Harvest Monday 1/10/11

For the first harvest in the New Year there is some good, and not so good. At first glance, these two pound of brussels sprouts looked great.
However, when I went to cut them for cooking, many had spoiled inside from the cold.
So we only ended up with 9 oz to go in the oven.
I debated picking more of brussels sprouts last month, but I left some in the garden to see how long they would last. I guess I got my answer. Next year we'll pick them before the snow and extreme cold set in.

I picked 6 oz of kale yesterday. Some of it was a little damaged by the cold too, but it went fine into soup.

And for fresh tasting greens, I enjoyed these sprouts on my tacos. They were very good.
As far as using up the preserved harvest, we used frozen swiss chard, potatoes from the celler, and leeks I pulled last month in a pureed soup. I cooked some of my dried beans to make bean tacos and the also went into next soup. We also made a tortilla soup with tomato sauce base, our own onions, our dried beans, the kale above, frozen oven dried tomatoes, and corn I froze from down the road. We need to get to work on all the frozen fruit. I think some desserts are in order.

Total week: ~1 pound
Total this year: ~ 1 pound
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

2010 Garden Wrap Up: Part 1

I intended to do a wrap up post for each crop family but doubt I'm going to get to that. So I'm just going to list some observations about what went well and what needs work next year so that I don't forget. It ended up a little long so I'll put the tomatoes & solanaceae family in another post.
Greens- I did better with succession plantings this spring and had the room to do it. We enjoyed lettuce early thanks to the cold frame. Swiss Chard produced and produced all summer long. Next year I'd like to do better with doing successions in the fall with hardy crops and more lettuce again. I may have to start the seedlings inside for the fall crops out of the hot and dry August heat. Many of the fall greens I seeded had trouble germinating. I hope the cold frame staying in place over the winter will mean early spring greens this year.
Root Crops- Carrots did better than in years past. I let them be for longer and so got a larger size from them. Beets were off to a slow start but the spring plantings were enjoyed this fall. We may let go of the red beets and just do the golden as we enjoy those more. Next year I need to start fall carrots earlier.
Onions- Onions were fair, though on the small side. Next year I need to mulch them when they are very small when it is easier. I also shouldn't plant them as close to the edge of the bed. I'm looking forward my first garlic crop from the garlic I seeded this fall and I ordered onion seeds to start my own plants rather than using sets.
Cucumbers & Zucchini- The cucumber trellis worked well, and I planted a good amount of plants (20 something). I'm going to move the trellis towards the back of the garden next year so it doesn't shade shorter plants. The zucchini were not quite as prolific as I thought. We liked the green and yellow but I want to try some new varieties like a patty pan. Next year I should plant them in the center of the bed, not toward the edges where they over ran the path. So much for trying to save space.
Winter Squash and Pumpkins- These did well, though each plant didn't produce as many fruit as I thought. The Buttercup squash did the best as well as the pie pumpkins. Delicata was a low producer and seemed to grow slower than the others. Butternuts did fine. I'm going to move it with the zucchini where it won't get overrun by faster winter squash. We loved the pie pumpkins and the Jarrahdale are beautiful and have great flesh. All the winter squash are keeping well. As we need one, I might find one that has a soft spot and use it up.

Sweet potatoes- These were a bust as they were shaded by cucumbers and tomatillos. Next year I need to start the slips earlier and find a sunnier spot.

Melons- Another bust. Seedlings waited too long to go in the ground, not enough water or heat. Try again next year.
Cole Crops- My seedlings of Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli died in the cold frame this spring so I went with nursery transplants. The brussels sprouts were great! We also enjoyed the broccoli and I wish I had started fall broccoli sooner. I have plants out in the garden, but it was too late. The cabbage bolted and we only got one head. The fall planting was too late. Kale did well and produced from the early spring right through summer and I'm sure we could pick more right now from under the snow too. Next year I'll start the winter hardy varieties later so that they aren't so tall when winter comes and can get better protection from the snow.
Beans- Romanos were good but I didn't plant enough of them. Purple Dragon Tongue looked neat but weren't that exciting taste wise. The black beans did well. I didn't have a plant for supporting the pole beans and they got out of control. I didn't pick them young enough so they were tough. I need a plan for support going into next year. We had fun with these pink shelling beans above. I'll plant more of them next year.
Peas- Peas seemed to take forever. We didn't get much from either the sugar snap variety or the shell pea. Next year I need to plant more of them, plant them earlier and do more succession plantings.

More later.

Harvest Monday 12/13/10

Today the garden looks like a mid-November day instead of a mid-December day.I would have preferred that all precipitation we got yesterday was snow instead of rain. However, the balmy temperatures today (48 F) had an advantage, namely allowing me to work in the garden. I went out this morning to harvest carrots (10 oz) and leeks (9.75 oz) that had been frozen in the ground last week. I mulched the smallest of the leeks to see if they might overwinter. I also opened up the cold frame and removed any damaged leaves I could see. I'm leaving it to air out so it doesn't have that fish-tank alge smell as much.I read in Elliot Coleman's book that the texture/taste of the Brussels Sprouts decreases with the very cold temperatures. So I decided to harvest 5 of the stems, choosing the ones furthest in the bed and the ones that were lying down. The others I'll leave so we can see how long we can keep harvesting. Also I the 6 remaining plants would make more Brussels sprouts that we can possibly eat. As it is, I'm putting these stems in the cool basement to see how they'll keep. I'll weigh the sprouts as we use them. This may be my last harvest for 2010 as we are traveling for the holidays. Maybe we'll bring Brussels sprouts with us :)

Total these past 2 week: 1.3 pounds + un-weighed Brussels sprouts
Total this year: 461 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 11/29/10

Last week I got the last pound of tomatoes that ripened from my green tomatoes. They were a little shriveled but worked fine in sauce.
This week I harvested 4 oz leeks, 13 oz of kale( not pictured), and 1 lb 2 oz of golden beets.
We got a bit of lettuce,
and 2 pound 13 oz of brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving dinner.
Our Thanksgiving dinner also included our own mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie from one of my pie pumpkins. Yum.

