September 6, 2010: Oh, No! It Can't Be Harvest Monday!

Where did the week go?  I don't have anything to blog about today!  I did harvest a few things this week, but I didn't photograph all of it.  Let me look on my camera, I must have something!


Wednesday I picked 365 oz. of lovely butternut squash, 64 oz. zucchini, 51 oz. sweet peppers, 128 oz. tomatoes, 3 oz. eggplant (did not count weight in total), 9 oz. strawberries, 5 oz. lettuce and 5 oz. pole beans.


Friday I harvested 55 oz. cucumbers, 58 oz. tomatoes, 16 oz. hot peppers, 8 oz. sweet peppers, 20 oz. zucchini and 5 oz. bush beans.

Saturday I picked, but didn't photograph, 22 oz. bush beans and 68 oz. tomatoes.

The week of Aug 30-Sept 5
27 oz. bush beans
5 oz. pole beans
55 oz. cucumbers
3 oz. eggplant
5 oz. lettuce
16 oz. hot peppers
59 oz. sweet peppers
365 oz. butternut squash
84 oz. zucchini
9 oz. strawberries
254 oz. tomatoes

Total for the week: 879 ounces = 55 pounds
Year to date: 658 pounds

I forgot to update the poundage on my sidebar last week.  That had me a bit confuzelled!


Daphne's Dandelions is the host for Harvest Monday, where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. Please visit her blog and leave a link, so we can enjoy your harvest photos!

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I did get one day of work started out in the garden.  Here is the "before" photo.  
So far, there is no "after", as I've been too busy inside to finish the job I started.  I'm taking down the shade structures, as our temperatures are supposed to drop down into the 70s, so everything will need all the sun it can get.  I've pulled the bush beans (foreground), and the Juliet tomato that was growing on the fence.  That Juliet must have had 500 green tomatoes left on it, after I picked 4-1/4 pounds of ripe ones.  I just can't use them any more.  I can't even give them away!  I set the bag of tomatoes, along with two nice zucchinis, out by the mailbox, with a "free" sign.  Nobody took them, so now they are back on my counter.  Maybe I'll make a pot of soup with them tomorrow.  
The beans were not bearing very heavily, and every time Mr. Granny mows along the fence it throws grass clippings all over them, which makes them absolutely impossible to clean.  So out they went.  I have just enough pole beans to keep us happy, so I think all the bush beans will be pulled and composted this week.

I tried eating the first ripe eggplant, the variety called Red Egg, and I was not impressed.  I salted the slices and let them sit to (supposedly) remove the bitterness, wiped them off with a paper towel,brushed them with olive oil, salted and peppered, then grilled them.  They were bitter, and tasted awful!  It was a beautiful plant, full of pretty red fruits, but out it went!  I do wish I'd taken a picture of it before I pulled it out.  That's one eggplant down and one to go.  The second one is huge, but so far hasn't any ripe fruits on it.  I'll be moving the pots of hot peppers into their places, it gets so much more sun there.

Much of the weekend was spent with family visiting.  Saturday I made giant cinnamon rolls, so Sunday morning, Bryan, Amy, Alicia and Alicyn came for rolls and chilled cantaloupe.  The wind came up in the afternoon, and it was quite chilly by evening.  

Alicyn enjoys one of the last days of summer.

27 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, my girl has the same shirt. THey both look so cute in it. Sorry about the eggplant. Why can't things taste as beautiful as they look?

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  2. Beautiful harvest! I'm longing for your cooler weather.

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  3. Look at all those butternut squash. They are beautiful. And I have to laugh at you having nothing to blog about. You had another huge harvest.

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  4. Ribbit, awwwww, we have twins ;-)

    Yes, the eggplants were such pretty things. I was thinking about putting them in containers along the front porch next year, but this variety ended up being way too large for that. They got about 4' or taller, and at least that wide.

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    Thank you Melissa. I'm welcoming the cooler weather, too. Maybe I can get something done out there!

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    Daphne, it was more a "my head isn't ready for blogging, and my pictures are still on my camera" feeling. I don't know why HM crept up on me like it did! Maybe because I only actually harvested stuff on two days. The third harvest was from a rip-out day. I have been harvesting almost daily until last week.

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  5. Alicyn is such a cutie!

    Your harvests are still looking great - and what type of hot pepper are those? I'm wanting to grow something a little more versatile next year like a banana pepper or something we can put on sandwiches too. the jalapenos are OVER for me :)

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  6. Erin, those are Hungarian wax peppers, and I still haven't tried them. I found a recipe that uses cream cheese and Italian sausage for a stuffing, so I have to get my rear to the grocery store.

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  7. Time does fly when you're having fun with gardening and such. I can't believe you couldn't give away the tomatoes and zukes! Is everyone sick of them by now??? I woulda took the squash for sure. ;-)

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  8. Impressive! I don't see an end in sight, do you really?

