Harvest Monday Sept 27, 2010

I only harvested twice from the garden this week. It has slowed significantly. Last week we had record highs in the 90's with low's still in the 70's overnight. This week we are in the 70's for highs and lows are in the 50's. What a difference. The beans are still producing well. The peppers are changing colors slowly.  I have had a few bell peppers fall off this week, this one in the top picture was salvageable. 

In this picture there are 3 Jalapeños that have FINALLY turned red! They took forever! And they are all disfigured a little but hopefully still usable!  I also picked the red Purple Beauty Bell that just doesn't look all that great. The plant has not done well for me. It has had a lot of BER and just has not recovered well or done well in the dry heat. But, I'll cut it open and see how it looks and if the kids will eat it, I'll let them! (They are the pepper snackers!)

This whole branch of Kaleidescope pepper was broken off this morning when I went out. And all the peppers on it wilted. Seems that something more was wrong with it that just being broken off, cause I would think I would have still been able to use the peppers, but no, something wilted them.

There are quite a few very nice sized tomatoes out there that I hope have enough time to ripen. It has been such a disappointing tomato season, and just now when the plants are producing a good bunch of healthy looking tomatoes, when the season is almost done and I may run out of time! Just a few more tomatoes please!

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I am also fighting a critter in my garden. I thought maybe it was a cat, cause we have a few wandering our neighborhood. But the neighbor has seen a possum hanging around our yard! What ever the critter, it is digging in my freshly planted seedlings in my raised beds, digging them up, and trying to make itself a bed in my garden! I wonder if he is the one that broke my pepper plant! Now I need to figure out how to keep a possum out!

Happy Harvesting and don't forget to visit Daphne's Dandelions for more featured Harvests!

Harvest Totals 2010

Variety	This Weeks Total	Season Total
Lemon Cucumber		23 ea(season total)
American Genuine Cucumber		11 ea (season total)
Oregano		7 baggie dried + 1 quart
Spicy Bush and Reg Basil	1 bag	10 baggies dried +3qt
Sebring Zucchini		5 ea(season total)
8 Ball zucchini		17 ea(season total)
Black Beauty Zucchini		21 ea(season total)
Bush Beans	2qt	34 quarts
Lettuce (mixed pckg)		2-4 lbs
Bright Lights Chard		8 Bunches
Cabbage (mixed pckg)		4 ea(season total)
Evergreen Bunching Onion		90 (season total)
Yellow Onion		74 ea (total for season)
Broccoli		4 heads (season total)
Juliet Hybrid Grape Tomato	33	617 ea
Red Cherry Tomato		244ea(season total)
Total Tomatoes	3	168 ea
Watermelons		2 ea (season total)
Kaleidescope Pepper	1	4 ea
Orange Sun Bell Pepper	1	4 ea
Strawberries		2 ea
Cosmic Purple Carrot		4 ea (season total)
Sweet treat hybrid/Petite ‘n Sweet carrots		74 ea
Jalapeno Pepper	3	8 ea
Purple Beauty Bell Pepper	1	2 ea
Habanero Pepper	7	77 ea
Serrano Pepper	19	90
Lincoln and Alaskan Peas		2 cups 1/4 cup
Ambrosia Melon		3
Harvest Princess Pumpkin		1
Small Sugar Pumpkin		6 ea (season total)
Cilantro		2 sprigs

Harvest Monday Sept 20, 2010

Thanks to Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions for hosting Harvest Monday, it's so interesting to see what everyone else is growing! And, if your not careful, you'll see all kinds of stuff you want to try to grow yourself next year that you don't have any room for! I love it!

Ya, even though my garden has produced well this year, I have been known to be envious of other peoples goods! My harvests have been plentiful, yet ordinary! Beautiful and yummy, but still, ordinary!

I have gotten quite a few nice bright red Serrano's out of the garden this week! A decent amount of beans are coming along. The weather is still hot and dry. The continued summer heat seems to be keeping the garden going, but the lack of rain is making it look quite drab and slow going. Yes, those Juliet's are still producing practically every day!

 My other Habanero plant is loaded with green Habaneros that yet again seem to be taking forever to turn orange. I hope they do before frost. The first plant, with the saucer shaped Habaneros (maybe a Scotch Bonnet), is looking pretty pitiful, yet still has quite a few peppers on it. But some of them are looking pretty wilty.  It might be time for it to be pulled. It has given me quite a lot of peppers though! Some of them are like this one on the left, they turn half orange but will never fully turn...hmm!

 Ahhh, aren't those red Serrano's pretty!

