Annie's Kitchen Garden: July 2012

July 31, 2012 - What Are The Chances?

What are the chances this entire carrot root would come out without breaking off?

You might have to click on the photo to see just how long it is, but the entire carrot, with root, measured just over 23".

How perfect is this, my very first sweet potato?

OK, so it's a bit small. It was hanging off the roots of a slip I had growing in a pot for decorative, not gardening purposes. I hope the ones I'm growing in the garden are as perfect, but much, much larger!

July 30, 2012 - Harvest Monday

7/23 - I pulled the first of the storage onions. These were the ones I grew from seed and didn't think were going to survive. They aren't terribly large, but much better than I expected them to be. Only two, which were going to seed, were brought in and weighed, the others are drying. I also picked a Honey Bear acorn squash. It was yellow on the bottom, and the rind was so hard I couldn't puncture it with my thumbnail, indicating it was ripe. It wasn't. It was edible, I baked it and ate it for lunch, but it tasted more like a potato than a squash. While prepping a garden bed, I speared a potato that had been missed in last week's big dig. I'm still pulling small carrots, and have found one bed to be infected with nematodes. So far I'm getting straight carrots from the other plantings. I'm finding quite a few Victor and Bloody Butcher tomatoes, as well as more Fortex pole beans.

7/24 - A couple of the larger tomatoes, along with Black Cherry, Isis Candy and Una Heartsock cherry tomatoes, join 3 yellow crookneck squash and a lone cucumber.

7/25 - I had the Black Cherry tomatoes and a Jalapeno pepper chopped and chilling for dinner when I remembered I hadn't photographed the day's harvest. I also picked a few broccoli side shoots, more tomatoes, a zucchini and a good sized bowl of strawberries.

7/26 - A morning trip to the garden for carrots and pole beans, then an afternoon harvest of more carrots, more beans, cucumbers, broccoli and tomatoes.

7/27 - My first corn harvest, and was it ever good! Tomatoes, a green bell pepper and strawberries were also picked.

7/28 - The first fall beets were pulled for dinner. They are still tiny, but I was craving pan roasted beets. Some large broccoli side shoots were found, and joined those picked earlier in the week for another dinner vegetable. The second planting of bush beans has begun to mature, and about five different varieties of tomatoes were picked.

7/29 - Six ears of corn were picked, and four of them were promptly consumed by two people! Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and crookneck squash completed the day's harvest.

Harvest for the week of 7/23 through 7/29

Beans, bush - 6.5 ounces

Beans, pole - 17.6 ounces (1.1 pounds)

Beets - 7.7 ounces

Broccoli - 4.4 ounces

Carrots - 21.1 ounces (1.32 pounds)

Corn - 51.8 ounces (3.24 pounds)

Cucumbers - 37.5 ounces (2.34 pounds)

Onions - 9 ounces

Peppers, sweet - 3.9 ounces

Peppers, hot - 1.1 ounces

Potatoes - 6.4 ounces

Squash, summer - 52.3 ounces (3.27 pounds)

Squash, winter - 25.7 ounces (1.61 pounds)

Strawberries - 28.3 ounces (1.77 pounds)

Tomatoes - 175.1 ounces (10.94 pounds)

Week's total - 28.03 pounds

Year to date total - 356.38 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!

July 27, 2012 - Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

And I am the beholder of these beauties!

Gorgeous Salmon Sunset Four O'Clock, seeds from Ed

Gorgeous ear of Honey Select corn from Granny's garden, one of two we had for dinner tonight. The first of the season, so sweet and delicious!

July 25, 2012 - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzucchini! I'm almost ready to begin tossing them at passing cars, but in the meantime I'm making everything zucchini I can! In the past two days I've made:

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

Fried Zucchini

Zucchini Sweet Relish, Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Granola Cookies and Zucchini Puffs

For those who always ask what I do with the excess garden harvest.....I have children! The youngest son was here while I was baking the bread and frying the puffs. He went home with a gallon bag of baby yellow crookneck squash, two loaves of warm zucchini-cranberry bread, a dozen zucchini puffs, two jars of zucchini relish and the entire bag of zucchini cookies (we didn't like those at all!).

