It was another disappointing harvest week, when compared to previous years. Pole beans, carrots and lettuce were the stars of the garden. Tomatoes increased to double digit harvests, but are still lagging way behind. The Cherokee Purple produced the most this week, but the Bloody Butchers decided to take a bit of a rest. The volunteer Minigold is producing the most cherry tomatoes, and the Sunsugar is close behind. I'm still picking strawberries daily, and although the amounts aren't huge, it has been enough for fresh eating and ten half-pints of freezer jam.
The sweet peppers are finally growing well, and I was hungry for one on Sunday, so I picked a green Red Marconi. I shouldn't have. It was way under ripe, and not very good.
I continue to pick and dry the basils and the oregano, but I really have more than I'll ever use. I may just keep them for their beauty, and let them blossom and go to seed. The bees will like that.
Beans, bush - 6 oz.
Beans, pole - 3.88 lb. (Fortex)
Broccoli - a few side shoots, did not weigh
Carrots - 1.69 lb. (I'm finally getting lovely carrots)
Herbs - 5 ounces (oregano and basil)
Lettuce - 1.5 lb.
Peppers, sweet - 3 ounces
Strawberries - 2.44 lb.
Tomatoes - 12.44 lb.
Total harvest for the week: - 22.81 pounds
Total harvest for the year to date: - 251.3 pounds
Please join in the Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions!
Beans, pole - 3.88 lb. (Fortex)
Broccoli - a few side shoots, did not weigh
Carrots - 1.69 lb. (I'm finally getting lovely carrots)
Herbs - 5 ounces (oregano and basil)
Lettuce - 1.5 lb.
Peppers, sweet - 3 ounces
Strawberries - 2.44 lb.
Tomatoes - 12.44 lb.
Total harvest for the week: - 22.81 pounds
Total harvest for the year to date: - 251.3 pounds
Please join in the Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions!
I've been following your blog for awhile. I live in Issaquah, Wa and am having fun watching what u are growing. I was thinking that you could take some of the extra basil and anything else extra to the local food bank. I'm sure someone would LOVE to have fresh basil while in tough times!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog and I enjoy reading it very much!
Amy
I'm always so envious of your beautiful photos. I NEVER remember to take pictures of the harvest. I'm running around like a crazy person trying to do a million things in a day. I often regret not having a more accurate record of my harvests. I'm left with the feeling my garden doesn't produce anything. My freezer would tell you different, but still.......
ReplyDeleteI know you don't feel as if the garden is doing all that great, but really-your harvests look great!
My crops this year are half what they normally are except my peppers and chillies, I have so many of the latter....... Diane
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that at a 22 lb week is disappointing for you. You sure out produce us all.:) The harvest photos look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Lettuce, I think that your harvests look pretty darn good! Please note that your harvests will improve and last way in to the fall. Then you can't go to Arizona!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that it was a disappointing week for you :( It still does look like a good harvest! The strawberries and the carrots look amazing.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest Grannie! I am in the same boat with the herbs!!
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest, Gran! Your carrots look perfect as usual. I planted my fall carrots a couple of weeks ago using your seed mat technique and it worked like a charm again. It's by far the best way to plant carrots in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThat may be under your radar, but it sure beats the heck out of my harvest! LOL. Looks wonderful Granny.
ReplyDeleteWhen you eat all the food from those freezers and jars, I might feel some empathy, I didn't get one carrot , the slugs ate pretty good.I could use more Basil, now that I'm mixing and cube freezing.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, fleur. In the past I have donated a lot of my excess vegetables to those needier than I. I never thought to include herbs, as they're so delicate. I'm not sure they would survive without special handling. Do you think a food bank would bother to keep them hydrated?
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Sue, my complaint about the small harvest is more that I can't get enough to bother canning. It's more than enough for us to eat, and I'm very pleased with the green bean production, but I'm resorting to tossing whole tomatoes in the freezer to get enough to make at least a few jars of diced tomatoes for winter. Also, it hurts when I don't even have a single zucchini for us, let alone boxes of extras to throw at passing cars ;-)
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Diane, I don't even have the peppers! They're coming on, they just have to ripen. Of course, after finding several packages of frozen peppers hiding in the freezer when I cleaned it out, I'm not quite so upset about these being late.
