July 16, 2012 - Harvest Monday

  The last of the Walla Walla sweet onions were cleaned for storage.  I was very happy to have harvested nearly 53 pounds this year.


 The potato harvest continues.  I may have planted too many.  Just the opposite with the carrots, as way too few were planted.  I have more growing now, but it will be quite a while before they mature.  Beans, beans and more beans.

 
  I'm still getting lettuce, although this was the last picking of the spring planted crop.  I have more growing in containers, and have just seeded the lettuce bed again.  One of my broccoli plants, the one that gave me the huge head of broccoli, is producing quite a few really nice side shoots.  Some are nearly as large as the main head on some of the other plants.


 Eight pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes and my first picking of Fortex pole beans.  The Yukon Golds are really a nice size this year.

  The last of the Yukon Gold potatoes from bed #1.  There is still another small bed of YGs left to dig.  The last of the spring planted bush beans were harvested, and the plants were pulled.  With red tomatoes beginning to ripen, I picked one last container of Minigolds and then pulled the plants.  I'm just very tired of little yellow tomatoes at this point.


Another picking of Fortex pole beans.  They got off to a slow start, but look promising now.  I'm so happy to finally be getting some red tomatoes!


  This nearly 1-1/2 pound Spacemaster cucumber was hiding from me!  Mr. Granny said it was still sweet.

 I'm not getting huge amounts of strawberries, but they are coming on steady.  We're getting our fill of strawberry shortcake, with berries left over for freezing.

 
Two trips to the potato patch brought in another 16-plus pounds of Russet potatoes.  

 I had to wash the two largest potatoes so I could show them off.  One weighed 14.4 ounces, the other weighed 14.7 ounces.  The small ones will be used right away, and the others, in the box, will be stored.

The small ones are first picking of Isis Candy tomatoes.  I ate one, and it was so very sweet and good tasting, I couldn't help myself.  I ate them all.  That's another side shoot from the good broccoli plant.  I sure wish I knew what variety it is!  I found three big summer squash that had been missed, so they had to go into the compost bin and not get counted in my harvest total.  Luckily, I spotted these three that are of a good, edible size.  The plants are so huge it's hard to find the squash hiding in them.

Harvest for the week of 7/9 through 7/15 

Beans, bush - 67.7 oz.  (4.2 lb.)
Beans, pole - 34.2 oz.  (2.14 lb.)
Broccoli - 7 oz.
Cabbage - 32.8 oz.  (2 lb.)
Carrots - 2.3 oz.
Cucumbers - 34.2 oz.  (2.14 lb.)
Lettuce - 14.9 oz.
Onions - 211.8 oz.  (13.24 lb.)
Potatoes - 461.9 oz.  (28.87 lb.)
Raspberries - 1.5 oz.
Squash, summer - 139.4 oz.  (7.54 lb.)
Strawberries - 46.2 oz.  (2.89 lb.)
Tomatoes - 67.5 oz.  (4.22 lb.)

Total for week - 70.09 pounds
Year to date - 257.81 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!


35 comments:

  1. I hope my yukons imitate your Yukons. Mine were so small last year I considered giving them up. But, then I came to my senses-LOL!
    Funny that you're getting tired of a certain tomato, and I haven't had ANY yet..........

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    1. Sue, the Minigold never did develop a really good flavor, which was odd because the first few, maturing in the house, were delicious. After they went outside, the flavor changed (or my taste buds did). I gave the neighbor one to taste before I gave her the last picking, and she said it was good but didn't really taste like tomatoes.

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  2. I'm glad your 'Isis Candy' tomatoes were sweet. When I grew them they were very productive, but very bland. Needless to say they were never grown again.

    The harvest, in general, looks great as usual.

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    1. Ed, I think different climates, soils, conditions must make a big difference. Last year I grew Matt's Wild Cherry. Everyone says they are deliciously sweet, and they were grown from the same seeds as Robin's. Mine were so sour we couldn't eat them. The Sungolds weren't even as sweet as I thought they should be. That's why I'm so happy with that first handful of Isis Candy, finally a sweet one!

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  3. wonderful harvest! I haven't touched my Yukon Gold potato bed so will be interesting to see how much will come out - I'll be storing that for winter. YAY on beans and strawberries and I'm still jealous of your onions :)

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    1. Thanks, Jenny. I'm quite happy with the way the garden is producing everything but carrots. I cannot believe i had such carrot failure this year!

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  4. My goodness Granny! 53 pounds of onions!! I can only dream of that! The way my onions look, I'll be lucky to get 5 lbs!

