July 15, 2013 - Harvest Monday

 The Velour bush beans were ready for their first picking, so I had both green and purple beans this week.  I'm trying to only dig Red Norland potatoes as we use them, but they are getting quite large so I may have to go ahead and dig the rest of them next week.  At least one plant of the Grand Bell Mix sweet peppers turned out to be a beautiful purple variety.  I also harvested two Quadrato Rosso D'Asti red peppers, a Happy Yummy Sweet (orange) and several green peppers that were suffering from sun scald.  The carrots are still small, but Annie and Otto have begun to expect them for an evening snack.  Luckily a later planting looks to be shaping up nicely, so Mr. Granny and I might get our carrots yet!  Cucumbers, zucchini and crookneck squash are coming on fast.

 The sweet peppers were so pretty, they got their own close-up photo.  Some of them ended up being tossed with a bit of olive oil and cooked on the grill, with sweet onions, zucchini slices and pineapple, and served with teriyaki grilled pork tenderloin and chicken breast.

 A basket of crisp Anuenue lettuce was a welcome addition to our salads this week.  The Fortex beans are slowly yielding, I hope I have better luck with the later planting.  These were from the vines that were ravaged by earwigs, and they never fully recovered.  I'm still getting a few broccoli side shoots from the early broccoli plants.  My experiment with planting potatoes in chopped leaves didn't turn out too well.  I got four potatoes from an entire barrel (3 or four seeds).

 I don't know how many more strawberry shortcakes my body can stand, LOL!  This week I've been eating the berries for breakfast, with vanilla yogurt.

I dug the rest of the "Yukon Gold potatoes that were not" (mislabeled, probably Russets).  The yield wasn't very good, whatever they were.  I got a lot more from the one row of true Yukon Gold seed potatoes than from a double row of this variety.  We're getting just enough tomatoes for fresh eating now, but certainly not a surplus.  The Sungolds are very flavorful, the others are still a bit mealy and bland, but getting better.  Strawberries were picked six of the seven days this week!  I only missed Tuesday, because I was away from home that day.

 The first crop of bush beans was pretty much kaput, so I pulled them to make more room for the ever expanding squash plants.  Then I decided instead to plant that bed with some leftover early corn seeds, just to see how they do when planted mid-July.  If they grow and produce, fine.  If not, I hadn't planned on using that seed next year anyway.  I pulled these test carrots from the bed that looks to be doing well, and I was pleased to see they are growing straight, with no sign of root knot nematodes.  I think I'm finding the zucchinis before they get too big (like the one last week), but I suppose there are one or two hiding under all that foliage, and they'll just jump out and surprise me someday soon.  Like that one big cucumber in the photo.  I swear, I just checked the vines the previous day, and that thing wasn't there!

 The corn ears of this early variety are so small!  I had to pull a few more carrots from some that were planted (and hiding) under the tomatoes.  Too bad I can't just leave them alone until they are more mature, but I'm impatient.  I should rename my blog "The Impatient Gardener".  Oh heck, that name is already taken!  Two tomatoes and another sweet pepper were promptly eaten for dinner, and I ate the ear of corn as a snack.  Mr. Granny got his share on Sunday.

My all time highest year for strawberries was 24.56 pounds in 2009.  I almost equaled that already this week, with a total for the year so far of 24.54 pounds!  I'm just .02 lb. short of the record, with at least three more months of picking ahead!

We ate well Sunday night, consuming all of the corn, both crookneck squash, and all of the tomatoes.  Everything else got put in the refrigerator....which is packed full of uneaten zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce and beans.  I'll have to eat the broccoli, as Mr. Granny says he'll pass.  This head of broccoli is the first harvest from my second planting.  It's not very large, but with temperatures in the high 90s I was afraid it was going to burst into flower, so I went ahead and cut it.  More strawberries were picked, but not photographed.  They all look alike.  

This Week's Harvest

Beans (bush): 34.4 ounces
Beans (pole): 10.4 ounces
Broccoli: 8.2 ounces
Carrots: 6.1 ounces
Corn: 19.2 ounces
Cucumbers: 95.7 ounces 
Peppers (hot) 5.7 ounces
Peppers (sweet): 32.1 ounces
Potatoes: 213.3 ounces
Squash (summer): 121.1 ounces
Strawberries: 90.4 ounces 
Tomatoes: 37.7 ounces

Total for week: 674.3 ounces (42 pounds)
Total to date: 210 pounds

 Too many cucumber too eat fresh, so 2 quarts of refrigerator dills were made with garden fresh onions, garlic, and dill weed.  The dill seeds are from the 2012 harvest.  I also made two half-pints of Cowboy Candy (hot peppers in a vinegar-sugar syrup) that I'm keeping in the refrigerator rather than canning.  I've never eaten them before, so it's just a test to see if we like them.  You couldn't tell I've given up eating so much white sugar, as the syrup on these two tiny jars consists of 1/2 cup of vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of sugar!  That's a lot of the sweet stuff.

The first ear of corn.  This early variety won't be in next year's garden, as the ears are too small.  That's a salad plate, not a dinner plate.  

Now, if you'll please excuse me......

I'm going to enjoy the fruits of my labors!


Thanks to Daphne's Dandelions for hosting Harvest Monday.

32 comments:

  1. Can I have some of that strawberry shortcake, please?? And the peppers are pretty! Are the purple ones fully ripened?

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    1. Sure, I'll send some right over. Oh, wait....we ate it all!

