Garden Happenings

The garden is really starting to produce.

 

We've been getting a lot of cucumbers

which means.....

pickles.....and

 

making "The Italian's" favorite

Sweet Pickle Relish

 

I've harvested a couple small heads of Red Acre Cabbage and....

 

this little tomato...a Dolly Parton!

Isn't it a beauty???

The tomatoes are starting.

I think the big tomato glut is about a week or two away

 

Our favorite slicing tomatoes, Cherokee Purples & Eva's Purple Ball are a regular.

  

I dug one hill of Yukon Gold Potatoes.

I couldn't believe the size of some of them!

 

We've had a half dozen Zucchini, including these two which were almost too big!

 

and the onions!!! Well, that's a post in itself!

 

So, how's your garden producing???

Too Busy to Blog & Garden Update

Yes, everything is A-OK.....I've just been too busy with work, life and the garden to blog!!! "The Italian" and I had a lovely vacation in May. The garden is doing great and work is busy as usual. I really appreciate the inquires.

As you can see the plots are bursting with growth! We had one heat wave already in late May. Other than that the rain has been consistent and the heat wave didn't seem to hurt the spring crops.

Plots from the front

The Eggplant were getting nibbled, but the new growth is good.

It looks like they are going to be OK

 

The Peppers are looking good and so are the potatoes (on the left)

The Broccoli is forming heads!!!



The Asparagus is finished for the year. We harvested about 3.5 lbs this year.

 

The Squash are coming up.....and we have Peas galore!

There are Snow & Snap Peas at the plots and Snap & Shelling Peas growing in the Home Garden. To date we have harvested more than 5 lbs. of Peas.

The Tomatoes are Happy!

 

The Cauliflower has yet to form heads. But, I'm sure they will be forming soon!

The Cabbage is starting to form heads.

 

The Blackberries have lots of blooms....so do the Raspberries!

 

The Strawberry bed has to be kept covered due to the birds.

We've picked more than 17 lbs. of strawberries so far this year!!!

Overall the garden is looking great and we are happy gardeners!

 

How's your garden growing so far this year???



 

Harvest Monday................... 09/24/2012

I weighed the Kennebec potatoes that I dug last week figuring that would be about it for the harvests this week. Then I went to the plots to start Fall Clean-Up! I always take my harvesting containers just in case. It's a good thing I did!

Here are the Kennebec Potatoes that I harvest last week

They were a nice size and the yield was OK

These are the ones we will eat first. 

They are the tiny potatoes and the potatoes that have some type of damage.

I pulled all of the tomato plants from the one bed and managed to get some nice tomatoes

and some pretty tomatoes

and some more green tomatoes for Green Tomato Salsa. Since some of the other green tomatoes turned red.

Sweet Peppers

A few more yummy Raspberries

The last of the Sugar Pie Pumpkins and biggest leek I have ever grown! This baby is at least 2" across at the bottom!

The nicest Jalapenos so far this year and the Habaneros are finally getting ripe! 

More Eggplant

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these! 

The first Lima Beans of the year. 

The vines were so dense that I couldn't find them until I trimmed them back.

Total weighed harvest: 50.92 lbs.

Beans,Lima - 12.8 oz

Eggplant - 34.15 oz

Leek - 8 oz

Onions (not pictured) 38 oz

Peppers:

    Hot & Spice - 30 oz

    Sweet - 24.52 oz

Potatoes, Kennebec - 450 oz 28.13 lbs

Pumpkin, Sugar Pie - 47.5 oz

Raspberries - 3.2 oz

Tomatoes:

    Red - 138.55 oz

    Green - 28 oz

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

Harvest Monday.....................09/17/2012

Believe it or not, I didn't harvest any tomatoes this week! There are some over at the plots, which I may pick today after work. If not, I will pick them tomorrow or Wednesday when we have our Garden Committee meeting.

I did harvest some nice peppers and eggplants this week.

Hot & Spice Peppers

A nice bowl of eggplant

Sweet Peppers

The dark peppers are Purple Beauty

The last of the Spaghetti Squash from the home garden.

I dug the rest of the Kennebec Potatoes on Saturday. But, have yet to weigh them. They will be counted in next week. There were also some dry beans, the balance of the popcorn and peas harvested this week.

Total weighed harvest - 21.45 lbs.

Eggplant - 58.25 oz

Peppers:

    Hot & Spice - 43.5 oz

    Sweet - 40 oz

Spaghetti Squash - 192.55 oz.

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

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!!

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!