Harvest Monday 7/28/13

 It is Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions. The harvests are still going strong. A couple more firsts this week.

I had to pick the buttercup squash since a vine borer killed the stem. It seemed to be ripe. I also picked a few beets to see how they were sizing up. They seem kinda small. Also the first Lipstick pepper in the center, I let it finish turning red before my daughter ate it up. She was very excited for the first sweet pepper of the season. She is getting anxious!

A few potatoes for french fries that were sooooo yummy. I fried them in Coconut oil. And the kids ate them up!

Did you know that National Hot Dog day was last week? Ya, I didn't either until after I already made hot dogs for dinner one night. What do ya know! I made these home made hot dog buns. I thought they looked a bit flat, but DH thought they were pretty darn cool, so I'll show them off!

The squirrels are destroying my corn!!!! I am so disappointed! There is not much left. This is my blue hopi. I was going to let it dry on the stalk but I might have to just go pick it all before the critters get it all! They are all over my popcorn now too. They have found the goldrush, and they aren't leaving!

I used these two cabbages for some coleslaw. I also added in the 3 beets from the first picture hoping it wouldn't ruin it, but it is still good! Of course a few of these carrots went into it too! Also picked some dill seed.

The coleslaw and homemade dressing before the beet...it was a bit pinker after.

The beets before going into the slaw. Chioggia beets.

I tried to get as many potatoes out of the bed as I could. It was a bit difficult with all the beans still planted around them. So there will probably still be some in there when the beans die off and I will dig some more. Assuming the critters don't get to them first. There are tunnels dug all over the potato bed.

Tried to pick a bunch of the Velour French beans. Most of these tomatoes are Japanese Black Trifile. Also a Great White, and a Rutgers. The Great White are very good. Not as sweet like yellow tomatoes tend to be. I don't really care for the extra sweetness of yellow tomatoes but I do like this one. I gave one of my friends an extra seedling, and wouldn't you know, she grew an almost 3 lb Great White! She had like 3 truckloads of horse compost dumped in her garden and everything is huge! I have it in some of my beds and those are doing very well, but I don't have any in the tomato bed, sadly! Next year, I will know where to get my compost!

An evening stroll in the garden brought a few extra goodies in.

The cat faced tomato is the first of the Cherokee purple of the season. For some reason that is not the best growing or producing in the garden this year, and it usually is. Maybe it will pick up some growth and production before the summer is done. Also, another Georgia Flaming hot pepper.

I have really enjoyed making flower arrangements with flowers from around my yard lately. I have company again today and I made this one for the lunch table. I will also be taking her on a tour of my garden. Love to show off the garden! And, some of granny's Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes are in order for dessert! Anyways, this arrangement is made up of 3 types of marigolds, zinnia, mums, achillea, cosmos, sunflower, hydrangea, and daisies. I think I wanna grow a flower garden next year for cut flowers!

Small look at the garden in July

I really don't mind this critter in the garden!

But I could really do without the squirrels! They are destroying my corn! How do you keep them away? We chase them away multiple times a day. I send the kids out to do critter duty!

I am really looking forward to this longneck pumpkin. It seems so close to being ready, but taking forever! And it is huge!

This squash is OUT. OF. CONTROL! Yes there are squash behind it too, but this one has 3 very long, probably about 6 feet vines. It is suppose to be a bush. This is Lungo Bianco Zucchini. It is in a raised bed too. I am not complaining about all the zucchini I am getting, especially since I have had practically none the past two years. I have circled the center and the vines of the plant.

The sweet potatoes have been corralled several times to keep the vines in. They are looking so good, and I saw the first flower the other day!

The pepper bed is looking beautiful and full of peppers, though some are slow coming along.

Well, that is a small look at the garden right now. Other areas are looking pretty rough. Disease and bugs are doing a number on a lot of the squash, and the corn is being eaten up by squirrels, and the strawberries get a nightly visit from a small bunny that seems to get through my netting somewhere. There is always good and bad in the garden.

Harvest Monday 7/22/13

It's Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions! It has been a good harvest week around here.

The first Great White tomato of the season. A nice sized tomato but not the biggest one so far.

Yay for tomatoes! AND a PUMPKIN! WOO HOO!

Picked a bunch of blue potatoes for dinner.

I shredded the above blue potatoes and pressed them into this pie dish to use for a Zucchini Quiche. I baked it before I put the ingredients in. It was super yummy, especially topped with a slice of tomato and a bit of Feta cheese. Mmmm, yummy! I had extra shredded potatoes so I also made some potato cakes which my daughter just LOVED. She scarfed them down.

Picked most of the Music Garlic. There are 2 out there that I noticed I missed. I will definitely be ordering some more garlic this year. When I picked the garlic last year, I thought I will never use all this garlic so I didn't plant as much in the fall. Little did I know I used every bit of it. So, I guess I will use all that garlic!

2 Matt's Wild Cherry and one White Currant.

These poor guys were all sort of casualties. The first ripe pepper I had of these were so low on the plant that it rotted in the dirt by the time it turned red. So, since all these were in the dirt I picked them before they went bad as well. I also had to trim a branch off of the Japanese Black Trifile tomato because it was dying so I snagged the tomatoes. Hopefully they will turn all right, 2 seem to be already.

A first in my garden...the Chinese Red Noodle Beans. Don't know what I am going to do with them yet but I am excited to use them. And a nice big pile of both bush and pole beans.

And oh boy! This is a big 'Great White' tomato! There was another in a pic above that was about 1 lb. This is the 3rd one.

My pitiful Ruby Queen corn. I let it grow too long since it was so small. It taste sweeter before it gets this dark red. It will be good in a casserole or something I guess.

