Each week Daphne's Dandelions hosts Monday Harvest. Be sure to visit her blog to see who is harvesting what this week!
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Just as Daphne's tomatoes are finally taking off, mine have slowed to nearly nothing! The blossom drop they suffered through those 100-plus degree days has given the vines a bit of rest. Not to be concerned...they are beginning to show some nice green tomatoes again. I do hope I get more big harvests from them. I know, a week ago I was complaining because I couldn't keep up with them! It turns out my boys LOVE Annie's Salsa! I must say, I think it's pretty darned good, too. I only made seven pints, and I have just three left. That will certainly be my number one recipe for tomatoes next year!
The harvest has slowed enough now for me to get something done around the house. Today son John came over and pruned of some low hanging branches from the three pine trees in the front yard. There was a lot of clean up to do afterward. Mr. H sawed the larger limbs into lengths that would be good to use in a fireplace, and we stacked them and put a "Free Firewood" sign in top, but it's still sitting in our driveway tonight. I hate to take good wood to the dump, but it can't block our driveway, so if it's not taken by noon tomorrow it has to go. Once that was cleaned up, I gave the house, the driveway and the outdoor furniture a good hosing off, took down the outdoor lights and washed them, washed the front windows and the storm door windows, weeded one flower bed in the back yard and gave the rabbit cage a good cleaning while Annie and Otto chased him around the yard for a while. Good exercise for the pups and Cookie! I didn't even go out to the garden to see if anything was ready to pick!
On to the harvest. I think Daphne and I must be kindred spirits, as it seems we're often doing things at the same time. I had been keeping track of my harvests by writing everything down as I weighed them, then updating when I had time. This week, with all my extra time, I transferred everything for the entire year to a spreadsheet. Actually to two spreadsheets. One is weight by crop, the other does monthly totals. For some reason, they differ by a few pounds, so I'll be using the smaller total for my blog. Someday I might have time to find the error. I see Daphne had some corrections to her spreadsheet this week, too. Anyway, on my spreadsheet I enter everything in ounces, then let it do the work to convert to pounds. For blog purposes, I'm now rounding to the nearest pound.
8/17 - 25 oz. mesclun/lettuce, 218 oz. tomatoes, 24 oz. crookneck, 28 oz. bell peppers, 46 oz. cucumbers, 2 oz. jalapeno peppers
8/18 - 42 oz. cucumbers, 32 oz. tomatoes, 14 oz. crookneck, 30 oz. pole beans, 12 oz. bell peppers
8/19 - 40 oz. cherry tomatoes, 19 oz. tomatoes (shown here with previously picked tomatoes), 16 oz. melon (not photographed)
8/20 - 35 oz. cucumbers, 22 oz. crookneck, 44 oz. bell peppers, 23 oz. tomatoes
8/21 - 40 oz. cucumbers, 32 oz. tomatoes, 568 oz. pumpkins (9 lb. 8 oz., 10 lb 8 oz. and 15 lb. 8 oz.), 28 oz. melon, 10 oz. crookneck, 36 oz. zucchini, 68 oz. butternut squash, 4 oz. bell pepper, 16 oz. strawberries
8/22 - 12 oz. jalapenos, 25 oz. bell peppers, 22 oz. tomatoes, 42 oz. cucumbers, 10 oz. crookneck, 12 oz. zucchini. All of the peppers and a couple of small crookneck went home with youngest son before they were photographed.
Total for week: 1597 ounces = 99.8125 pounds = 100 pounds
Total for year (corrected): 576 pounds
The harvest has slowed enough now for me to get something done around the house. Today son John came over and pruned of some low hanging branches from the three pine trees in the front yard. There was a lot of clean up to do afterward. Mr. H sawed the larger limbs into lengths that would be good to use in a fireplace, and we stacked them and put a "Free Firewood" sign in top, but it's still sitting in our driveway tonight. I hate to take good wood to the dump, but it can't block our driveway, so if it's not taken by noon tomorrow it has to go. Once that was cleaned up, I gave the house, the driveway and the outdoor furniture a good hosing off, took down the outdoor lights and washed them, washed the front windows and the storm door windows, weeded one flower bed in the back yard and gave the rabbit cage a good cleaning while Annie and Otto chased him around the yard for a while. Good exercise for the pups and Cookie! I didn't even go out to the garden to see if anything was ready to pick!
