July 11, 2009: Today's Harvest

Although the thermometer read 99.7 in the shade, I braved the heat to harvest the food for tonight's dinner. And, at 8 pounds total, a lovely harvest it was!



That's the last of my spring carrots and, other than a few that are trying to survive under the tomatoes, there will be no more until fall. The ones I seeded on 6/27 have germinated, and it looks to be close to 100% so far. The beets that were planted the same day are getting their tiny true leaves already.

The small green pepper had a spot of sun scald on it, or I wouldn't have picked it so young, but the larger one is nice sized, thick walled and heavy.

I am loving the potatoes! They just taste so good fresh from the garden, and I'm actually looking forward to tonight's green beans, as these pole beans have such a good flavor and texture. Mr. H is happy that he's getting a cucumber nearly every day now. We also picked six cherry tomatoes, but they were eaten right away so didn't make it to the photo.


Saturday's Garden Dinner


Braised Pork Country Ribs (onions)
Parsley Buttered New Potatoes (parsley, potatoes)
Green Beans with Bacon (beans)
Honey Glazed Carrots (carrots)
Cole Slaw (cabbage, green pepper, onion)
Fresh Strawberry Sundaes (strawberries)





20 comments:

  1. Granny, I swear you're such a garden produce tease! I am tooooo jealous!

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  2. LOL, Desert Dame...this is coming from a pesto tease? I was just at "your place", ready to leave a comment on your beautiful dish!

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  3. Yum! My garden wants to be your garden when it grows up!

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  4. Great harvest AG and the meal prep from the harvest looks yummy (as usual!).

    What variety of potatoes are those?

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  5. What a beautiful harvest!!!

    I'm envious... as usual!

    Boy, Mr. H is sure spoiled by all those yummy garden dinners! Looks fantastic.

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  6. Yum! It all looks beautiful, and the potatoes are picture-perfect. I'm planning (depending on the harvest) to about quadruple the potato plantings next year.

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  7. SB, LOL!!! You're funny :-)

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    KitsapFG, Yukon Golds and (I think) Red Norland. I had both the Norland and Red Pontiac on my mind, forgot to mark the bag! I'm going with Norlands because of the color of the blossoms.

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    Thank you, Toni!

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    Stefaneener, I'm going to plant at least a few more next year. These are in a 4'x3' bed, I'll at least use one of the 4'x4' beds. I don't have any room left for expansion unless I eliminate my squash bed.

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  8. Your harvested vegetables look as neatly organised as your shed! Do you know that my neighbour (a qualified horticulturalist) always smiles when I have the ruler out for my row spacings, goodness knows how she'd cope if she saw how well organised our are. Having said that, I am sure those delicious-looking meals would win anyone round.

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  9. Granny-you sound like my hubby! I can't send him to the garden for cherry toms either-he eats em like candy. Can't wait for this years crop. Oh, you're so lucky lucky lucky to have such an early start (though you can KEEP that 90's weather-ugh)

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  10. FirstTime GardenerJuly 12, 2009 at 3:55 AM

    Congratulations on your beautiful and bountiful harvest!

    Can I ask you a question? I planted carrots and beets the end of April. The carrot greens are growing beautifully, I was sure there would be something on the other end...well, I dug up one carrot and it was as long as a nail. I'm not sure what to think, it's way over 65 days. Any ideas?

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  11. MMMMM...glazed carrots. That's my favorite.

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  12. I'm green with envy...you are doing so well all that great fresh produce! NOt so lucky here in the northeast,,,toooo much rain not enough sun!~

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  13. Heskie, I love symmetry in a garden, and it rather bothers me to have this hodge-podge semi-Square Foot Garden planting! I've always been a fan of wide row, raised bed gardening. I loved looking at my garden in the spring, but now that everything is mature (and beyond), it's beginning to look like a jungle!

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    Sue, I'm hoping the later tomatoes taste a bit better than the ones I've eaten so far. They were good, because they are better than store bought. But really nothing special....I won't plant that particular variety next year.

    If it stays in the 90s, I'll be lucky. We get quite a few days over 100, some up to 110 or so. Then the poor garden really wilts.

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    First Time Gardener, thank you!

    Don't believe what the carrot seed packet tells you. I planted those carrots on March 19th, and it was about 90 days before they were large enough to eat. Once they begin to grow, they grow quickly. I'd say mine doubled in size in the last month.

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    Ribbit, mine too! And it's a good way to use some of that big jug of honey that I bought at Costco so long ago that it has turned to solid sugar.

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    Chef Phil and Malinda, I do feel sorry for all of you in the NE, but I'm heading into a hot spell that will absolutely wilt my garden during the day. I don't know which is worse, too much water or too much heat! It's too bad we can't always have perfect gardening weather.

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  14. Wow, that's some serious cooking. I hope some day to be able to do that from my garden. Still learning and all.

    Wow, sorry about that heat. It went from 90 yesterday to 60 today. Go figure.

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  15. Sinfonian, it's ten degrees cooler here today, but we're expecting high temps again real soon.

    *Whimper* that was the last of my carrots! I'll sure miss them.

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  16. Everything looks great as usual. You grow some excellent looking produce!

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  17. Ah hmmm, looks like I should have been at your house on Saturday for dinner too :-)

    Those carrots and potatoes... oh wow!

    Granny, you just planted more carrots? I was kinda wondering since the weather is so hot. How are they doing? I have a spot that is pretty shady from my cucumbers... wonder if I could plant some carrots there right now.

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  18. Thank you, Dan. It tastes good, so that's what counts.

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    Judy, mine look like close to 100% germination. I covered the seed bed with a board, to hold in the moisture, until they came up. It's been really hot and windy, so I've been sprinkling them lightly twice a day.

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  19. Gee I go away for a week and come back to find you over 100lbs. Good job. I picked the last of my carrots today too. They seemed full size so I picked them all and will just keep them in the fridge until I need them. I have another batch that was seeded in May sometime, but they are shaded by my pepper-tomato jungle so I don't know how large they will end up getting. I need to reseed some more between my eggplants. I think it is the only space left in the garden for them. The potatoes won't make it out in time for my carrots :<.

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  20. Daphne, at least double the amount of carrots are on the list for 2010. We ran out way too soon, and I'm not sure there's time for the new batch to reach any size.

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