Harvest Totals 2010

Variety	This Weeks Total	Season Total
Lemon Cucumber		23 ea(season total)
American Genuine Cucumber		11 ea (season total)
Oregano		7 baggie dried + 1 quart
Spicy Bush and Reg Basil		9 baggies dried +3qt
Sebring Zucchini		5 ea(season total)
8 Ball zucchini		17 ea(season total)
Black Beauty Zucchini		21 ea(season total)
Bush Beans	2qt	32 quarts
Lettuce (mixed pckg)		2-4 lbs
Bright Lights Chard		8 Bunches
Cabbage (mixed pckg)		4 ea(season total)
Evergreen Bunching Onion		90 (season total)
Yellow Onion		74 ea (total for season)
Broccoli		4 heads (season total)
Juliet Hybrid Grape Tomato	21	584 ea
Red Cherry Tomato		244ea(season total)
Total Tomatoes	12	165 ea
Watermelons		2 ea (season total)
Kaleidescope Pepper		3 ea
Orange Sun Bell Pepper	1	4 ea
Strawberries		2 ea
Cosmic Purple Carrot		4 ea (season total)
Sweet treat hybrid/Petite ‘n Sweet carrots		74 ea
Jalapeno Pepper		5 ea
Purple Beauty Bell Pepper		1 ea
Habanero Pepper	8	70 ea
Serrano Pepper	27	71
Lincoln and Alaskan Peas		2 cups 1/4 cup
Ambrosia Melon		3
Harvest Princess Pumpkin		1
Small Sugar Pumpkin		6 ea (season total)
Cilantro		2 sprigs

Happy Harvesting!

Squash on my mind

All the squash are done for the season in my garden. It has been a rough season for the winter squash... pumpkins, Acorn Squash, even the Butternut Squash could not resist  the SVB.  It is time to rethink my plan for squash next year. Call me obsessive, but I am on a mission to have a decent squash harvest in spite of SVB's and Squash bugs! Those SVB's can drive a person to insanity!

 The Black Beauty summer squash did well despite the SVB damage. 8 Ball Zucchini did ok, Sebring did terrible. Acorn squash never got off the ground. It got a borer right from the start! I got two usable Butternut, and then this one I found today, invaded by a borer!  

The Sugar pumpkins did well despite the huge amount of damage done to the vines by SVBs. The vines were reduced to a dry brittle that fell apart when picked up.

No jack o' lantern style pumpkins survived the damage. This was the last Harvest Princess pumpkin that my poor daughter was anticipating. To the pumpkin farm we go again this year!

So, what shall I do next year? Break down and grow resistant varieties. Cucurbita Moachata, like a new butternut variety, Muscade De Provence looks like a nice pumpkin shaped variety, maybe a couple of others. Surely I can get some good cooking pumpkins and a couple of decent carving pumpkins, even though they won't be big, but at least, hopefully, they will survive! I'm also thinking of trying some Surround WP Kaolin Clay if I can find some locally. I've read good things about it and it's certainly worth a try!

 As for the fall garden, the lettuce seedlings seem to have all gathered together here.

 Pretty sure these are my spinach seedlings...

 My 4 yr old daughter wanted to help take pictures, so she took a picture of the first fall Pea flower! Hello Pea!

 Planted some sugar snap peas after I realized my kids like them after the neighbor brought them some for lunch one day. The Chard there has been nibbled on pretty good!

I have one more bed of what my daughter likes to call "Peanut Buttercrunch Lettuce"! Ya, we also have "Peanut Butternut Squash" in the garden too. New varieties! Ha! Well I do not know how the Buttercrunch  Lettuce will do since I have had a critter digger in my box! I have already replanted it, and it seems a bit late.

 This little bugger came in with the beans. I have a feeling he is one of those Bean Leaf Beetle Larvae. I've seen one or two similar ones of different color. And I believe they are feasting in my bean bed!

More things to rethink about the garden next year. Yes, I will be obsessing all winter long! Definitely going to incorporate more companion planting and mixing things up instead of planting one whole bed of beans, or tomatoes, or peppers, etc! See, this kind of stuff helps me to stay focused on my garden, there are always new challenges and you can always start new! It's never boring!

Harvest Monday Sept 13, 2010

It's harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions! A great place to share your harvest and see others!

This week I pulled all the green onions. I should have pulled them a while ago, but I just didn't have any use for them. I planted way more than I needed! By the time I pulled them, onion maggots had gotten to quite a few of them. This is probably only about half of them. I also hacked the Oregano and Basil! I plan to dig up the Oregano and relocate it after splitting it with my friend who just got a new house! I'm excited for her to start her first garden! I am saving all kinds of seeds for her (and myself) to help her get started!

 The Orange Sun Bells are beautiful, they will be a definite for next year!  I only have one plant and have gotten 3 off of it so far and there are three or four more still out there soon to be ripe! And they are a nice bright color! I might try planting seedlings sooner though.

 

After picking todays harvest, I decided to use this weeks bean harvest to make some baby food for Eli and the neighbor's baby. All together there was probably about 2 quarts.  She is finding canned store food isn't so good, but she is enjoying some homemade stuff. So I thought I would share my harvest in baby food! Besides, I have plenty of beans! The whole bottom drawer of the freezer is full!

