Monday, August 26, 2013

Harvest Monday

This has been a good week for harvest here. I surpassed last year's total August harvest by quite a few pounds already and there's still another six days to go with beans and tomatoes really kicking in. I'm very happy to be getting the tomatoes, but the plants are all diseased and dying fast. Thankfully they had set a large amount of fruit so I hope to be able to can enough pints to get us through the year. We use a lot of tomatoes in our cooking!
I pulled the last of my beets, the remaining Lutz Salad Leaf. They didn't seem to be getting any bigger, so it was time. I have two beds of beets that were planted later, but I have yet to successfully grow such later plantings. They never seem to grow healthy and bulb up and this year isn't looking to be any different.
 There was more kale from my original spring kale plants, more broccoli side shoots and finally some carrots.
 My second planting of yellow summer squash is producing nicely, which is great since the early bushes did nada.
 The green beans are in full swing, the yellow pole beans keep on producing and tomatoes of all varieties are ripening at long last! And what's that? Two small zucchinis from my second planting of four zucchini bushes. So out of a grand total of twelve zuke plants in 2013, I've gotten maybe five small zucchinis. Amazing. The second run bushes are just about dead, so I'm not likely to see more.
The big green bouquet you see is celery, a mixture of Afina Cutting and Tango. I also got a lot of cucumbers, both Lemon and Double Yield.
 And lookee here! My very first Chinese Red Noodle beans! I haven't tasted them yet, but they sure look pretty!
 I harvested the last of the spring-planted cabbages yesterday. They are a variety called Bartolo that produce relatively small dense heads, but are really excellent keepers. Kept in a refrigerator last year, I was cooking with them in January. I have a bed of fall cabbages, hoping they mature before it's too cold.
 My peppers, which did so fantastically last summer are a pathetic lot this year. So it was nice to pick one nice fairly good-sized green one yesterday. And the trombocino is still making up for my zucchini lack. I counted eight babies coming down the pike. So I celebrated with chocolate zucchini cake made with shredded trombocino, which is the most delicious way to use up summer squash.
 This is the last of the lettuce for a bit. It's getting a little bitter, but still useable. There are eight small plants in the garden just trying to get large enough to take leaves from and I have some tiny seedlings that I hope to plant out in a few weeks. Hoping to stretch out the salad days more than I've managed in the past.
I'm joining in the Harvest Monday postings over at Daphne's Dandelions and looking forward to see what goodies everyone else is getting from their gardens this week!

26 comments:

  1. My goodness, that's a lot of vegetables! Congratulations on the red beans, finally, right? :-) They look beautiful!

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    1. Thank you! We just tried them and they tasted good too, a nice strong bean-y flavor.

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  2. Great looking harvest this week, we too are trying hard to stretch out the salad harvests around our place. Here's a hit, next year try Nevada, it's a summer crisp lettuce we tried for the first time this summer. It stayed delicious all summer, no bitterness even in our 90 + degree heat!!

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    1. Thank you. I grew Nevada too and was really pleased with it. This is the latest I have ever had good lettuce.

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  3. I do hope the tomatoes hold on for you. We use a lot of them throughout the year too. That Tromboncino cake sounds yummy!

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    1. Thank you Dave! I always dream of tomato inundation, but never get it because of the lack of sun and disease. So we are lucky just to get enough stewed tomatoes for the year, but I'd love to get enough to make sauce, ketchup and salsa. Still hope someday that will happen.

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  4. Great harvest. I grew Chinese Red noodle beans this year for the first time too. I will definitely be doing them again! They cook and taste a bit different than regular beans. I have already started saving seeds! There were not nearly enough in a package!

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    1. They really did taste good, the texture was a little different. My husband gave them the thumbs up, so I'll be planting them again too!

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  5. Congratulations on surpassing your Aug. total! That is beautiful summer squash. I didn't have any luck with that this year. Your cabbage looks good also. I have one more to pick but it is not looking good so need to get out there! Really nice variety of other things too! Nancy

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    1. Thank you Nancy! I was very lucky to get at least one summer squash plant that decided to produce. I recall your cabbages looking terrific!

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  6. Great harvest, Those red beans look interesting, do they stay red when cooked?

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    1. Thanks Sharon! The red noodle beans turned a kind of dark olive color when they were cooked.

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  7. I'm having a year of beet failure, too. You are not alone. At least my daughter is consuming the greens!

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    1. Your daughter must be really healthy Granny, with all those greens and veggie shakes. Beet greens are OK, but I'd rather have the beets! My first plantings generally do well enough, but all the subsequent ones, even if only a few weeks later, seem to fail for me.

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  8. Nice harvest! I'm amazed you still have lettuce. I have some transplants started that I have to set out soon and hope for a fall harvest. The Tromboncino are neat. I had my first female flower open today. The thing was already 10" long when it flowered!

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    1. Hope you enjoy your trombocino David! I'm finding them to be a really fun summer squash to grow. The lettuce did better than usual because of the heat tolerant varieties I planted out in early summer I think.

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  9. I am so happy to see some summer squash in your harvest. Your later plantings must be doing well. So sorry about the zucchini though. The Chinese Red Noodle beans look so pretty against the green beans.

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    1. Thank you! It is good to have at least that one bush that is producing well. Last summer was the only year I've ever had good luck with zucchini!

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  10. Sorry to hear about your tomato plants. Next year will be a better year.
    Wish the red noodle beans kept their red color after cooking. I too have started saving seeds. Hoping for an extended summer and late frost.

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement Norma! The real shame with the tomato plants is that they have more fruits on them then I've had in years. Still, at least those fruits are ripening and I'm bringing them in as quickly as they turn pink to finish ripening so I can get as much as possible before the plants finally die.

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  11. You really do have a great garden. Good job!I seriously need to work harder on mine :(

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    1. Oh thank you Becky! I really do try a little harder every year to be more organized and more out there. The truth is I am pretty lazy at heart and have to push myself. What the garden gains the house(work)loses!

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  12. What an amazing week in the garden you've had! How wonderful to surpass last years goals! Congratulations!

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    1. Thanks Bee Girl! It does feel good to be making progress in my journey as a vegetable gardener!

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  13. I would so love a cabbage that would keep for a year. I'd do them as fall cabbages though to eat them all winter long. And small is good since they fit in the fridge that way.

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    1. Well, these keep more like about six months. But that's not bad!

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