Monday, July 13, 2015

Harvest Monday 13 July 2015

 

onions

 

It seemed like I tried to avoid the garden last week, but a lot happened despite that. Maybe I am just really efficient when I do visit the garden. So this post might be a little long, sorry. Let’s start with onions. The onion thrips essentially killed the White Candy onions so I pulled all of them to get them out of the garden (the white onions at the top). Everything else is doing OK. I pulled a couple of Tropea and Red Candy onions and a Super Star to use in cooking.

 

chard

 

I finally uncovered the cucumbers and chard and will take my chances with pests. The chard has again shaded the cukes so I trimmed just the offending leaves on the edges of the chard bed.

 

mustard_greens

 

The mustard greens also got a haircut and will probably be removed soon because they are starting to bolt. I may get one more cutting before that happens. I also pulled out all the Soloist cabbages which were riddled with holes and starting to bolt. Planting them without protection turned into a complete waste  of time and space.

peas

 

Peas continue to be prolific. This is 3 pounds of peas. Later in the week I picked another couple of pounds but did not photograph them because it would be boring. The snow peas thankfully are showing signs of pooping out. I may pull them before their final demise because I am tired of them. Frankly, I personally do not need 10-15 pounds of snow peas clogging up the freezer. The food pantry pickup has not been set up yet so I need to get pro-active so this food does not go to waste. What is amazing is last year I grew 12 squares of snow and snap peas in a block without trellising (12x9=108 seeds) and maybe got a handful of peas from the flopped over mess.  This year with 8 squares trellised (8x8=64 seeds), I am buried in peas.

 

Squash_plants

 

I finally uncovered the summer squash plants because they are flowering and will take my chances with SVB and squash bugs. The time under cover with the unsettled weather we had seems to have benefitted them. On the left is the Sunburst patty pan squash, on the right the Renee’s Costata Romanesco squash that Michelle plants. Obscured behind it is my favorite plain vanilla zucchini, Dunja.

 

Costata_Romanesco_squash

 

The Romanesco is covered in flowers and fruits. This plant is definitely different from the open-pollinated Costata Romanesco zucchini I previously grew. Fruits from this plant are more slender and grayer than the other. It is also prolific!

 

squash_blossom1

 

A female squash blossom and a couple of males. Look at the size of the flowers! No wonder these are great for stuffing.

 

cucumber_beetles

 

And a peek inside the flower reveals a striped cucumber beetle party going on. For some reason they don’t affect my squash but are pure death to the cucumbers. They are also very hard to eradicate when they hide inside the flowers. This photo is enlarged quite a bit, the beetles are actually very small.

 

zucchini

 

A few squash harvested already, along with my first tomato, a Juliet. The big zucchini was found in the back of the plant hiding under a leaf, but it is a good stuffing size.

 

Jaune_Flamme

 

I have a couple more Juliet tomatoes coloring up on another plant. And I found a couple of trusses of the Jaune Flamme tomatoes, like the one above, starting to show some color. So more tomatoes are coming.

 

Copra_onions

 

This is a photo of the Copra storage onions early in the week, showing nice size. By the end of the week the foliage was completely flopped over. Since the weather looked good (at the time), I decide to pull the onions so they could spend a couple of 90 degree days drying in the sun. Of course, the forecast has changed and we are supposed to have thunder storms Monday, so these will go in the garage Sunday night. or Monday morning

 

Copra_harvest

 

The harvest this year is much larger than last year, with a lot of good sized onions. You can see a little thrip damage on the leaves but not bad.

 

Red_Zeppelin_onions

 

These are the Red Zeppelin storage onions, showing no signs of bulbing or flopping. Last year the red onions were a couple weeks later than the yellow onions, and that appears to be the case again. The shallots are also still standing tall but are showing some nice size bulbs.

 

Super_Star_onions

 

The Super Star onions are still upright and growing. These are supposed to get pretty big (hence the name). Some are showing bulbs with a fairly modest stem, like on the left. Then there  are a few like the one to the right that have a huge stalk and no signs of a bulb. Holy cow, look at the contrast. There are 4 of these in the bed. Moby onion? It will be interesting to see what these develop into!

 

Red_Candy_harvest

 

The Red Candy intermediate day onions also flopped, so I pulled them and they are drying in the sun. So far I like these onions and am more likely to plant them next year than the wimpy white Candy onions.

 

Tropea_onions

 

Same for the Rossa Lunga di Tropea onions. I was hoping to have a few more for fresh onions, but they all flopped on the ground. These don’t keep well so they will be used over the next few months along with the Red Candy and Super Star onions.

 

root_vegetables

 

It is getting hot so I pulled all the Hakurei turnips and removed the kohlrabies. Still have some purple top turnips left but I will keep an eye on them. I also pulled more golden and red beets to thin them out.

 

Arcadia_broccoli

 

I checked the brassica bed again and found some of the broccolis forming heads. This is Arcadia and is about 3 inches in diameter. Given the thickness of the stalk and the variety, I am hoping these will get a lot bigger, but I still need to watch them. And what made a lace curtain of that leaf in the back? I’m not supposed to have caterpillars under the row cover.

 

Fiesta_broccoli

 

This one is the Fiesta broccoli and is about 2 inches in diameter. I am thinking of uncovering the broccoli end of the brassica bed. so I can more easily watch the broccoli heads and shoots. The plants are large enough a little caterpillar damage should not hurt.

 

Spanish_Roja_garlic

 

To add to the week’s task list, the garlic also decided it was ready to come out. It was too hot Saturday afternoon so I returned early Sunday to dig out the garlic. Above is Spanish Roja, which produced some nice size heads like it always does. I did a better job planting last fall and had no upside down cloves, although I had a few twins.