      I think they are fully ripe. The only other purple ones I ever grew started out purple, not green, and just got really dark purple when ripe. I hadn't even noticed these two beauties, so they must have begun life as green peppers. The small plant was quite stressed with three peppers on it, so I relieved it of two of them. We'll see if the remaining one darkens in color. This unrelenting hot sun has taken a toll on some of the peppers, but most of them are finally getting more leaf cover for protection.

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    2. Oh, and I used a flash on the closeup to show more definition between the colors. You'll notice the purple ones are darker in the first photo. It was the flash that made them appear lighter.

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  2. It's amazing your peppers are ripe already, they look big and gorgeous! And you are still getting lots of strawberries!

    I'm thinking about picking the Sweet Banana Peppers because the plants look so stressed by all the weight.

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    1. Phuong, the strawberries will slow down for a bit now, but I expect (hope) to get at least a couple more pounds from them.

      Odd how some of my pepper plants are so small and stressed, while the others, of the same variety, are getting huge and robust. Luckily, most of them are growing very well.

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  3. Feeding carrots to the dogs? OMG. I am DYING for a carrot, and SHE is able to feed them to the dogs. Life.... So cruel.....................
    LOL! Oh, just giving you flack!
    Your babies deserve the best. You're a wonderful person.
    But gosh, I still need fresh carrots!

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    1. Hey, my babies deserve the best, Sue! I'd give your....er, my life for those puppies! But I'll tell ya what. Tonight they get a dog biscuit, and I will eat the carrots! I'll even eat one or two for you, 'cause that's what cyber buddies do.

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  4. Those peppers are so pretty! Such a variety of colors. I can't believe how many strawberries you got in one week! I may need to visit.

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    1. You'd better hurry, Langela. The daily pickings are getting smaller and smaller. Ooops! Too late, we ate 'em all!

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  5. It all looks wonderful! I was just going to say that I would be right over to share in the last picture, but alas, you say it's too late! Much as I love strawberry shortcake, I am "settling" for blackberry right now.

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    1. Hey Ray, I'd have saved you some but Mr. Granny ate them all! Oh, how I miss the blackberries. We used to go down the Washington side of the Columbia to pick them, but haven't done that for many years. I always loved the blackberry syrup I made from those big wild berries!

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    2. We used to love to harvest wild blackberries near the ferry on the Willamette River north of Salem, Oregon. They were great.

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    3. We would also camp at Kalama, WA and pick blackberries along the banks of the Kalama River. When we lived in Lewiston, Idaho we'd go up the Clearwater River and pick berries near Spaulding. Our best, though, was when our son lived in Seattle, and he'd walk across the street from his house, pick the berries, then bring them to me! That was a lot less work.

      I think there are blackberries along the railroad tracks just off of SR 240 in Kennewick, but there's no way I'd ever try to access them, LOL!

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  6. Your peppers are gorgeous and those strawberries look delicious!

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  7. Why do you think it's such a bumper crop year of strawberries? The last two years my strawberries have been absolutely terrible!

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    1. Shannan, I think because they started ripening almost a full month earlier this year. In 2010 and 2012 I harvested around 18 pounds, last year it was 23 pounds, so this isn't a LOT more, but every extra pound of strawberries is a precious harvest!

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  8. What a beautiful and varied harvest again! I'll bet you break your strawberry record this year. What variety do you grow, that bear so long? My husband planted ours years ago and they are far from the tastiest variety, really not all that sweet, so I'm thinking of stealthily buying some new plants and replacing them. In time!

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    1. Nutmeg, these are Tristar, a day neutral everbearing variety. They aren't perfect, I get a lot of small berries, but they are quite productive and tasty. I've often thought about switching to a June bearing so I can harvest them all at once and get it over with, then I think about these fresh berries all summer, even if there are only a few harvested at a time.

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  9. Your harvest pictures are always so pretty and you make me want to eat at your house! Coco loves her carrots too plus most of the other veggies. Do your furbabies like all the veggies? Are directions for your refrigerator dills here somewhere? I need exact directions to make something. I can't taste and adjust! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, Annie and Otto like green beans, raw or cooked, and cooked butternut squash. They turn their noses up at summer squash/zucchini. Raw carrots make Otto sick, so I don't let him have them often. Annie gets hers and Otto gets a dog biscuit!

      I use Kitsap's recipe for the refrigerator dills, I'll email you.

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  10. Wow Granny....look at all that!!! I can't believe the harvests you are getting! I just picked my first Cherokee Purple...Yippeee!!! Guess what's for dinner???

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    1. Robin, I pigged out on Sungolds and Black Cherry tomatoes last night. A whole bowl full! Now I'm in the middle of trying to use up the zucchini, so I'm canning Mock Pineapple. It tastes more like pears than pineapple to me, but it's good! I'm having a garden veggie stew with beef tonight. More veggies than beef :-)

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  11. Wow, another great harvest. You are at least a month a head of me. I should have the first cucumbers and tomatoes in another couple of weeks. Right now our mouths are just watering waiting for the harvest to begin in earnest!

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    1. Stoney, I'm sure you aren't far behind in your "borrowed" garden! I expect you'll be passing me up in pounds yielded before the season is over, then you'll go right into winter growing while I relax in the recliner in front of the fireplace!

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  12. As usual, everything looks spectacular. A girl can dream. . . What does it feel like to be someone's hero?

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    1. Stefaneener, it feels like my head is getting so big it might explode :-D

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  13. You are jealous of my tomato and I am jealous of your peppers. We are even ;D

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    1. LOL, Shawn Ann, I got a good tasting tomato today! It was delightful mmmmm.

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  14. such a gorgeous colourful collection

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