We all loved the Zucchini Puffs! I'll give you a "kind of" recipe. I say "kind of", because I was making it up to try to use the cup of grated zucchini I had left over after making the bread. I remember everything I put in it, except for the amount of flour! I was talking to my son as I mixed it up, and it was too thin. I can't remember if I put in another 1/4 cup of flour or 1/2 cup! The batter should be just thick enough to mound up on a spoon and start running off the side a bit, but not as thick as a cookie dough. I think I added 1/2 cup. I do know I'll make these again. They are really sweet, so if you don't want to go on a sugar high, you could leave off the dusting of cinnamon sugar and serve them plain. I think they'd also be good for breakfast, drizzled with a bit of maple syrup instead of the cinnamon-sugar.

Granny's Zucchini Puffs

Beat together in mixing bowl:

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. melted butter

In a separate bowl combine:

1-1/4 or 1-1/2 cups flour (I'll correct this the next time I make them)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until smooth, do not over beat.

Stir in:

1 cup shredded zucchini

Heat 1" oil in electric fry pan (or deep fryer) to 375F. Drop batter by heaping teaspoons into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, then flip and fry the other side.

Drain on paper towels. While still warm, shake them in a bag of cinnamon-sugar. Best when eaten warm!

July 23, 2012 - Harvest Monday

7/16 Potatoes and cucumbers

7/16 Strawberries

7/16 Fortex pole beans and yellow crookneck squash

7/17 Zucchini, crookneck squash, tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes

The 2012 potato harvest was one of my best. Many potatoes were in the 12-14 ounce size range

7/18 Crookneck squash, zucchini, tomatoes, pole beans, broccoli, carrots, strawberries and cucumbers

7/19 The final potato harvest

7/19 Zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes and the first green pepper

7/20 Some tiny celery stalks, cucumbers, green pepper, crookneck squash, tomatoes and strawberries

7/21 Pole beans, tomatoes and carrots. I keep checking the carrots to see if they've been ruined by nematodes, but so far they are lovely and straight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll have a decent carrot harvest yet.

7/22 Zucchini, crookneck squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli and strawberries. The strawberries are really bearing well now, but the berries are getting smaller. The plants are blossoming, so it won't be long before the next flush of berries begins.

7/22 Much of the container lettuce looked as though it had been attacked by leaf miners. I've never had leaf miners in lettuce before, and there were no eggs, so it must have been something else that ruined about half the leaves. We still had plenty for our BLTs for dinner.

Harvest for the week of 7/6 through 7/22

Beans, pole - 47 ounces ( 3 pounds)
Broccoli - 3.5 ounces
Carrots - 8.2 ounces
Celery - 2 ounces
Cucumbers - 48.4 ounces (3 pounds)
Lettuce - 3.2 ounces
Peppers, sweet - 6.4 ounces
Potatoes - 680.1 ounces (42.5 pounds)
Squash, summer - 185.1 ounces (11.6 pounds)
Strawberries - 71.2 ounces (4.5 pounds)
Tomatoes - 73.6 ounces (4.6 pounds)

Total for week - 70.54 pounds
Year to date - 328.35 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!

July 22, 2012 - Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

July 19, 2012 - Potatoes, Potatoes and More Potatoes!

Before I start bragging, I'd like to thank all who wished me a happy 4th. blogiversary. You, my dear cyber friends, are the ones that keep this old gal going. And going, and going, and going....

Now I'll brag.

Today I dug the last of the potatoes. From only 4.5 pounds of seed potatoes, I harvested a total of 109.69 pounds. I was hoping to get ten pounds per pound of seed. I harvested over 24 pounds per pound of seed.

I began "stealing" small potatoes from under the plants as soon as they blossomed. If I had let those mature, who knows how many pounds I would have ended up with. The varieties grown were 1-1/2 pounds each Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold and Russet Norkotah. The red and gold were excellent. I wouldn't grow the russets again. They are excellent for baking, but I didn't care for them for anything else, as they fell apart when boiling.

2012 Potato Harvest in Pictures