Happy Harvesting!

Harvest Monday 7/15/13

I am a bit behind posting today for Harvest Monday (at Daphne's Dandelions). I haven't felt well and boy is it super hot our there, makes me not want to be out in the garden even more. It has been a pretty good harvest week.

A zucchini got away from me. The first two very small ears of corn. A lot of the corn is not doing well for me this year, don't know why. The only corn doing really well is the Blue Hopi, and I hope it continues to do well until harvest. It has had a bit of storm damage, but not too bad.

First purple podded pole beans I found hiding when I went over to the neighbors side of the fence to shove the squash vines back through.

Another "garlic" with only 2 cloves. This one smaller. As I said last week, I have only ever planted the Music variety and only in my raised beds, so I don't know where anything else would have come from.

I picked 3 nice garlic here that look normal. They are drying but I am leaving the rest to size up a bit more.

Potatoes for dinner. ;)

Cut flowers from the garden. I had company for lunch after church on Sunday and I wanted to make it nice. I made a pretty flower arrangement and another raspberry pie! I had to save the raspberries all week to make it and it was just as yummy as the first one! I also made my homemade bread for them which they seemed to enjoy!

I love this flower arrangement! It turned out so pretty on the kitchen table and so summery!

This is not my project but my husbands! I had to show it off to you! He built this loft bed for my daughter. It is her own little restaurant. She is always saying she is going to own a restaurant when she grows up. We put her kitchen inside and the inside back wall is entirely a chalk board! The stairs have shelves underneath which she can keep her TONS of books that she likes to read to gramma over the phone! What a cozy place up top to do it from! He did a great job and she loves it.

See those 3 tiny White currant tomatoes there. They are not much bigger than a blueberry, and those are tiny blueberries. They are from my daughters planter. It isn't growing like crazy so we are not getting many but hopefully it will pick up some production. They are just as small as the Matt's Wild Cherry, which is what I was looking for. She loves cute little things.

The first slicers from the garden! I also had to pick these two acorn squash because the vine borers killed the plant. I think they are ready enough, the skin is strong and my nail does not slice into it. I also just pulled up two potatoes to show my company. I will get more in the morning or evening when it is cooler!

Both tomatoes came off of a Brandywine plant, this one breaks the 1 lb  mark!

Happy Harvesting this week.

Preview of Squash

The squash around the garden are doing quite well. Hopefully they will all make it through the buggy and the muddy season! I certainly tried to pick varieties that would be more resistant to the bugs. Not all but some.

Waltham Butternut squash, there are about 5 that I can see. Some on the ground, some hanging on the fence.

Burgess Buttercup squash. These are doing remarkably well. These plants are so stinking long it isn't even funny! This is the biggest one, though you probably can't tell by the picture. It is hanging on the FRONT of the fence toward the street. Hopefully we don't get any rule happy ordinance keepers coming around. And the neighbors seem to be quite accommodating for now, not mowing down my vines that come through and all. Maybe they are hoping for a squash.

Summer Ball Bush pumpkins, there are about 6 or more of these.

Musque de Provence squash and acorn squash. Aren't they pretty!? :) There are about 5 acorn squash and these are the only 2 Musque de Provence I have seen.

Pennsylvania Dutch (longneck pumpkins). These have been a bit slow to get going but I have seen quite a few popping up along the fence. this is the biggest one so far.

Small Sugar pumpkins. There are 3 or 4 at least buried among the corn and pole beans that I can find. It's getting to be quite the jungle.

The sweet potato bed seems to be doing very well! Behind it is a new corn bed. My Hookers Sweet Indian corn failed so I replanted it. Hope it isn't too late and this won't be a bad spot for it, it is all I had left. It was where we removed one of the old beds over the winter that was too close to the tree cover.

I had some guests recently tour the garden and a big question was 'why are the pumpkins green?' There are so many different varieties of squash and pumpkins it is ridiculous. And none of them grow the same. They don't start the same color and there are certainly a ton of shapes and colors to finished pumpkins as well. And I love the color variety! That is what makes the garden so beautiful to me, the variety of wonderful and unique colors.

Harvest Monday 7/8/13

It is Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions! Come share your harvest and see what others are harvesting.
It has been a very rainy week here. The garden is loving it for now. Much more though and it just may drown.

Another pepper has been half eaten by a critter, probably a chipmunk! Other than that, I just love the beauty that comes out of the garden.

This was the garlic in the picture above. Only two very large cloves and they didn't smell too garlic like, more onion like. I hope none of the others did this. I don't know what happened. Any ideas? I used them anyway in a jar of fermented pickles. I have yet to try them. (added note: I have never planted any garlic other than Music in my garden. These grew  from my garlic harvest that I grew the previous year.)

Got the second cabbage of the season and a ton of raspberries coming in!

I made raspberry pie for a dinner party. Mmmm, it was soo good. I had never made home made pie crust before, let alone with fresh ground grains, so I was a bit nervous. But it was so delicious, it was gone that night!

Flowers from my garden for the dinner party. They were so beautiful on the table!

Made bread for my dinner party too, and this is the first time since using my fresh grains that it turned out this nice and smooth and high! I was excited it was successful.

Some chipmunks or something have been munching on my potatoes. I think I need some traps!

 

When I can't get out to the garden in the rain, the zucchini's can get away from me!

Since it has been pouring rain all week, hard to get out in the garden. I picked a few raspberries here, but I did not feeling like fighting the wet bushes AND the bugs! Japanese beetles in your hair is just gross and wet hair too, more gross! Hate those things! Glad their season is short!