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    1. Robin, the poundage would have been way greater if I hadn't pulled so many of them early! Thank heavens I did, there's no way we could have eaten any more.

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  5. Nice haul this week, Granny. I may have to try potatoes next year. If we grew strawberries, I think the kids would have them picked clean before I got out there. We buy ours from a local Amish family. Saves on the work and I'm almost guaranteed to get a few home to eat!

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    1. Langela, the way these plants just give us enough for fresh eating, with a few left over for freezing, is perfect for us. Raspberries, on the other hand, are never enough.

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  6. Wow, I can only dream of such a harvest. Shoba

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  7. Wow. You have officially overtaken my total. I think there is no way to catch up now. Especially since the tomatoes are starting to come in. I plant so few onions compared to you. I couldn't imagine trying to use up 50 lbs of onions before they go bad. Well I could for storage onions, but not sweet onions. And 28lbs of potatoes. That is a very nice harvest. I hope they store well for you.

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    1. Daphne, they won't store well, but I'm going to go ahead and cook some and freeze the caramelized onions in 1 cup portions. It takes a lot of cooked onions to make 1 cup.

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  8. I am impressed you are still getting lettuce!

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    1. Vanessa, I basically killed mine off this year by shading it with peas When it got hot and the pea vines were pulled, it exposed the lettuce to full hot sun. Last year, when I grew it between the shed and the fence, it grew all through the hot summer.

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  9. My zucchini plants are huge and in an awkward corner, making it difficult to find them and hazardous to try to pick them. Those little spikes on the leaves are surprisingly painful!
    You had a whopper of a harvest this week! I'm not even going to bother posting about the sad 6 oz. of peas I picked. Lol, next week will be full of beans though!

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    1. Anywhere, mine are in a corner too, and huge. There are crooknecks and zucchinis there, all crowded together, and I don't know how I'm going to get to the back of the plants to harvest the squash. We need some HAZMAT suits I think :-0

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  10. Great harvest! Can't wait to see what my Yukon Golds look like. No beans yet. Onions did great. Now if I can get them pulled and dried properly. First time for doing that. Thanks for sharing! Nancy

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    1. Good luck with the onions, Nancy. You'll love those freshly dug Yukon Golds.

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  11. Wow your annual total is very impressive. I hope my tomatoes and cucumbers start ripening soon to that I can catch up to you!!

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    1. Stoney, you'll certainly surpass me in cucumbers, but I might get back at you in winter squash!

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  12. Your garden is in high summer gear now! I have to say you have the prettiest onions of anyone I know - they really are exhibit worthy. Have you ever entered any of your garden produce in your local fair? Your onions (among other things) would be winners, I am sure of it.

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    1. Kitsap, no I've never entered anything in the fair except some paintings one year. My storage onions aren't faring as well as the sweets, I planted them too close for large bulbs (didn't think they were going to survive) and I see some are now going to seed.

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  13. WOW! That is a huge harvest! Everything looks so wonderful, my onions haven't done zip, still waiting for some of the potatoes, the All Blue and the German Butterballs are just now making like pea sized potatoes. So far I've been able to spot most of the squash, tho one got away from me and made 5# of chicken food.

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    1. Mary, I wish my dogs would eat oversized squash! It seems like a few manage to get away from me every year.

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  14. Those squash sure can hide, can't they? Sometimes I'm in awe of how much you get from your garden, and then I realize that I can't harvest what I don't plant! Maybe after a few dozen years of soil amendment my garden will start approaching yours. I love the story of eating all the tomatoes. Such an honest gardener kind of tale!

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    1. They sure do, Stefaneener. Hey, my garden has only been on that side of the yard for four years, and I plant the heck out of it! I just toss on a yard of cow poo every spring. In fact, it only got 1/2 yard this year, even though the garden got expanded. I pooped out by the time I got that much spread and dug in! Four years ago this month, the entire garden was lawn.

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    2. Fine. Now I feel like even more of a slacker.

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  15. How about some French Onion Soup?

    Everything looks so great. I was so proud of my big red "cherry belle's" and all of yours are big. So cool!!
    I have to say I've found a new love in potato digging!

    Are you tired from this time of year or staying rested and back surviving? I feel like the planting season in spring is much harder!

    I like the idea of entering the onions into a fair!

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    1. Amyt, I'm going to try crockpot caramelized onions for the freezer. Then I can make onion soup in the winter, just by adding beef broth.

      Yes, I'm tired. It's so hot I have to crowd in a lot of work in the evenings, just before dark. I don't like the cold, but the heat just saps me.

      Our fair is in the fall. The sweet onions won't last that long.

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