I finally cleaned and trimmed the German Extra Hardy garlic that was hanging in the shed. Given the torrid weather we had, like Daphne I wonder if I cooked my garlic. It seems OK. I used a small bulb from this batch and the cloves were rock hard and very flavorful. From a half pound of seed garlic I harvested exactly 2 pounds of dried and trimmed garlic. I don’t know if that is typical but I am pleased with my first effort growing garlic. The Red Chesnok was harvested a week later and will hang in the shed for another week. I set aside a half pound (5 bulbs) of the German for seed garlic.
On the subject of alliums, the Copra yellow onions are falling over and I have pulled some of them. It is not the best conditions for harvest since we just received over 2 inches of rain the past week and the beds are wet. I started to pull some of the onions and let them lie on the ground to start drying. The size of them is underwhelming, but I use more small onions than large so I guess that is OK. The Red Bull onions are starting to look like they are ready as well.
The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, although some of these first tomatoes are suffering from blossom end rot (BER). My first Gilbertie was rotten and dissolved in my hand when I tried to pick it (gross!), which I don’t think was BER. My first Pineapple has BER on the sides but I was hoping to be able to salvage part of it. Unfortunately, the rain last week caused it to split in multiple places. The photo below shows the Pineapple (upper left), my first Big Beef (lower left), and Juliet, Sungold and my first Black cherry tomatoes (a few of those didn’t make it home).
More chard and kale. These will appear weekly for awhile and probably are not worth a photo every week.
A couple of good sized turnips, finally. These have to be Golden Ball turnips, even though they do not look that golden. Finally enough to actually try them. I will be replanting these for a fall harvest.
The mustard greens are finally producing! I seeded these twice and they failed to germinate. I finally started them indoors and these leaves are from the transplants. That is Red Giant on top and Green Wave underneath. both great varieties. Pictured with one of the last lettuces (New Red Fire), some Broccoli shoots and a few Padron peppers.
To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.
Great harvest. Your garlic looks perfect. Sorry about the tomatoes! So frustrating. All your greens look super too! And colorful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful harvest. I think the photo of kale is lovely!
ReplyDeleteEverything look amazing, but your garlic has me jealous! There really is nothing like fresh garlic!!!
ReplyDeleteYour garlic looks terrific and so does everything else! If it's any comfort to you, you have already harvested a lot more tomatoes than I have!
ReplyDeleteYou are getting greens with your tomatoes and peppers, crazy! And your onions look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI have never had any luck with growing onions, they die when transplanted or just never form bulbs.
More rain?! Your harvests look great. I wish I had some tomatoes to show off.
ReplyDeleteSo why do you have squash and no peppers or tomatoes? My Padron peppers and Sungold tomatoes were some of the earliest warm-weather veggies I picked. Meanwhile my squash just sits there despite weeks of 99+ temps.
DeleteYour garlic is outstanding. And lucky for you to have ripe tomatoes--no such luck for us.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe some tomato varieties are more prone to BER, like my favorite Opalka. No matter what I did, some still showed BER. The one time I grew great Opalkas, I dug in crushed eggshells and watered a LOT! I miss black cherry. I had one growing, then I had to dismantle the bed, and had it moved. Now it's sulking and being overrun by the tomatillos. I started a few more seeds but probably won't get any harvest. Your garlic looks great!
ReplyDeleteUsually the first tomatoes set get either BER or cat-facing, but it sure is disappointing when it's a beauty and then you turn it over.
DeleteWonderful garlic harvest and very nice greens, but too bad about BER. Hope it will go away and you'll have good harvest in next weeks.
ReplyDeleteOnly your first harvest of garlic, really! Congratulations, and well done! We were afraid we cooked our garlic when we left them too long in a hot sunroom last year, but they came up fine and may have even contributed to their lasting so long in storage. Garlic may be our favorite thing to grow, once it's established it's so easy to save seed and make it your own. Welcome to what may be a lifelong gardening relationship with it!
ReplyDeleteWell, today I ordered seed for two new varieties, so I guess I'm hooked.
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