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Mrs. Tomato, Mr. Lettuce will make me go to AZ if the garden is producing or not. Last year I had to leave before the morning glories on the back fence blossomed. My neighbor said they were beautiful :-(
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Ben, I was especially happy to get some nice carrots. The early planted ones were stubby and hairy and forked, these later ones are nearly perfect. The flavor is wonderful, too. Strawberries are always welcome!
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Allison, at least we have something growing and producing! I quit picking the parsley after I'd filled two pint jars, dried.
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Thomas, I agree. I hate thinning carrots. I had a couple of spots where mine didn't germinate, so I reseeded them by hand. I just thinned them yesterday, and it was such a waste of perfect, tiny carrots.
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Barbie, I really can only protest my harvest as compared to the past two years. I'm sure I'd be perfectly happy with it if I had nothing with which to compare. I set my goals high, and I'm not even close!
Ginny, I'm loving those carrots. I'm about ready for a big pot of stew!
ReplyDeleteEmil, thank you. It's only disappointing in comparison. I usually average around 6 pounds a day this time of year, and I'm getting about half that this year.
ReplyDeleteSeems like this year has been tough for the zucchini. I have had quite a few people willing to trade me for them or pay for them. I have never grown them before, so maybe a normal year my 20+ plants would have overwhelmed me, but this year the numbers have been just what I was hoping for.
ReplyDeleteYour harvests always look so pretty, all washed up and in baskets or bowls.
Lovely Pictures as always. Its likely a good thing this weeks harvest was small....cause you don't have any room left in the freezer!
ReplyDeleteOh, my, Langela....20 zucchini plants! Last year I got nearly 58 pounds from one plant! At that rate, you could have ended up with 1160 pounds of zucchini! I must admit, I've never had that large a yield from one plant in any other year.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I'm sorry I lost my "Y" and called you Emil ;-)
ReplyDeleteMrs. Pickles, I don't have freezer room, but I have canning jars just screaming to be filed with diced tomatoes! I'm having to freeze the tomatoes whole, just to save up enough for a bit of sauce.
ReplyDeleteYou have good looking harvests to me, even if you aren't getting as much as usual. Everything looks great.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kris. I might not be getting a lot, but it all tastes good!
ReplyDeleteoh, your harvest looks good as usual granny! I mean, look at those strawberries! Yummy! I am lucky to get 1 or two! None right now! Besides, you are always buried in something!
ReplyDeleteI too have way more basil than I will ever use, yet I keep harvesting it! ha ha!
Shawn Ann, can you imaging how much basil I'd have if I hadn't ripped out two 8'rows? I'm getting more than I need from two small pots!
ReplyDelete10 and 1/2 pints is a very nice haul. We haven't gotten strawberries since the middle of June. Now all we have is a giant bed of weeds. I feel like mowing it...
ReplyDeleteJody, that was 10 half-pints (5 pints) of jam. Although I'm quite sure there will be more ;-) This variety will give me small harvests all summer until they suffer a hard freeze. I just mash them up and keep them in a container in the freezer until there are enough for a batch of jam. I have a plastic container marked with a Sharpie pen, so I can tell when I have enough.
ReplyDeleteA dissappointing week for you is a great one for the rest of us! It really has been a strange weather year but you really are managing to pull off very good harvests in spite of that. I am like you in that I honestly don't need gobs of fresh herbs. A little bit provides most of what I need but the plants always overproduce beyond that.
ReplyDeleteKitsap, I'm seeing baby zucchini and crookneck squash blossoms. At least four butternuts have been pollinated and are putting on some size, I haven't waded through the jungle to look for others. The beans are in a lull, but lots of blossoms so there are harvests to come. I think the tomatoes and peppers will be the only real disappointments.
ReplyDeleteYou call a 22 lb harvest disappointing? Tsk, tsk. But, yes, compared to your half-ton harvests of previous years, I can see that. However, I find your garden's productivity awe-inspiring. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteLou Murray, I know my expectations are too high. I've just never had such a disappointing garden. Ever!
ReplyDeleteIt has been such a hard year for those in the NW. I'd have given you some of my tomatoes to can if you had shown up for your flight. I was waiting at the airport for you but you never showed up. So we ate dinner without you.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, ^$*#!@% it anyway. I'm always a day late and a dollar short. ;-)
ReplyDeleteUmm.. I'd be lucky to have your disappointment harvest than mine. I'm only harvesting a handful of things right now. Nothing substantial.
ReplyDeleteMeems, I'm not getting much this week. My beans are on vacation, so a few carrots and some strawberries, with the occasional tomatoes....that's all.
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