Harvest Monday 20 July 2015

 

The Costata Romanesco is out-producing Dunja about 3 to 1. Of course it is cheating by trying to shade out its neighbor. It really needs at least a 5-foot plot of its own. And it tends to flop around. It is now lurching its way towards Dunja when it could of gone in three other directions. The tomatoes are Juliet which are starting to ripen now. This week I should also be picking Jaune Flamme and Esterina cherries.

 

 

Last week I showed some nice heads of broccoli starting to form. Well, they did not get bigger, they did this instead. I am not sure what causes this, probably stress from the heat. At least they are easy to cut up for a stir fry. I have started more seeds for a fall planting which will hopefully do better. For spring planting I should probably plant a fast maturing type like Blue Wind.

 

 

The mustard greens have started to bolt so this is my last cutting and I will pull those plants  The last of the lettuce was picked but not photographed. The rest has bolted and will be pulled. I also picked another 3 pounds of mostly snap peas. And I found another Romanesco squash hiding low under a leaf. This one is big, about 15 inches.

 

 

The last of the garlic was dug and is now drying in the garage. This is German Red, a large hardneck that I purchased last year at the MDI garlic festival. Some of the bulbs are very large, with 4-5 cloves per head.

 

That’s what came from my garden last week. To see what other gardeners are harvesting, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday 15 June 2015

 

More chard, Magenta Sunset on left, Orange Fantasia, and Pink Passion. The chard and mustard were overhanging the squares where the cucumbers were to go, so they got trimmed.

 

 

The mustard greens are finally large enough to harvest.  Keeping them covered prevents flea beetle damage but I run the risk the higher temperature inside might cause them to bolt. Oh well, they are going to bolt anyway.

 

 

The squares in the foreground are needed for the cucumbers.

 

 

More radishes, Zlata and Dragon. I definitely have to try making radish pickles. For Michelle, I tasted a bit of the Dragon leaf and it was fairly mild but a little fuzzy. I would eat it, some bacon grease and a splash of pepper vinegar would make it quite tasty.

 

 

The garlic scapes have started to form and I got a first picking. The really fat ones are from the German Red garlic I picked up last year at the Mt. Desert Island garlic festival. The stems on this large garlic are at least an inch in diameter so I am hoping for some good size bulbs.

 

 

Finally got the last of the peppers planted, the spice and chili peppers that were so slow to germinate. On the left above are the spice peppers, Aji Dulce and Arroz con Pollo. The lighter green peppers on the right are the Lemon Drop chili peppers. All of these went in the raised beds.

 

 

As an example how crazy the variance in pepper seed germination is, the picture above shows two of my Jimmy Nardello peppers, a variety that I really like and really want to grow. The large plant was the first to germinate and one of the first seedlings I had to pot up. The rest did not germinate and/or I killed them, but I scrambled and used the paper towel in a baggie method and eventually got 6 peppers, 5 like the one on the left and one like the one on the right. Naturally I would like to be planting 6 peppers like the one on the right. I need to do something better, but at least it is not like last year where I killed just about all my pepper seeds that decided to germinate.

 

 

The Soloist Napa cabbages are heading so I tied them up to help, and to get the leaves off the ground so they don’t provide a convenient ramp for the slugs to get inside the heads.

 

 

I also tied up the heads of endive to blanch the hearts, which makes them more tender and less bitter. I should be harvesting some of the endives in a few weeks.

 

That is what I harvested from my garden last week. Check out what other gardeners around the world are doing by visiting Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday 7 JUL 2013

I was gone for the last week of June and knew I was leaving garlic scapes, turnips, radishes, chard and mustard to be harvested when I got back. My son watered and kept up with the scapes for me. Fortunately, most items held, but that left me with a lot to harvest when I got back.

 

 

Half of the white Hakurei turnips were ready for harvesting and I pulled the batch above with more to harvest next week. These turnips are far superior to the Tokyo Cross variety I used to plant. The lavender Boro King radishes from Territorial were also ready, which was good because their foliage was shading the squash that is going to replace them. Note that one of them was white, not lavender. Also pulled  a few stragglers of Cherry Belle and Zlata.

 

 

I cut the kale to reduce its volume and allow my cucumbers some sun to get a start up the trellis. The kale went into Portuguese kale soup with some of the Hakurei turnips, half for dinner and half was frozen. Another Win-Win choi was harvested and used in a Asian-style slaw for the Fourth of July BBQ that was delayed until the 5th by the rain on Friday. The snow and snap peas are now starting to come in.

 

 

This a sampling of lettuces I have been picking from the Citypicker on the deck. I planted my lettuces in a self-watering container on the deck so I can pick them when I need them. The lettuces on the top are Jericho on left and Merlot on right. That is New Red Fire on the bottom. I also have my usual Buttercrunch but mistakenly planted it in the garden, so I have to drive 2 miles to harvest it.

