Monday, August 6, 2012

Harvest Monday

It's Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions where fellow gardeners are showing off the week's harvest. Make a visit there to see what everybody's bringing in this week!
 My Swallow eggplants are producing very well this year! They are  a small to medium sized Asian type eggplant. My other varieties are a little slower, but I got a few small white Caspar eggplants. Unfortunately, they seem to be attractive to bugs or slugs, because I have yet to pick one that isn't marred with holes! The one pictured above had a little judicious positioning for the picture!
 Still getting plenty of zucchini and far fewer yellow summer squash. But the plants are just about done in by squash bugs. I have killed as many as I can get my mitts on but have not been able to keep well ahead of their damage. I have a second planting of summer squash that are just beginning to produce and they are still looking very healthy.
 Harvested about two thirds of my onions. They are fewer and smaller than last year for reasons I don't know about, but hoping there are enough to get me through the year. They are curing now and I will pull the rest when they are ready, probably next week sometime.
 I have about thirty hard-neck garlic, cured and trimmed now. Another ten of the biggest and best bulbs have been set aside as seed to plant out in October for next year. I'm very pleased with this as it is twice as many as I had for use last year and that's not including my soft-neck garlics in the count. Homegrown garlic was such a wonderful discovery last year I never want to look back! Also harvested shallots earlier in the week.
 The first decent harvest of tomatoes, about six pounds of various types. Most need to ripen a bit more, but I hope to be able to can a small batch this week.
 We're having wonderful green pepper production. I'm growing Jimmy Nardello, Lipstick, Ace, King of the North, Bridge to Paris, Peacework, Red Knight...I think that's all of them. They will be prepped for the freezer and used throughout the year.
Cukes are much much slower this year. Last year I was giving them away by the bagful, but this year I'm just hoping to get enough to make a batch or two of pickle relish that my son loves so much. The carrots look nice, but they are still so small! Any secrets out there about how to get them to grow bigger? I'm trying to leave them in the ground as long as possible, but that's always a gamble with all the voles I have trolling around looking for nice roots to eat. And in the front of the plate above, there's a handful of Fortex green beans. They are producing steadily, but the plants are not robust, so I'm just getting a few at a time.
We've had such hot weather the past week that the harvest has slowed down a bit, but this week should improve a bit. My second patch of Fresh Pick green beans is blossoming and should be giving us beans next week and the first patch is getting ready to blossom again with its second round of beans.
Hope everyone is swimming in wonderful veggies this week!

25 comments:

  1. Very nice harvest and I love the eggplants. I see you also have Indigo Rose tomato so hope yours taste better than mine - it had no taste for some reason.

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    1. Thanks Jenny! Yes, I decided to try Indigo Rose. It seems to take a long time to ripen and I haven't tasted it yet. I'll let you know what I think. Maybe it'll be a one time only attempt :-)

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  2. I'm jealous of your eggplant. I just can't get it to grow before all kinds of bugs eat it up.

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    1. Thanks! Eggplant does seem to attract a lot of flea beetles when it is young; I've heard if you cover it while its young they will grow strong enough to withstand the attacks. The variety I like is called Swallow and I get it from Fedco seeds. It produces very early and is quite prolific. Also seems to resist diseases, so you might want to try that one.

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  3. Wonderful to see everyone's garden producing so much, including yours!

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  4. My eggplants are getting some bug damage too. I don't know if it's slug or what. But something it putting holes in them!

    Isn't homegrown garlic the best? Looks like you will be all set with it!

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    1. I have found slugs on the eggplant before, so they're the likely culprit. And yes, homegrown garlic is wonderful! I've enjoyed your posts on the subject Dave. I hope I never get it from the grocery again! It especially annoys me that so much of it comes from China now. What's up with that? Like we can't grow it just about everywhere in this country!

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  5. That is quite a tomato harvest and so many varieties. I had critters nibling on my eggplants so they are now wearing knee-hi.

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    1. Knee highs on the eggplants? Now that's an idea I'd never thought of! Will have to keep it in mind! Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. I guess I should feel very lucky that I don't need to deal with too many critter problems but on the flip side of the coin, I don't get that kind of ideal weather to grow eggplants and zukes like yours. I'm out of my league with Harvest Monday...you all have such amazing harvests!

    Rowena@The Proud Garden

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    1. Thanks for your comment Rowena! I don't think you are out of your league...everyone's harvest is different, and mine is a work in progress. It seems to improve every year, but not in all things. Every season is different and has its challenges. I like the challenge and have learned so much from fellow gardeners!

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  7. Your garden is humming along with summer production. Usually when my summer squash gives out - I am actually ready for it to be done as we get weary of it's super abundance over such a long period of time.

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    1. Well, I would probably feel like you do about the summer squash except for the fact that this is the first time I've ever had the "glut". Honestly, last year I harvested a grand total of ONE zucchini! Previous years were not much more. This year I am getting overwhelmed with them, I admit, but for now I'm enjoying the new experience!

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  8. Beautiful harvest! I feel a bit like Rowena - everyone has such wonderful harvests. What are you doing with your zucchini bounty?

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    1. Thanks Susan! I think it is hard not to compare ourselves to the other gardeners out there, both the ones that blog and the ones we know personally. But all the gardens are wonderful in their own way. I've been freezing zucchini for winter, making zucchini pancakes, ratatouille, putting it in salads and in homage to my late father-in-law, adding it to scrambled eggs the way I remember him doing every summer when he harvested his. I tried a zucchini gratin recipe that was pretty good too, but I may be on the verge of having to find people to give it away to (no easy task I'm sure!)

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  10. What a great harvest. Your peppers look great.

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    1. Thanks! It has been a great year for peppers here. By contrast, last year we got very few. It's funny how every year is different for each crop.

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  11. Great harvest even with your bug problems. My eggplant got off to a bad start so will try again next year! Your yellow squash and zuchini picture should be on a cover of a gardening magazine. It looks so pretty. Nancy

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    1. Well, thanks for your kind words! Considering my past track record with summer squash it means a lot to me :-)

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  12. Great harvest! It looks like you have a lovely variety of tomatoes!

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    1. Thank you Mary! I planted quite a few different tomatoes because I like to try things. None of them are really thriving this year, but those I get do taste good!

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  13. Nice harvest, lots of variety and plenty for the freezer it seems. Have you tried Japanese style eggplant, roasted with a sweet miso paste, it's delicious!

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    1. That sounds very interesting! I've not tried it, but I love Japanese food and miso. Thanks for the tip!

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