On to the harvest. I think Daphne and I must be kindred spirits, as it seems we're often doing things at the same time. I had been keeping track of my harvests by writing everything down as I weighed them, then updating when I had time. This week, with all my extra time, I transferred everything for the entire year to a spreadsheet. Actually to two spreadsheets. One is weight by crop, the other does monthly totals. For some reason, they differ by a few pounds, so I'll be using the smaller total for my blog. Someday I might have time to find the error. I see Daphne had some corrections to her spreadsheet this week, too. Anyway, on my spreadsheet I enter everything in ounces, then let it do the work to convert to pounds. For blog purposes, I'm now rounding to the nearest pound.
8/17 - 25 oz. mesclun/lettuce, 218 oz. tomatoes, 24 oz. crookneck, 28 oz. bell peppers, 46 oz. cucumbers, 2 oz. jalapeno peppers
8/18 - 42 oz. cucumbers, 32 oz. tomatoes, 14 oz. crookneck, 30 oz. pole beans, 12 oz. bell peppers
8/19 - 40 oz. cherry tomatoes, 19 oz. tomatoes (shown here with previously picked tomatoes), 16 oz. melon (not photographed)
8/20 - 35 oz. cucumbers, 22 oz. crookneck, 44 oz. bell peppers, 23 oz. tomatoes
8/21 - 40 oz. cucumbers, 32 oz. tomatoes, 568 oz. pumpkins (9 lb. 8 oz., 10 lb 8 oz. and 15 lb. 8 oz.), 28 oz. melon, 10 oz. crookneck, 36 oz. zucchini, 68 oz. butternut squash, 4 oz. bell pepper, 16 oz. strawberries
8/22 - 12 oz. jalapenos, 25 oz. bell peppers, 22 oz. tomatoes, 42 oz. cucumbers, 10 oz. crookneck, 12 oz. zucchini. All of the peppers and a couple of small crookneck went home with youngest son before they were photographed.Total for week: 1597 ounces = 99.8125 pounds = 100 pounds
Total for year (corrected): 576 pounds
Holy smokes-when you update by the week like that, it makes me wonder how you keep up with it all. You need a vacation! Those are some serious totals. Great job.
ReplyDeleteGranny, nothing performs that well without intimidation. I'm calling it in.
ReplyDeletePine won't make good firewood. It's too sappy and can coat your chimney with gunk. Don't burn it in the house.
I write every harvest down on a sheet. After I harvest on Sunday I put it all into the spreadsheet. I like that you put it into ounces. I should have done that, but my spreadsheet is in pounds. I have to say =x/16 every time I add anything. It is a pain. Next year I have to change the spreadsheet to make it easier to use.
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm drooling over those red peppers of yours. I have trouble even growing green bell peppers (which I don't eat). I love red peppers.
Terrific weekly harvest (as usual!). Even though the tomato harvests have slowed down (a bit), it seems you found lots to do to keep busy anyway!
ReplyDeleteSue, more than half this weeks total were squash. I swear the rest were cucumbers. It sure seemed like it.
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Ribbit is there such a thing as Vegetable Protective Services?
We have so many campgrounds near us, as well as fishermen who build fires at the river's edge, I thought someone would like some neatly cut pine logs. We always opted for pine when we built outdoor fires, we loved the crackling sound of the burning pitch. No, wouldn't do much for my fireplace...which has a propane insert ;-)
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Daphne, I use =x/16 where x equals the cell containing my total.
