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The garden is nearing the end, with freezing temperatures almost every night this week. Surprisingly, all of the remaining plants are still alive, even though it has been as low as 28F. The Fortex beans are still producing, but this might be the last picking for the year. Strawberries are blossoming again, but too late to give me a decent crop. My peppers never did ripen, other than a few Happy Yummy Sweet early on. Even those refused to turn color for me later in the season.
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I didn't get a very large harvest of sweet potatoes from the two slips I planted. These, along with the two I dug earlier, weighed a total of 2.04 pounds. As I dug these out, I found the dirt in the container to be as hard packed as concrete, and very dry. I'll try again next year with a good potting mix, and put them in an area of the garden that gets more water.
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Just look at how big these late carrots are growing! These were planted after the onions and potatoes were dug, and they are much larger and nicer than the early carrots.
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With a hard freeze expected, I picked all of the remaining peppers, and all of the tomatoes that might have a chance of ripening. The green tomatoes in the basket were not included in the harvest weight. If and when they ripen, I will weigh and add them. I had enough peppers in the freezer already, so these (and the ones picked earlier in the week, about ten pounds total) were all given to our youngest son.
Harvest for the Week of 10/01 - 10/07
Beans, pole - 11.6 ounces
Carrots - 30.1 ounces (1.88 pounds)
Peppers, sweet - 153.1 ounces (9.57 pounds)
Peppers, hot - 9.2 ounces
Potatoes, sweet - 20.6 ounces (1.29 pounds
Squash, summer - 3.8 ounces
Strawberries - 4.4 ounces
Tomatoes - 141.4 ounces (8.84 pounds)
Total for the week: 23.39 pounds
Total year to date: 975.1 pounds
Those carrots are huge! You were able to get so much still for the time of year, congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Erin. Yes, the size of the carrots surprised me. It was a horrible year for carrots until those were pulled!
DeleteJust 25 more pounds. Do you have any more carrots out there? You might just make it.
ReplyDeleteMy fall carrots are doing so much better. I'm thinking I might have planted a week too late though. The row cover I'm using blocks the light just a bit so they are growing slower. One extra week during the high sun season probably would have been enough to get them to huge sizes. But they aren't bad.
Daphne, I still have more carrots from that planting, as well as a couple of rows of a later planting. There are also several slightly immature butternut squash left, that I'm going to bring in and "play" with. I'm thinking they are probably plenty ripe to use in pumpkin breads and cookies, and maybe even donuts and rolls. If they turn out to be edible, I'm quite sure I'll get over the 1000 mark.
DeletePop a ripe banana into the basket of unripe tomatoes, the gasses given off will ripen them really quickly, especially if you cover them.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I'd actually like them to ripen slowly. I have several that are ready or near ready to eat now, so I'm keeping these covered and in a cool closet for now.
DeleteThose carrots look awesome! My green tomatoes ripened but tasted very mealy. I will just give them to the hens, I think.
ReplyDeleteLangela, sometimes that happens. I think I left mine out in the cold too long, so they'll probably ripen mealy too.
DeleteAmazing how quickly the cold is coming in. We have not had a freeze yet, but the temps are certainly dropping. You have another beautiful harvest this week and those carrots are just unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteNutmeg, this morning I noticed plants in the center of the garden had frozen, but those next to the shed and fences are still OK. We're supposed to have daytime temps in the 70s for the next week, but nights in the low to mid 30s.
DeleteGreat carrots! and everything else! Peppers take FOREVER to change don't they! Uhg. Sorry! A lot of mine have ripened on the counter in just a couple of days though. That oughta be enough for the kids to eat them! Definitely will have to freeze some though.
ReplyDeleteShawn Ann, I probably should have kept a few of the color streaked peppers for myself, but my youngest son just loves them. He eats them raw, with dip, and I can't seem to ever give him enough! He did have to freeze some from this last batch though. Even he couldn't eat ten pounds of them.
DeleteBeautiful carrots. I am having a heck of a time getting my later peppers to ripen as well. The first round turned red for me but then went quiet for a long time before producing more fruits - which now are grown big but are refusing to color. I may have to harvest green peppers soon myself.
ReplyDeleteKitsap, that's how my peppers were this year. I usually get beautiful, huge red peppers, but this year a got a couple of streaked ones, then mine went quiet too. By the time they began fruiting again, it was too late for them to turn color. Also, some that were supposed to be red turned out to be yellow. I like the red ones!
DeleteYou are getting more harvest now than I usually get! lol I guess I should have picked more green tomatoes too! Nice harvest yet. Nancy
ReplyDeleteNancy, I found a couple more ripe tomatoes today. Maybe I picked them too soon, LOL! The weather man said we were going to get highs in the 70s this week, but I think it only made it to 65 today. Nights are low 30s though, so no good tomato weather.
DeleteFabulous harvest! All these green tomatoes make me want to cook up fried green tomatoes....
ReplyDeleteNartaya, I never did develop a taste for fried green tomatoes. I just keep my fingers crossed that they will ripen. We didn't get very many nice big tomatoes this year.
DeleteAnother lovely Harvest! The sweet potatoes are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks, David. The few sweets that formed are nice, it's too bad there weren't more. Maybe next year. I think the first one I dug has cured long enough that I can bake it and enjoy it this week. Mr. Granny doesn't like them, so they are all mine :-D
Deletelovely harvest! I really need to catch up with my harvests before it snows..lol
ReplyDeleteMrs. P., don't say that four letter word! S-N-O-W
DeleteNice Carrots! Im happy and impressed to see your 2012 yearly yield. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope to get a few pounds myself in 2013 between starting late, finding the acre, and busy building the tiny house, AND garden grounds.
:)
Oh my...sweet potatoes and carrots are two of my absolute favorites! Great haul!
ReplyDeleteBee Girl, I'm happy to finally be getting nice carrots. This has been my most problematic year for them. Not so sure whether I'll grow the sweet potatoes again, as Mr. Granny won't eat them. I'll probably just buy myself a half dozen or so through the year.
DeleteGreat harvest! I've never tried sweet potatoes, maybe next year. How much ahead do you start sprouting the potatoes?
ReplyDeleteDan, this was my first year, and I didn't start them soon enough, they took longer than I thought they would. I think probably early to mid March would probably be fine.
DeleteI'll have to give some a try in March then, thanks.
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