Harvest Totals 2010

Variety	This Weeks Total	Season Total
Lemon Cucumber		23 ea(season total)
American Genuine Cucumber		11 ea (season total)
Oregano	6 bags	7 baggie dried + 1 quart
Spicy Bush and Reg Basil	2 bags	9 baggies dried +3qt
Sebring Zucchini		5 ea(season total)
8 Ball zucchini		17 ea(season total)
Black Beauty Zucchini		21 ea(season total)
Bush Beans	2qt	30 quarts
Lettuce (mixed pckg)		2-4 lbs
Bright Lights Chard		8 Bunches
Cabbage (mixed pckg)		4 ea(season total)
Evergreen Bunching Onion	57	90 (season total)
Yellow Onion		74 ea (total for season)
Broccoli		4 heads (season total)
Juliet Hybrid Grape Tomato	14	563 ea
Red Cherry Tomato		244ea(season total)
Total Tomatoes	8	153 ea
Watermelons		2 ea (season total)
Kaleidescope Pepper		3 ea
Orange Sun Bell Pepper	2	3 ea
Strawberries		2 ea
Cosmic Purple Carrot		4 ea (season total)
Sweet treat hybrid/Petite ‘n Sweet carrots		74 ea
Jalapeno Pepper		5 ea
Purple Beauty Bell Pepper		1 ea
Habanero Pepper	6	62 ea
Serrano Pepper	5	44
Lincoln and Alaskan Peas		2 cups 1/4 cup
Ambrosia Melon		3
Harvest Princess Pumpkin		1
Small Sugar Pumpkin		6 ea (season total)
Cilantro		2 sprigs

Harvest Monday Sept 6, 2010

It's Harvest Monday again at Daphne's Dandelions! Come show off your harvest!

This week I returned home to a decent harvest with only a bit of disappointment, finding the SVBs in the pumpkin. But overall, I returned home to find my garden pretty much as I had left it, hot and dried out! Not much rain around here, with one of the longest stretches of hot weather in recent history. Some things seem to be doing well, while other things just aren't producing like they have before. Like the tomatoes. I wish I had kept a tally of last years tomato count, but it just doesn't feel like I am getting as many as I did last year. I'm talking large tomatoes, not those Juliet grapes that seem to be everywhere and in every photo! I know many of you are experiencing the same thing. I just hope there is enough time left to get some more before they are all done for the year. I'll tell ya what I am hoping to get for Christmas this year...a small irrigation system for my raised beds. Dh has mentioned one he has noticed at Lowes that might work for my beds. Ha, a garden girl can hope can't she?

I took a bunch of Juliet tomatoes to my moms to put in her dehydrator, that is them behind the baby watermelons. They are STRONG! Gonna have to find some use for them, cause they are too strong for munching in my opinion. I did add some to a pasta one night, it was good, but the tomatoes needed to be cooked a bit longer.

I also picked my only two watermelon. They were small and they really didn't look great to me, but the kids ate them, so as long as they were used, I feel validated in growing them!

The last of the carrots. Ihave some more planted, but I don't know what if anything we will get out of them.

Variety	This Weeks Total	Season Total
Lemon Cucumber		23 ea(season total)
American Genuine Cucumber		11 ea (season total)
Oregano		1 baggie dried + 1 quart
Spicy Bush and Reg Basil	1 pt	7 baggies dried +3qt
Sebring Zucchini		5 ea(season total)
8 Ball zucchini		17 ea(season total)
Black Beauty Zucchini		21 ea(season total)
Bush Beans	2qt	28 quarts
Lettuce (mixed pckg)		2-4 lbs
Bright Lights Chard		8 Bunches
Cabbage (mixed pckg)		4 ea(season total)
Evergreen Bunching Onion	7	33 plus a few cuttings
Yellow Onion	4	74 ea (total for season)
Broccoli		4 heads (season total)
Juliet Hybrid Grape Tomato	88	549 ea
Red Cherry Tomato	36	244 ea
Total Tomatoes	33	145 ea
Watermelons	2	2 ea (season total)
Kaleidescope Pepper		3 ea
Orange Sun Bell Pepper		1 ea
Strawberries		2 ea
Cosmic Purple Carrot		4 ea (season total)
Sweet treat hybrid/Petite ‘n Sweet carrots	12	74 ea
Jalapeno Pepper		5 ea
Purple Beauty Bell Pepper		1 ea
Habanero Pepper	11	56 ea
Serrano Pepper	30	39
Lincoln and Alaskan Peas		2 cups 1/4 cup
Ambrosia Melon		3
Harvest Princess Pumpkin		1
Small Sugar Pumpkin	2	6 ea (season total)
Cilantro		2 sprigs

I thought we were past this!

I thought we were done with SVB's for the season! The pumpkin and squash plants had started to recover from their damage earlier in the season. Everything I was reading said that July was when they stopped for the season around here, but no. I came home from my trip yesterday to find my last two pumpkins covered in squash bug nymphs and these....grrrrrrr! Notice the two of them peeking out, one by the stem, and one down to the right. 

There were three little buggers in one of the pumpkins, but was not about to let them ruin my pumpkin! I cut them out and cooked up the pumpkin and ran the svb's down the garbage disposal. Hope it chewed em right up! Only the one small section of the pumpkin was ruined. The rest was just fine.

 

That was the last of my sugar pumpkins for the year. There is one Harvest Princess pumpkin still growing out there. Not real big yet, but we'll see what we get. I guess I better keep a closer eye on it! My baby girl wants a carving pumpkin! GRRRRR! SVB's!