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  9. Apple Pie Gal, yes, I do have an end in sight, as I have a departure date set for October 16th. The garden has to be cleaned out and cleaned up by then. Of course, there will be lettuce seeds packed to plant in AZ. I don't think my rabbit is planning on dying before I do ;-) He'll be 9 years old in October.

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  10. What a harvest year you have had, an amazing quantity of vegetables. Our local food bank takes fresh vegetables, maybe you have one near by that will take your leftovers? Can't believe you put them out for free and no one took them! Around here they would be gone in a heartbeat, wish I was close by!

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  11. Linda, my oldest daughter decided she had a use for the spare tomatoes and zukes, so they won't be going to waste. And I caved in and bought more canning jars today :-)

    There was an article in today's paper about all the garden produce that was being donated to the local food banks. It sounds like they are being overwhelmed by it all.

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  12. The squash look good. I have a few that have just started to bulk up. Hope they get growing because the clock is ticking.

    I pick most of my beans when the pods are dry. They go almost like a rattle. Some I will pick earlier though as long as the pod is feeling wrinkled and kind of papery. If yours have big bumps but are still fleshy feeling they will need another week or two.

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  13. Thanks, Dan, that's what I needed to know! I've always left mine on the vine until the pod turns brown and dry, but it seems like everyone else is getting dried beans already, and mine haven't even begun to shrivel up! I thought maybe I was doing it wrong :-)

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  14. I am so jealous that you are still harvesting cucumbers. Most of my plants are dead, except for 2 and they aren't producing much these days! I saw you posted a comment about a list you sent for garden sheds? Did you send me an email or was it on your blog? I think I missed this list. Could you resend? Thanks!!

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  15. Aw, granny, sorry to hear that your eggplant wasn't tasty. I wonder if there's a different recipe you could try that would be better, maybe something with a marinade to take out (or cover up) the bitter flavor?

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  16. Villager, I almost lost your comment!

    I would have gladly given you some zucchini. I think I'll try roasting the Juliets tomorrow, then turning them into sauce for the freezer.

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    Meems, I'll put the list in your comments. It's pretty long, though! Lots of reading ;-)

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    Thyme2, I'm just not even going to fool with them. I can do with zucchini anything I can do with eggplant. I've lived without them for 71 years, I can live without them for the remainder of my time, LOL! I just wonder how something so pretty can be so nasty!

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  17. I am still marveling that people turned away from free tomatoes! Zuchinni I can kind of understand - but tomatoes?! I ripped out the bush beans on Saturday while doing the last harvest from them. They were done for the year and it is time to start the fall tidy up and final fall plantings of cover crops etc.

    Little Alicyn is so sweet in that last picture!

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  18. Alicyn is getting so big!

    Too bad about the eggplant. I ripped out my original sowing of pole beans this weekend, the bugs had done quite a number on them. It is looking like cooler weather is coming around everywhere, though I have to say I am enjoying it so far.

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  19. Kitsap, Alicyn is growing so quickly! I just melt when she says "Bamba....MINE!"

    I'm Bamba ;-)

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    Kelly, I noticed my big zucchini is finally getting powdery mildew. I expected that much earlier, but it surprised me. The cooler weather must have brought it on, as the watering schedule hasn't changed and no rain. Oh well, I won't be sorry to see it go.

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  20. I was going to suggest the Japanese long skinny egg plant. I did great in a container with lots of fruit. When I transplanted it into the ground it still did great, despite the fact that I hardly watered it. And it only got about a foot tall and wide. But you're right...egg plant is naaasty. Pretty plant, though.

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  21. "The wind came up in the afternoon, and it was quite chilly by evening."
    Sure wish I could say that! The wind came up, alright, but it was because of the d&*n Tropical Storm, not any nice cool breezes...
    No real damage at our place, though there was some around. Have begun my "fall" garden, and am hoping for better luck this time around!

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  22. Cheryl, if it tastes nasty, it's going! No sense growing something if I don't love it. If Mr. Granny didn't love fried zucchini, I wouldn't grow that, either.

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    SB, it's turned more than chilly now. We're getting temps at least 15 degrees below normal. Our nights are dropping down into the 40s, where normal lows are around 55. Daytime is just as bad, 70 instead of the normal mid-80.

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  23. Everything looks so good and delicious!

    I just have a question though, on that next to the last photo, what is that little fenced structure thing?

    I'm just curious, I have never seen anything like that before.

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  24. ZZ, that is lattice that is lashed to electrical conduit supports. It's on the west side of the lettuce beds, to give some relief from our scorching afternoon sun. I have already removed one of them, the other one will be removed as soon as it stops raining ;-)

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  25. Oh, okay. Thank you.

    I thought it was a mini greenhouse.

    :P

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  26. ZZ, nope, that's inside the garden shed. When the lattice comes off the lettuce, the conduit will stay to support a sheet of plastic when it gets colder.

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