September 24, 2012 - Harvest Monday

Due to my spending two days in bed with the flu this week, the harvest was rather limited, but thanks to five more butternut squash, the total weight was pretty high.  


Tomatoes, pole beans, a few sweet peppers and a cucumber.  The cucumber vine looks horrid, but it continues to fruit so it stays.


I pulled the last of the beets, just over 4 1/2 pounds after they were cleaned.  Tops are not eaten, so were not counted in the weight.  I pulled some of the newer carrots, which are the loveliest of the year and nice and sweet.  Three cucumbers from the half dead vines, a few pole beans, tomatoes and....my very first sweet potato!  I was digging around with my hands, and it was right at the surface, so I pulled it out.  A perfect size at just over 8 ounces.  I have it curing in the warmest, darkest place I could find, next to the water heater.  I put it in a plastic bag, slightly opened, to keep the humidity in.  I hope it works!


More broccoli!  I did cut back two of the four trees plants, as they were keeping the sprinkler from hitting too much of the garden....and Mr. Granny is refusing to eat one more bite of broccoli!  This was all given to our youngest son.  I also pulled the last crookneck squash plant and cut back quite a few butternut squash vines.  All but the last planting of pole beans were removed.  The garden still looks full!  I'm finally getting a few larger tomatoes, but many of them have been squirrel bitten or are cracking open.  The best have been from the volunteer Cherokee Purple plant.


Four for the day, making five for the week and 46 butternuts picked so far this year.  Yes, there are still a few more out in the garden that should ripen before frost.




Harvest for the Week of  9/17 - 9/23

Beans, pole - 27.4 ounces  (1.71 pounds)
Beets - 73.7 ounces (4.61 pounds)
Broccoli - 8.3 ounces
Carrots - 11.8 ounces
Cucumbers - 27.4 ounces  (1.71 pounds)
Peppers, sweet - 17.6  ounces (1.1 pounds)
Peppers, hot - 0.5 ounce
Potatoes, sweet - 8.3 ounces 
Squash, summer - 25.9 ounces  (1.62 pounds)
Squash, winter - 328.3 ounces  (20.52 pounds)
Tomatoes - 236.8 ounces  (14.8 pounds)

Total for the week:  47.88 pounds
Total year to date:  867.35 pounds

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!

46 comments:

  1. I love looking at these posts each week. I'm pretty jealous of all of the squash that you have!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Megan. I think I'm going to have to start sharing the squash!

      Delete
  2. You sure are hauling in the produce Granny! I'm not going to have any fall crops since I have had all kinds of issues with the broccoli & cauliflower and never got around to planting carrots. If I don't get my rear in gear, we won't have winter veggies either!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't feel bad, Robin. I'm still procrastinating on planting the spinach. With luck, I might get the garlic in next month!

      Delete
  3. Gorgeous harvests Granny. So sorry you had the flu. I've got to go get my shot. I've got asthma so I'm supposed to get it every year. Before I got asthma I got it when the kids were young so I wouldn't get sick with they did. But now that they are grown, by docs tell me to get it anyway.

    And what is in the glass jars in the back of your photos?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daphne, I always get a flu shot, but I was waiting until next month. In the meantime, two of my kids got sick and came to visit. I wasn't all that sick, just a couple of days of feeling achy and feverish. Heck, it might have just been because I was exhausted from all the house painting! It did feel good to spend a couple of days in bed.

      I store my dried noodles in those big glass jars. Son John gets them, filled with mixed nuts, as a gift from his boss every year. I talked him out of three, and wish I had one more to use as a candy jar!

      Delete
    2. I should add, the jars hold regular egg noodles, spinach fettuccine and garlic fettuccine. All store bought. I use the egg noodles, but Mr.
      Granny didn't especially like the others so they're more for *decoration*. The colors go well with the kitchen :-)

      Delete
    3. They are very pretty jars. I store my beans in glass jars, but never thought to store pasta that way.

      Delete
  4. Sorry.... I couldn't see any "limited harvests this week"! Boy, your garden is still producing! Ours just got the first frost of the season early this morning(: 46 butternut squashes!!! We had less than 10 and I still have one whole in the basement, it is going strong:) Family cares less about those squashes(:

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, Random, I guess I should have said "limited trips to the garden". I only went out three times during the entire week. We love butternuts, and I think I have convinced Mr. Granny that squash pie tastes identical to pumpkin pie (I've been pounding that into his head for the past year, ever since he refused to eat the one I baked last year). It looks like I'll probably end up with 50 by the time we get a freeze. They're still growing like crazy out there, lots of green ones that won't have time to ripen.

      Delete
  5. It looks great! I hope you're feeling much better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stefaneener, I have to feel better, so Tylenol is my friend. The window installers will be here in the morning, so I had to take down all the curtains, drapes and blinds and wipe down the windowsills. Since I had everything down, I washed, dried and folded all the curtains, fluffed the dust out of the drapes, and scrubbed all the miniblinds. Heck, that's half of my fall cleaning done today :-D

      Delete
  6. I can't believe you got sick with all that great food going into your body. Hope you get get better soon! Even sick you harvest more than a lot of people I know when they are healthy! Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1st. Man, that's what getting old does to you. We seem susceptible to every germ that walks through the door! At least when we get sick, it usually doesn't last too long.

