Monday, October 7, 2013

Harvest Monday: I Can't Believe Its a Week Into October Edition

Good Harvest Monday everybody! We are having the remnants of a tropical storm passing through here today, so although it looks like October, it feels more like a muggy day in June. The rain is welcome though, since we've been bone dry for weeks. The harvest, which had slowed way down picked up a little today, not least because I was finally able to get into the garden in between raindrops and other activities.
 This is the view directly out my front door. We are quite surrounded by woods and as you can see, the autumn leaves are falling fast. We'll soon be raking them up for the compost piles.
 The garden is at the foot of our hill and looking rather raggedy, but the marigolds are huge and blooming profusely which gives it a cheerful look. I missed them last year when I dropped the ball and never got any of my little marigold seedlings planted out. This year they are really wonderful. And the harvest is still coming in. I hadn't checked my green beans in a week, because the plants looked so sad, but when I did today I ended up picking two more pounds of them. Many of them were a bit larger than I generally like, but they'll get eaten anyway. The big ones work well in soups.
 We're at the tail end of the tomatoes. Most of the plants are all but dead and I'm picking them off the vines more green than red, but they've been ripening well indoors. This morning I took several bags that had accumulated in the freezer to make into tomato sauce which were then canned. Although the plants were diseased early, and I'm far from where I want to be in the tomato production department, this year I canned as many stewed tomatoes as needed and had enough to make quite a few jars of sauce and even one batch of salsa. That's a first for me and I'm very pleased about it. If I sound unreasonable in my expectations you have to understand that I always plant between 45 and 50 tomato plants so what I harvest is really not much for the amount that are planted out. The problem has always been the limited sunlight and disease.
 Every time I think the Gold Marie Vining beans have to be about finished they hand me another pound of beans. This has happened several times in the past two weeks and I've been giving them away. The Chinese Red Noodles on the other hand really are at the end of their road and we will miss them. I also harvested the last of the Hakurei turnips, smallish because insects had skeletonized their foliage, and I pulled a few of the fall carrots to see if they were developing at all. It seems that I may get some after all if the voles stay away from them, which is iffy.
There's no frost in sight for our area yet so there should be time for some nice harvests ahead. I have yet to have a really good fall garden. This year while I finally learned to get those fall brassicas planted at the right time, I failed to protect them from marauding insects. So the fall cabbages and broccolis look nice and large, but they've been ravaged, which is a real shame. I always seem to forget that the insects in fall can be and are even worse than the summer ones and I'm less on my toes about it then. Well, something learned again!
While it seems that many of my veggies underperformed this year, those that did well must have really done well, because I have harvested over 200 pounds more than last year's total which was tallied at the beginning of December. I hope that means I am becoming a better gardener. It certainly means that the soil is slowly but surely being improved and the bit more sunshine we're getting since D took some trees down has made a big difference. He plans to take some more down for next year which will be great.
Now to head on over to Daphne's Dandelions to check out all the great harvests everyone else out there is bringing in. I hope you gardening bloggers know what a great source of inspiration and instruction you are! I have learned so much from all of you!

18 comments:

  1. Lovely harvests! I always appreciate late season harvests especially the unexpected ones. We are experiencing similar weather today. The winds are whipping the leaves from the trees and the air is weirdly warm and humid.

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    1. Hopefully we'll get more normal weather tomorrow, good for outside work!

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  2. Your small turnips look great. I need some of those for thanksgiving this weekend, but I didn't get any in the ground. Maybe next year.

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    1. Thanks! They were good this year and have me wishing I'd planted more of them.

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  3. Lovely harvests. I wish my poor beans were giving me more. The summer beans are pretty dead. And the fall beans have just started to flower, so are probably too late to do much. But it might be a while before the first frost. So if it stays warm enough I might get a harvest.

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    1. Good luck with those beans! Two years ago we didn't get frost till Oct. 30, so maybe you'll still get some!

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  4. It is always so nice to harvest more things when we think that they have finished! Congratulations on harvesting 200 lbs more than last year. Way to go! I wore my winter jacket out to work this morning but then it had warmed up some by noon. Nancy

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    1. Looks like your cold has worked its way east Nancy! Tropical yesterday, chilly today but I'm sure it'll warm up soon.

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  5. What a nice variety! It looks so much better than my green peppers and green tomatoes. I have had gorgeous marigolds this year too. They got so much bushier than usual, and are just blooming their heads off! I'll miss them when they finally succumb to frost, which probably will be soon. I have a feeling there will be a gazillion volunteers in next year's garden.

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    1. Those marigolds sure do cheer up the garden! I don't think I've ever had them blooming so profusely.

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  6. Your harvests look great, Patsy, especially the beans. I also harvested a lot of Fortex beans, and surprisingly even the "big, mature" ones are still good. I highly recommend this variety. Some are already drying on the vines, but that only means seeds for next year, right? :-)
    - Angie <3

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    1. Thanks Angie! I grew Fortex last year and the year before but never got much out of them. Maybe I'll have to try them again next year, because they do taste good and maybe my track record will change for the better!

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  7. Your garden is huge! Yes, sunlight makes a huge difference in the harvest results. At least you can cut down some of your trees to remedy the situation, I cannot because the trees belong to my neighbors and are getting bigger each year.
    Yes finally got rain and the plants all perked up. Like you, no frost in sight yet, may get some good October harvest after all.

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    1. Ha, Norma, I admit, the garden is pretty big, yet I still never have enough room to plant everything I'd like to, and I interplant, use succession cropping and plant things close together! I'd like to get many many more of those trees down!

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  8. Nice harvest, you plant 40-50 tomatoes every year? Wow, that's a lot of canning and freezing. I have a bad tomato year, I think I harvest less than 15 lbs of fruits altogether.

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    1. The thing is Mac, I have to plant that many just to get enough for our use. We cook a lot with tomatoes, and honestly for that many plants I ought to be drowning in them but I never even come close. This is the first year I've actually been able to make tomato sauce in addition to my stewed tomatoes.

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  9. Wonderful harvest. I love to read and see do msny beautiful pictures on your blog. Do interesting and inspiring. Thank you for sharing. I invite you to visit my blog.
    Endah
    Indonesia

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  10. Thank you Endah, and thanks for stopping by!

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