Total these past 2 week: 6.06 pounds
Total this year: 459.67 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 11/8/10

We enjoyed a fall salad this week with carrots, red lettuce, raddicchio, pea greens and kohlrabi.
I also harvested chicory/italian dandelion and leek for a quiche.
Another 1 lb 9 oz of tomatoes ripened, along with a few hot peppers from the indoor pepper plants.And I picked 2 pounds of brussels sprouts to accompany a dinner of smoked pork tenderloin and our own mashed potatoes.


Total this week: 4.62 pounds
Total this year: 448.5 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 10/18/10

On Monday I harvested all the peppers. In all it was a disappointing year for peppers. The high heat in mid July caused all the blossoms to drop and then the next set didn't have enough time to fully develop. I picked 5.5 oz of hot peppers and over 1 pound of green peppers. I cut and froze the green peppers. There were a few tiny eggplants as well. I strung the hot peppers to dry.

Also picked one pound of golden beets on Monday. I roasted these to make beet gnocchi.
With the garden clean up on Wednesday I picked all the beans on my pole beans. I didn't do well picking these as green beans. We found the ones I did pick to be tough. So they went to seed. You can see the container full on the left. I picked kohlrabi. And one brussels sprout plant had been broken mid way up and wasn't doing well so I harvested the whole thing along with other sprouts that were beginning to open for a total of 8 oz.
I shelled the beans in front of a movie on Friday night. They weighed 1 pound 6 oz, though they will weigh less when they dry.
In the wet rain on Friday I picked 2 oz of carrots and 6 oz of bok choy and a 3 oz of a chinese green that looks similar to chicory. They all went in a stir fry. I'm happy to have the success with bok choy now because in the spring it bolted and was so eaten by the slugs that I didn't get to enjoy any.
Tomatoes continue to slowly ripen in doors. They are in a cool closet. I brought 5 pounds down that had turned color and we had a large pot of fresh sauce made with them on Saturday night.
Total this week: 9.15 pounds
Total this year: 436.62 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Frost

We've had a frost every night since Saturday (10/9). Last night's was the hardest frost yet. I went out this morning to photograph some of the beauty (and the destruction).

Here's an over view of the garden from the back porch.
Here's the beauty of the frost.
The frost on the kale almost looks like snow.
On the carrots it is like a white outline.
On the brussels sprouts it looks like crystals.
It accentuates the different textures of the weeds.
It is a sugar coating on the marigolds.
Now for the destruction.

The end of zucchini (and the peppers, eggplant and basil too).
And most interestingly, the stems of the marigolds seemed to have been ripped open by the freezing of the water inside them.
This afternoon the marigolds, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, beans, and basil all went to the compost pile. Everything left in the garden is frost hardy to some extent. Before we know it it will be snow covering the garden.

Post Script: Here's the after clean up photo the next morning. I've left some of the sunflowers for vertical interest in the winter garden. You can see some of the rows of winter rye beginning to green up, especially the row in front of the brussels sprouts.

Harvest Monday 10/11/10

This week shows the slow down in the fall garden. Last week was 70 pounds, this week I only harvested 4. That includes 2 pounds of tomatoes that were picked green last week. These began to shown color this week and were added to the harvest total.
I harvested our first Brussels Sprouts this week, over one pound. They were good but should be even better now that we've had a few frosts this weekend.
We enjoyed a soup this week with leek, kale, beans and tomatoes from the garden.
The scarlet runner beans came in before the frost. They yielded 8 oz. They were planted experimentally amongst the tomatoes and grew up along the frame the tomatoes hung from. They did fine there.
I picked the last of the basil on Saturday night before the first full frost. It weighed 7 oz. I froze some and the rest we made into the last pesto of the year. Also picked 7.5 oz of carrots that night for another soup which also used kale and pumpkin from the garden.
The only frost-tender plants left in the garden are the peppers and eggplants. I've been covering them when the frost has threatened. However the forecast for this week is frost every night for the next 4 nights. So I'll be harvesting the last of the peppers and eggplants later today. You'll see them in next week's harvest totals.

Total this week: 4.48 pounds
Total this year: 427.47 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

June Update: Brassica Crops

My brassica crops are in beds 5 and 8.
In bed 5 I have lacinato and winterbor kale, which survived transplant at a fairly medium size from another bed recently. There are about 6-8 plants of each variety and we just took our first harvest from them this week.

Also in this bed is Red Russian Kale going to seed. This kale survived the winter in the bed from the previous owners and so I'm saving seed. It also was transplanted from Bed 1 recently which helped stress it enough to stop blooming and focus on the seeds. I'll be hanging them up to dry soon and will have plenty to share. At the other end of the bed I have just seeded Tyfon, Italian Chicory, and Sorrel. The middle of the bed is empty and waiting for fall cabbage and broccoli which I am starting in the cold frame, to transplant later.

In bed 8 I have six Broccoli (Oliver) at one end. I am close to harvesting the first head.
I have 5 heads of Red Acre Cabbage.
I also have greens which the slugs are loving. These are my Asian mustard greens.
Here is a bok choy just starting to develop.
In the middle of the bed I have some badly eaten broccoli rabe.
At the other end I have my 12 Brussels Sprouts plants which are getting huge. Interspersed are volunteer sunflower plants.
Here is the view of the whole bed 8 looking back from the Brussels sprouts.