The weekly harvest is getting larger, and I'm finally getting something besides salad fixings from the garden!
Harvested:
In the week of May 31-June 6, I harvested:
37 ounces onions
6 ounces strawberries
80 ounces lettuce
13 ounces spinach
19 ounces potatoes
7 ounces raspberries
8 oz. carrots
10.625 lb. total for week
34.875 lb. to date for 2010
37 ounces onions
6 ounces strawberries
80 ounces lettuce
13 ounces spinach
19 ounces potatoes
7 ounces raspberries
8 oz. carrots
10.625 lb. total for week
34.875 lb. to date for 2010
The spinach harvest now exceeds the 2009 total, 6.53 lb. to 6.18 lb. The spinach is beginning to bolt. Since our weather has been so cool and warm, I'm wondering if day length has more to do with bolting than heat does.
The raspberry harvest now exceeds the 2009 total, .44 lb to 0.38 lb. The canes are loaded with green berries, so this years harvest, the second year for the berries, should be a good one.
The lettuce harvest now exceeds the 2009 total, 14.18 lb. to 13.56 lb. There is no end in sight for the lettuce harvest.
The raspberry harvest now exceeds the 2009 total, .44 lb to 0.38 lb. The canes are loaded with green berries, so this years harvest, the second year for the berries, should be a good one.
The lettuce harvest now exceeds the 2009 total, 14.18 lb. to 13.56 lb. There is no end in sight for the lettuce harvest.
Consumed:
One of last week's garden dinners consisted of salad greens with dried cranberries, walnuts and a balsamic vinegar dressing, grilled petite sirloin, steamed spinach, potatoes and baby carrots in butter sauce. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with raspberries (not shown). The lettuce, spinach, potatoes, carrots and raspberries were fresh from my garden, and delicious!
Lots of onions
Ketchup (2009)
Sweet relish (2009)
Raspberries
Lettuce (a lot!)
Strawberries
Bread & Butter pickles (2009)
Spinach
Potatoes
Carrots
One of last week's garden dinners consisted of salad greens with dried cranberries, walnuts and a balsamic vinegar dressing, grilled petite sirloin, steamed spinach, potatoes and baby carrots in butter sauce. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with raspberries (not shown). The lettuce, spinach, potatoes, carrots and raspberries were fresh from my garden, and delicious!Lots of onions
Ketchup (2009)
Sweet relish (2009)
Raspberries
Lettuce (a lot!)
Strawberries
Bread & Butter pickles (2009)
Spinach
Potatoes
Carrots
Observations:
The larger Walla Walla sweet onions now weigh about 7 ounces each, up from 4 ounces last week.
The remaining bachelor button seedlings disappeared after I put up bird netting. The only thing I can find in the container that might be eating them are pill bugs, although I'm finding earwigs and some small slugs in the main garden beds.
Planted:
5/31 A small container of bachelor button seeds (12)
6/5 3' triple row of Ingot carrots (56)
6/5 multiple bachelor button and old marigold seed in wet coffee filters, placed in plastic bag, for pre-sprouting.
5/31 A small container of bachelor button seeds (12)
6/5 3' triple row of Ingot carrots (56)
6/5 multiple bachelor button and old marigold seed in wet coffee filters, placed in plastic bag, for pre-sprouting.
General Gardening:
Hoed all the garden paths. Very little growth on the side with wood chips, mostly raspberry suckers, but quite a bit of grass appearing in the east garden, where the mulch has completely composted. I have saved stacks of newspaper in hopes of putting down wood chips from Bryan's tree removals, but I don't think those chips are ever going to happen. There are a couple of huge piles of them, but I'm not quite up to shoveling them into the pickup to bring home.
David (DaBeardedOne) visited Friday, and brought a container of Sluggo for me. I certainly appreciate it, as I couldn't find any at Lowe's earlier in the day. He also left me a cart full of fresh grass clippings.
On Saturday, I used the grass clippings from David all over my West garden bed, under the zucchini and around the flowers and beans. The little bit remaining went into the compost, and I ripped up some newspaper to mix with it. The Sluggo was scattered throughout the entire garden, I sure hope it works.
Saturday evening I strung garden twine for the pole beans at the end of the patio to climb, as they are now poking through the soil.