 

 

The chard is finally mature and  producing well. The Orange Fantasia on the right obviously has some variability in its selection, with some white stems. That is Magenta Sunset on the left, not nearly as striking as it was in the Tower Hill Kitchen Garden last year. All of this and more was blanched and frozen.

 

 

More chard and some Green Wave mustard, plus more scapes. The chard and mustard was frozen.

 

 

Finally, Sunday I pulled some more of the Hakurei turnips that were throwing themselves out of the ground, just hanging on by the tap root. I guess they were telling me they were ready. I’m going to try freezing most of the snow peas. They will likely be used in a Thai curry or stir fry, so hopefully texture will not be an issue.

 

That’s what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday 23 June 2014

 

Last week I complained of no garlic scapes for poor  me. Then the  Mass Extension newsletter arrived Friday with the news that farmers across Massachusetts were harvesting (or sadly in some cases, composting) garlic scapes. Sure enough, a trip to the garden showed I do have scapes, shown above, which appeared almost overnight. I will be enjoying my scapes and not composting them.

 

The Mass Extension newsletter had some more advice on garlic culture:

• Garlic is forming bulbs now and needs adequate moisture, at least equivalent to 1” per week of rain.
• Likewise, removing competing weeds now is vital to maximizing bulb size.
• Removing the scapes also helps increase bulb size.
• It is way too late to fertilize garlic now, after the summer solstice. That should have been done in the spring.
• Finally, remove any runt, deformed or discolored plants now, since they may be diseased and even if not, they will not be producing useable bulbs. The garlic above is a stunted plant removed from my Viola Francese row, so I will have some green garlic to add to a dish.

 

 

So, the garden goes from promise to bounty in a week. Above are, left to right, Green Wave and Dragon's Tongue mustards and Beedy’s Camden kale  These were blanched and frozen.

 

 

The Win-Win choi is doing well and I harvested a couple of heads, which will be used in a stir fry. I also pulled more radishes, Zlata and Cherry Belle, some of which were starting to bolt. I also pulled a few Hakurei white turnips which I didn’t photograph. And I have also been picking lettuce which I didn’t photograph.

 

Of course, just as the garden decides to pick up and needs attention, we are leaving for a week. My son is going to water for me and harvest the garlic scapes. Hopefully it doesn’t get real hot so things can hold until I get back. I have never figured a good time to be away during gardening season.

 

That is all from Bolton this week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, visit our host for Harvest Monday, Daphne's Dandelions.

Garden Update 16 June 2014

 

 

My first harvest out of the garden this year is radish Zlata. This is a Polish variety and the name means “gold”, although to me it looks tan. The radishes were beautiful, but fairly hot and not as juicy and sweet as the Cherry Belle radishes below, but I would still grow them again.

 

 

The next day my garden neighbor with the eagle eye pointed out the Cherry Belle radishes ready for pulling that I had missed. Along with those I cut some mustard greens. The purplish one is Dragon Tongue from Territorial and the green one is my usual Green Wave mustard. While Green Wave is its usual spicy, peppery self, the Dragon Tongue has more complexity and is not quite as assertive/hot. I think this is going to be a good choice. And overall, I’m happy with the relative lack of flea beetle and cabbage root maggot damage this year among the brassicas. The weather may suck, but it sucks for all!

 

 

Elsewhere in the garden, the tomato transplants are doing well. Above is Jaune Flamme, grown from seed and already flowering.

 

 

Sunkist, above, is an orange slicer developed in New Hampshire. The transplants are doing vey well and showing vigorous growth.

 

 

Blue Beech, above, is a paste tomato from Fedco. The seeds originally came from Blue Beech Farm in Vermont and are supposedly adapted to New England summers. The Striped Roman and Gilbertie I grew last year were duds, so I hope this one does better. These transplants were purchased from my neighbor, Jem Mix, and are beautiful.

 

 

Some of the radishes are ready to start harvesting. Above are Zlata radishes.

 

 

The bed above has Saffron shallots grown from seed. The previous year I tried planting shallots from bulbs, an expensive fiasco since every single bulb rotted over the winter. Seed shallots don’t multiply, producing a single bulb per transplant, but that is better than nothing.

 

 

Most of the beds are now planted out. Above are mustards and chard in the middle, with cucumbers along the sides with the trellises. All of these were started indoors because of germination problems last year with the lousy weather. I could have done a better job with the chard and mustard, but I think the cucumber starts done in peat strips were very successful. Now we just need some sun and warmth for the cukes, peppers and tomatoes.