 

Garlic

 

Next out was the German Extra Hardy (right) and Chesnok Red. The German Extra Hardy garlic had decent size heads but Chesnok Red seems to diminish in size every year. I may look for something else, there are so many I would like to try.

 

Duganski_garlic

 

Finally, I dug the Duganski garlic that was new to me this year. Stalks were modest but bulbs turned out pretty large. This was the garlic I was concerned about when I planted last fall. The heads I purchased were obviously dug late and were opening up. Even worse, the skins were coming off the cloves, so I was planting naked cloves. All of them did OK and I got some nice garlic. Some purple is showing on the skins but until they dry and I get them cleaned up I won’t be able to say more.

 

The German Red is still in the beds, not ready to dig yet. It was a huge garlic when I planted it, so it will be exciting to see what it does in my garden. The stalks are massive, about an inch in diameter, so what does that predict? They made the Duganski look weak and spindly. I got the heads at the Mount Dessert Island Garlic Festival last September. My wife wants to go back to MDI so I said sure, just book it for the week of the garlic festival. It is booked and maybe I will look for another garlic to plant in place of Chesnok RedHere is my post on those two new garlics and you can see from the photos what I meant. And I noticed my comment on the Farmer’s Almanac prediction of a cold, snowy winter. Boy, was that spot on! By the way, one of the farms at the festival will be Four Season Farm, owned by Barbara Damrosch and Elliot Coleman! How cool is that?!

 

That is everything that happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are doing, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

18 comments:

  1. Great looking harvests, Dave. Nice to see you already have summer squash and a tomato--that's way ahead of me. On the other hand, your broccoli is just coming in and mine's already done. I wish I knew why these things happen.

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    1. Thanks. I was late setting out the broccoli (May 3) so that's probably why.

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  2. The photo of the kohlrabi, beets and turnips is gorgeous!

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  3. You have had such great harvests & the first tomato already! My zucchini trials are going dismally again this year; I've actually re-sown a couple of seeds for the Romanesco in the bed where I just pulled out the shelling peas to see if I can get some zucchini before the cold weather strikes. I'm so glad your garlic worked out - can't wait to start digging mine up, probably in a couple of weeks or so.

    That is a whopping amount of peas! It looks like both you and I have done well with our pea trellising issues this year - I used cattle panel for the sugar snaps & a short section of it (that I cut off because the full panel was much too tall) for the bush shelling peas & no pea trellis woes for me either.

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    1. The snap peas are topping an 8 foot trellis and going strong. Thankfully the snow peas look like they are done. I much prefer the snap peas, both for raw eating and stir fries.

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  4. Wow, you must have been efficient to do all of that! Those are some lovely looking veggies. I know Chesnok Red does well for a lot of folks but I never could get it to size up here. I'll bet those German Red bulbs are going to be big though. When I see big stalks it usually means a big fat bulb is lurking underground. I dug my German Red and Russian Red a few days ago. That Duganski sounds interesting but I have too many garlic varieties already!

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  5. holly cow! That is VERY impressive harvest and absolutely love how great it all looks.

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  6. Nice harvest, love those candy white green onions, I'm growing them as well, but I need to give them more space so the bulbs get bigger. How many SF raised beds are you using to grow all those goodies?

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    1. In my plot with the raised beds, I have 180 square feet. I also have a temporary second plot, 15x22, where the squash came from.

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  7. Really nice harvests this week. I'm probably not going to harvest my Copras until next week. Some of them are down, but not all of them. I need to build a drying rack.

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    1. A drying rack would be nice but so far I am just spreading them out in the garage while the cars get pooped on by the birds sitting on the wires outside. Wouldn't want the onions fouled.

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  8. Isn't Dunja a great variety? The cuke beetles don't affect my squash either, and really they don't bother the cucumbers that much, but this year they have been really hard on my cantaloupe. I catch and kill them by hand. I even found if I wear bright yellow they will come to me for the killing!

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    1. Yes, another Dunja fan! Thought I was alone. Trouble with the cukes is the beetles carry bacterial wilt, so one chomp does it and the plant dies within a couple of days. I'll have to try wearing yellow, lol. All the advice about tipping the flower doesn't work when the result would be to snap off the flower and fruit. I need a vacuum or something.

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  9. For some reason onions do not perform well in my garden, thinking of trying to grow them in containers next year. My Duganski garlic should be ready for harvest this week but not the German white. Love your root vegetables composition.

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  10. Such a great variety of harvests. Tomatoes already, I'm envious, my first ones won't ripen before some time in August. Your Renee's Romanesco zucchini is looking like mine, all those baby zukes lined up waiting to blossom...

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  11. Dave- Thanks for visiting my blog and I am sure glad that I found yours. A super weeks harvest. Boy am I glad I don't have - and have never heard of - onion thripes. Yikes. So sorry for the damage they are causing you. How fun to read about all of your garlic types. I so want to grow more varieties. I just need more room. My other one that I will dig next week id Russian Red. I bought it at the Common Ground Fair in Maine 3 years ago. It has HUGE cloves and makes HUGE bulbs. I think your German Red is going to be a lot like it. And now you have made me want to come to the MDI garlic festival. Please do a post on it for us garlic lovers that can't make it please :)

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  12. I thought I had done quite well until I read your post, Dave. They say that eating many different colours of food is good for you, so you should be OK! What a good job the cucumber beetles don't attack squashes and courgettes, else you could be under serious threat.

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  13. That's a shocking amount of peas you've been getting, seems like they're loving the weather you've been having as well. And your onions and garlic look big and wonderful.

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