Sunday I took a moisture meter out and checked all the potted plants, as well as random readings throughout the garden. While some of the pots gave very high moisture readings, others nearby were quite dry. I filled a watering can with half strength fish emulsion, and gave the dry plants a little treat. I purchased a new sprayer earlier in the week, and will give the entire garden a foliar feeding this week.
Very nice harvest and photo layout. I'm getting raspberry envy :) We have absolutely no room for raspberries. I have to buy mine from a farm for jam.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work Granny!!
Very respectable harvest. It all looks like it was the basis for lots of great meals. I particularly like the photo of the row of bronze leafed lettuce.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks beautiful and I too am happy to start getting more than the lettuce.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the fruits of your labor.
Robin, I sure hope I get enough raspberries for at least one batch of jam. Last year I kept a container in the freezer for my strawberries (once we got our fill of shortcake), and even the smaller harvests got mashed and added to it until there was enough for jam. I ended up getting four batches! I'll be doing the same with the raspberries this year.
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Ottawa Gardener, those are Red Sails lettuces, which always grow well for me. Although my refrigerator was already overflowing with lettuce, those four heads had to be pulled out to make room for the others in the row. I'll be replacing them with new seedlings soon.
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Johanna, I love it when most of my dinner meals consist of good, fresh vegetables and fruits from the garden. I feel like at least we're spending part of the year eating foods that are free of pesticides.
Good harvest. I thought the carrots are cute, long and straight which fit the requirement of good carrots.. Cheers, ~bangchik
ReplyDeleteNice colorful and delicious looking harvest. I'm envious of those raspberries.
ReplyDeleteYour Walla Wallas are bigger than mine. I pulled one last week and it was only 4 oz. I'll see if the rest will get bigger. Yours grew 3 oz in one week? What are you feeding those babies!?!
ReplyDeleteThat homegrown dinner looks scumptious. I've paid for steak dinners out that didn't look half that good!
Bangchik, so nice to see you here again! I haven't been going on Blotanical for a while, so I've been missing a lot of posts. The carrots tasted very good.
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Michelle, there aren't many raspberries to be envious about just yet. Hopefully the picking will be better in another week or so.
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Villager, not all the onions grew that quickly, just the ones I had thinned out to 3 in each row in a 2' wide bed. The ones that were spaced closer are at about 5+ ounces each. I think the last two I pulled from that bed totaled 11 ounces, trimmed. Nothing special, just soil amended with compost. I may have given them a bit of fish emulsion, can't remember if I did or not. We've also had rain nearly every day for over a week, temps in the 70s, and well draining raised beds :-)
Aw, Granny, I am so touched! Thank you for the sweet slice of cake, and I love that it is decorated with edible flowers. You are such a sweetheart. :) Blowing kisses your way!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am in awe of your harvest. I only hope that with time and patience and persistence I can get to your level some year. That's impressive.
That dinner looks fantastic! I can't wait until we are all eating sliced tomatoes on the side with a pinch of salt....ummmmm!
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a wonderful day, Meredith. Hugs and kisses back atcha ;-)
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Me too, Erin, me too!
Granny, What a great harvest. And I really like the artful way you layed everything out for the photos. You are a great inspiration to me. I'm looking forward to harvests in the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteWow, you are a great gardener. I just have seeds sprouting. But my tomatoes are growing - G
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the same thing about my lettuce/spinach and bolting. The last 3 weeks here in NE Kansas have been very warm, high 80's-mid 90's, almost to 100 with the heat index, but the lettuce and spinach have yet to bolt. The Winter Harvest Handbook seems to back that up.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eleanor! You've just about inspired me to bake a few loaves of oatmeal bread ;-) If it were winter, I'd be at it right now, but it takes a bit of prodding to get me to bake during gardening season ;-)
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Oh, Gloria, if I could grow lovely flower gardens like yours, I'd consider myself a great gardener. I read your latest blog, and it sounds as though your vegetable garden will be just as beautiful as your floral landscape. I wish I lived closer to you, I'd love to go on your upcoming garden tour!
Jennifer, I hate to think all my lettuce will be bolting soon, but it's getting so large I suppose it's inevitable. I have kept lettuce growing through the summer by providing shade for it, which is exactly what I have planned to do tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you have another good year underway. Din Din looks great!