This has been the first year ever for red bells for me! I can usually get some that are half red, but I have never had lovely HUGE completely red ones like these! They might be the only ones I grow next year.
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KitsapFG, things got terribly behind this past month. With all the gardening and canning, I was too worn out to keep up with the rest of it. Today I must prune shrubs. I MUST! I'm wondering if the tomatoes would work for salsa later on if I freeze them for now. Or would they mush up too badly when thawed? We like the salsa chunky.
Guys, I have a question about butternut squash. This was my first year growing them and I planted the bush type. They did very well initially, but after they set about 4 fruits each all the other female flowers turned yellow and dropped off without even opening!
ReplyDeleteTo add insult to injury, the fruit that did set only got about half the size of the butternuts I've seen in the market. Some are even smaller.
I'm an experienced gardener with a degree in horticulture, so it's not like I don't know how to grow things! Has anyone else had an experience like that with them?
Granny, if intimidation works, well, I guess you could use it. I'd do it if I thought it would help. Just thinking about keeping up with your harvests tires me out, though.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning AG. Your harvest is certainly bountiful. You know, we have had tomatoes on the counter every day for months and just now I am getting in my tomato eating mode. Seems like I cant get my fill of them. The sweet little cherrys are like candy.
ReplyDeleteI am green with envy that you are getting to see the Beach Boys. I love their music.
So impressive! I am happy to hear you love the salsa, it'd fun to make things that don't stick around long in the pantry. I have not forgotten about your seeds, they will arrive sooner rather than later I hope. ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, lots of mixed greens! Lots of peppers too, what are you doing with all them?
ReplyDeleteHA! Outdoor fires completely slipped my mind.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I've noticed many squash plants have a "rest" period when they just won't bear both male and female blossoms, then they suddenly begin again. I've not grown the bush type butternut, but that could be the case with them. My butternut vine has huge ones, like the one I accidentally picked, and tiny green ones, with all sizes in between. I do believe the bush variety bears smaller squashes then the vining varieties. Just Googling bush butternut tells me they are 1-3 pounds.
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Stefaneener, you can't fool me...I saw all that plum jelly!
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MissyM, I hope I get SWEET cherry toms next year!
I've seen The Beach Boys a couple of times in concert, they always put on a good one. Once we were on a very turbulent flight, and they were on the plane. Mike Love was sitting right next to Mr. H, and Brian Wilson was in front of me (he was spaced out!) I couldn't help but think if the plane crashed, nobody would even know we were on it...the news would be all about them!
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Kelly, another thing we like is the sweet relish, but I really don't think we can eat 10 pints of it anytime soon. I just don't know what else to do with all these cucumbers....I already have too many pickles!
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Dan, the peppers are no problem. I froze a gallon bag of the red ones, sliced for fajitas. They will be nice to have when those peppers are $3 each this winter. I will take a cooler of dry ice south with me for the peppers and maybe some pumpkin. My kids love all of them, and stop by often for a bag full for stuffed peppers or fajitas. Any leftovers will be diced and frozen for cooking in casseroles and such. If my jalapenos had been hot, I'd have had way too many. As it is, I'm using them just like red bell peppers in my sweet relish.
Nice winter squash. Makes me jealous as ours are waay late this year but nevermind. That's a great looking harvest.
ReplyDeleteOttawa Gardener, I just hope it's ripe! I cut a smaller one a couple weeks ago, and it wasn't ready at all. This large one was the very first one though, so it should be more mature. I felt so bad when I accidentally cut the wrong vine....it was supposed to lead to a pumpkin :-(
ReplyDelete100 pounds this week! My gosh. My pepper was 2oz. LOL. I just keep scrolling down your page looking at all of those veggies. It looks better than the produce section in the store :).
ReplyDeleteLOL, Crystabel! I'm wondering if my peppers are ever going to quit! I'm not complaining though, I just picked a bunch more of them and I'm going to make some stuffed peppers this week.
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