      Delete
  7. Great harvest, as usual! I'm sorry to hear that you had the flu, I'm glad you are feeling better. No fall garden for me, I'm going to spend the fall improving the soil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed, I might get the spinach planted, and I might get the garlic in. I might not. I'm getting rather weary of the garden, and it's still not ready to give up the ghost :-)

      Delete
  8. I hope you're feeling better this morning, Granny. Maybe this means you'll have the flu out of the way for the winter and have a healthy one. I'm so excited for you getting your windows started today! Have a good one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm feeling just fine now, Langela. Unfortunately, the window installers arrived this morning and brought all brand new white windows and doors with them. Unfortunately, I had ordered almond, not white. Luckily, I noticed just as they were preparing to remove the first large front window. They checked, and whoever had placed the order to the factory wrote down the wrong color (all the original pages had *almond* on them). I'm glad I caught it before they were installed! They have put in a rush order for the correct ones.

      Delete
    2. Oh no! At least you caught it before any windows were removed.

      Delete
  9. What a lovely (and delicious looking) harvest! Our cucumber vines also look nasty, but they continue to produce well, so they'll stay a bit longer. I cleared three beds to plant fall crops, and the remaining three beds in the large kitchen garden are filled with peppers, herbs, cucumbers and watermelon--but they also need to be cleared soon, because the garlic needs a home. I haven't begun to tackle the potager yet. Hope you are feeling much better--quite an impressive harvest for being under the weather!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Julie, our weather has been perfect for growing recently. As soon as I cut back the vines, they put out all kinds of new, lush growth! It's a jungle out there, and I'm almost wishing for a freeze to help me out. Almost. I do hope I get more ripe tomatoes and peppers before it freezes.

      Delete
  10. So sorry you had the flu and I hope you are feeling better. Your harvests were still abundant this week. Funny that Mr. Granny won't eat any more broccoli. I am sure your children will gladly take it off your hands.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel, Mr. Granny has never liked broccoli. I make him eat it ;-)

      Love your new profile photo.....you're a real person!

      Delete
  11. I'm sorry you've been sick and hoping you are on the mend! Despite illness, a terrific harvest as usual! All that squash and broccoli, I love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nutmeg, I'm back to my grumpy old self today. I needed the rest.

      Delete
  12. wow great harvest that is a lot of butternuts!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice Harvest and good to have you back...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, I told you I'd be back for Monday! It was sweet of you to worry about me.

      Delete
  14. I was wondering if you were ok or on vacation! Glad to hear you are better. Great harvest as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am sorry you had to get the flu. Hope your much better. Those are sure lovely carrots and I wish I could grow butternut squash like that! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm feeling much, much better Nancy, thank you! I was happy that my oldest boy was here tonight and took home two of the butternuts. I think that's six given away or eaten so far, so we're doing pretty good with them!

      Delete
  16. Mr Granny is refusing to eat fresh garden broccoli?! What is wrong with that man? LOL! I am at that point with the summer squash, so I guess I can kind of relate.

    My cucumber vines look miserable too but are also still flowering and producing fruit so I have not ripped them out (yet).

    Gorgeous harvest this week. Love the butternuts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kitsap, sorry I missed answering your comment....you got lost in here!

      Mr. Granny hates broccoli. I've always had to force him to eat it, and most of this year's excellent harvest has gone to one of the sons. I did get some in the freezer for my stir fries though.

      I gave in and pulled the cucumbers yesterday, along with all the winter squash vines. It's getting close to time for a frost, so I wanted to get the garden cleanup started. There were still quite a few immature butternuts, but enough is enough! If we had a longer growing season, those butternuts would never give up. I'm sure there were easily 100 of them (from babies to mature) this year, and they were still blossoming like mad! I need to taste test one that was not quite fully mature. There are about six of those out there, and I doubt they will ripen off the vines. If the flavor is OK, we can go ahead and eat them first or get them in the freezer.

      Delete
  17. One more thing! I forgot to say that I am sorry you were not well last week. I had the crud too and it was miserable. Here's hoping both of us feel much better and don't have to deal with that again for a very long time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kitsap, luckily it was a 2 day virus! I'm more concerned about my ankle. I suspect a hairline fracture, but refuse to go to the Dr. until the garden is finished and the new windows are in. I can't be off my feet until then!

      Delete
  18. Hello,
    I've been reading your blog all summer and am seriously impressed with your harvest totals! Congratulations on your beautiful and fruitful garden!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Annie, We enjoyed our few potatoes so much this year I would like to try a few next year. Thinking about a 4 ft by 4 ft raised garden bed. Mel Bartholomew says in his "All New Square Foot Gardening" book to plant 4 per square. I wonder if he means four potato eyes to a 4 ft by 4 ft bed. One per 12 inch square seems too crowded to me but would like more than 4 planted in the 4x4 raised bed. How many would you plant? Thanks. Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nancy, I would plant one per square foot. I plant mine at about 10" apart in rows that are 12" apart. When I planted them in a 4'x4' raised bed, I still planted them at about 10" apart in all directions, in a hex pattern (like 5 in the first row, 4 in the next row, 5 in the next row, 4 in the next). I think Mel is saying to plant four in each square foot, but that is way, way too close. Those plants get really big, and they need room to spread. I think such close planting would really cut down on the yield and just beg for diseases to attack. it's difficult to hill the potatoes in a square foot garden, so I would suggest you plant the seed potatoes about 9-10" deep. It will take them a month or so to break the surface, but you won't have to do any hilling.

      Delete
    2. THANKS! I thought Mel Bartholomews instructions sounded awfully crowded. Trying to plan ahead and be organized for next year since I can't do much else right now. Nancy

      Delete
  20. Still some great looking harvests! I hope you are on the mend now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Erin, no more aches and fever. Well, no more fever....the aches come naturally with age!

      Delete
  21. Hey I just tried to post a big comment and the stupid website went beserk and didn't let me (battling inner anger towards it right now) but make the long short. It's my first time here and I want to tell you you've got a beautiful garden! :))))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Dana. Yes, Blogger can certainly be cantankerous at times.

      Delete