ReplyDeleteDan, I don't think I'll make the 1000 pounds like last year, as I'm not growing pumpkins. I suppose there is a chance all those tomatoes could get the harvest up that high though. I did have almost 500 pounds of them last year, and I think I have more than twice the plants this year!
ReplyDeleteOh, go ahead and shoot 'em. I won't tell ;-)
Awesome onions! Mine are just barely beginning to bulb up now, but I don't have those delicious WallaWallas, just red and yellow. And I get such a kick out of your bushel baskets of lettuce. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAs usual a wonderful harvest. I wish I had your grass clippings. I used my compost on my new garden and it is popping up weeds all over. There were too many crab grass seeds in it and I don't get my piles up hot enough to kill them off.
ReplyDeleteSpinach is definitely day length sensitive and that usually is always the trigger for the late spring bolting, however heat can speed it up too.
ReplyDeleteThe lettuce harvests are impressive and dinner looks yummy!
I think my onion patch needs a bit more fertilizer, since it is a new bed. I did work some compost in, but perhaps not as much as they would have liked. Oh well, it is early yet. I didn't pull mine til almost August last year.
ReplyDeleteLou Murray, the Walla Wallas are awesome. It's too bad they don't keep well. The only others I planted this spring are red onions, and just a 4' single row of those. I find them to be too hot to eat as salad onions when they are this small, I hope they sweeten up with age.
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Daphne, that is my fear about using unknown grass clippings. I don't use weed killers on my grass unless I have a real problem area that can't be dealt with otherwise, then I spot treat and wouldn't use those clippings on my garden. Our crabgrass hasn't yet shown up, but I hate when it does, it makes the lawn look horrid. It pulls easily, but it's still a big job to keep it pulled from this lawn.
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Kitsap, I never looked up the facts on spinach bolting, but that was sure my impression. I just never thought about it before.
I had to clean out the fridge last night, just to make room for more lettuce :-(
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Villager, onions are big fertilizer hogs. I forgot to add that I side dress mine (and my lettuce) with alfalfa pellets that I steal from our pet rabbit's food supply ;-)
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I've been reading through your blogs. Holy WOW! You have quite the harvest going on. How much space do you have? It looks like you have a fairly small yard like we do, but you use it so well. I couldn't tell if there was a secret acreage hidden somewhere behind the fence or what. What size lot are you working with? Great work, and yes, I am salivating over your raspberries right now!
ReplyDeletePogue's Garden, yes we do have a small lot here. I've taken just 11 feet from the east and north sides of the back yard for my planting area. The east garden contains one 4'x22', and two 3'x4' raised beds. It also has a 3'x22' bed along the fence line. I also use a 1' wide strip along the south end for peas. In the NE corner is a dog kennel, and I use two sides of that for pole beans and peas.
ReplyDeleteThe north bed has three 4'x8' boxes, one 8'x2' box and about a 12'x11' open area for the squash. This year I also started using the area behind the shed for more tomatoes, and that is about 14' long and deep enough that I'm letting some volunteer squash run back there. The only other planting area is along the west fence, a 12'x4' space where I'm growing zucchini and pole beans. My neighbor kindly let me use a 3'x28' strip of land on her side of the fence this year, but much of that I planted for her use (zucchini and bush beans), and we'll share the 6 tomato plants I put there.
Everything else is in pots or tubs that I have sitting anywhere I can find the room. It's not a lot of square footage, but a lot can be grown here. Last year I harvested over 1000 pounds of produce, way more than Mr. Granny and I could eat ;-)
Gran, great looking harvest you have there. By the way, what time is dinner tonight? ;)
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe the slugs we have (and snails which we have not had in our garden), and we put down bait early in the spring around all the raised beds and main garden, yet they are inside the beds.. little babies!! Our Black Seeded Simpson looks like it was hit with a bbgun. I'm not into heat but truly looking forward to the 80 forecast for Saturday here in the Willamette valley... we desperately need to dry out.
Di, I look at the photos of last year's pristine cabbages, and it just saddens me that this year the plants are so full of holes and ugly. Parts of my garden are much worse than others. The new hollyhocks on the east side of the garden have perfect leaves, the ones on the north side look like lace doilies! Our temp is supposed to get up to 89 Saturday, so I'll be crying for cooler weather and showers, I suppose.
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