to the mixing of the soil. I was too tired and lazy to mix in the soil in the other bed.

Bed #3

"Three Sisters Planting"

The corn, beans and squash have doubled in size since I took this picture.

Bed #4

This is the second tomato bed. The plants are very happy and healthy even though they aren't quite as big as in bed #2.

Bed #5

Bed #6

Strawberries in Bed #7

The new strawberry plants are producing much more then the ones that I transplanted. It must be due to moving them.

Bed #8

The onions seem to doing well. I sure hope that we get enough for the year.

I was pleasantly surprised to see these blossoms and berries on the transplanted blackberry bushes. They won't produce much....but, it's a good sign of years to come!

This head of cauliflower has doubled in size since taking this picture.

Yippee.....it looks like we are going to have some nice spring cauliflower!

There are 27 Celery plants at the plots. All of them look great except for these 3. They are all twisted and deformed. I was going to pull them this morning. But, I changed my mind when I saw they had ladybugs on them.

The eggplants have some beautiful flowers.

The Fava Beans survived the attack of the ants. I picked 3 this morning and they are wonderful!

The first pepper of the year is "Happy Yummy Sweet Pepper".

The seeds were given to me by Dave as part of the "Happy Acres Happy Yummy Pepper Experiment".

This is a Sweet Banana Pepper.

There are quite a few peppers on many of the plants.

There are also a lot of tomatoes everywhere at the plots!!

That will make for one "Happy Italian"!!!