 

 

On Friday, I checked on the garden and found the row cover on the bed above ripped open and pushed into the soil. Peering in, I saw something had been digging in the middle of the bed. Standing up, I turned and found myself 4 feet from a large snapping turtle, no doubt looking for a nice place to lay her eggs. I guess I’m flattered that out of all the acreage in the garden, she found my raised bed the perfect spot. I came back with my son, a big garden tub, and a snow shovel. While I was gone, she hoisted her self up into the tomato bed, which is about 10 inches above ground level, and plowed a furrow down that bed. We managed to get her into the tub and hauled her back to the brook. Now to figure out the spot in the garden fencing she got through.

 

See what other gardeners around the world are doing by visiting our host for Harvest Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions.

Harvest Monday–12 August 2013

 

 

The Trionfo Violetto pole bean finally has set some beans. This is the first of significant size but I should be able to start picking this week. The beans are a dusty purple color when mature but they start out green. You can see two immature beans above, the smaller one is green except for the tip and the seam. As it matures, it starts turning purple in patches. The shape is flattened, not round, and I sure hope I like them because it looks like I am going to get a lot.

 

 

The picture above has my first Sunburst patty pan at the bottom. At the top, the large tomato is my one and only Pineapple heirloom, with some splits due to the recent rain. The first fruit had a bad patch of BER and rotted so I removed it. The weeks of high 90s heat caused most of the larger tomatoes to drop their flowers. Ditto for the peppers. They are starting to flower again, so all I need is two or three more months of summer weather and some sunshine.

 

 

Some chard/silverbeet and another batch of Boro beets.

 

 

The mustards started bolting so I am harvesting what I can from them. I need to start some more and replant for the fall. The nice thing about kale and collard is that they are essentially biennials and need a winter before they bolt, so I can continue to harvest through the warm weather right into late fall.

 

I am cleaning up some of the beds and getting them ready for fall planting. I have lettuce, broccoli and kohlrabi seeds started and need to get more beets, carrots and turnips seeded into the garden. The Red Bull onions have dropped and need to be pulled before it rains again. They went at least two weeks longer than the Copra onions and it looks like there are some good sized ones.

 

Thanks for stopping by. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday—29 July 2013

 

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.

Garden Post-Mortem Part 2

 

Kale

We had such a mild winter last year that the Beedy’s Camden kale survived and thrived in the spring. I had all the kale I wanted, but I needed room to plant new seedlings. So when the existing plants started flowering, I would harvest most of the larger leaves and plan to come back and remove the plant. When I did, the plant had new growth and I couldn’t bring myself to pull it. This went on until late summer. Meanwhile I planted the seedlings in the bed where they were shaded by the existing plants. What I planted was Vates Dwarf Curled kale seedlings I started myself. The Vates is a curly, dark blue-green kale that is very cold hardy. The plants have survived the cold weather so far and I did cut some leaves last week. I like this type of kale but next year I plan to go back to the Beedy’s Camden, it really is a great kale.

Mustard

I had good luck with the Green Wave mustard. It has light green, frilly leaves that are sweet and tasty.  It is pretty bolt resistant and I was able to  cut leaves for an extended period. When it did start to bolt, I cut off the flower stalks, which seemed to stop the bolting and eventually I got another cutting from it. What I probably should have done is just pull it out and replant it for the fall, since it is cold tolerant. I will definitely plant it again next year. And it wasn’t bothered by flea beetles, while just a few feet away my eggplants were being drilled!

Peas

I planted Sugar Ann snap peas and Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas. I usually plant 4 squares of each and place a low fence around the bed for support. The problem with the snap peas is they tend to be too tall for this method to work and really need to be trellised.  The Sugar Ann was supposed to be more compact, described as a dwarf plant 10-24 inches high, Well, mine got leggy and then slumped over on the snow peas. The whole mess then started leaning over the beets, shading them. I need to come up with a better support strategy. Production was good, particularly the snow peas. I was really happy with the choice of  Oregon Sugar Pod and will plant it again.

Peppers

Peppers were a failure again this year, the second year I have grown them in raised beds. You would think peppers would grow well in the loose, well-drained soil mix I use, but the last two years have been troublesome. Both years the pepper foliage seems pale, almost yellowish. Plants fail to put on enough size to produce a lot of fruit. Of course, we had an extended period of hot weather that inhibited flower set that didn’t help. The peppers that have done OK are the Thai and jalapeno peppers.

Radishes and turnips

Radishes were almost a total failure this year. I had stopped growing radishes because of  cabbage root maggots, but the flies don’t seem to be a problem in the community garden. Most of the radishes this year just bolted and the few that got harvestable size were pithy.  Varieties planted were French Breakfast, Cherry Belle, and Icicle. I got just  a few of the French Breakfast. I assume heat was the problem and I will try planting earlier next year. The Tokyo Cross white turnips, planted in the same location and conditions as the radishes, did very well while the radishes did not. Next year I think I will plant more turnips and fewer radishes.

Summer Squash

I had a very good year for summer squash. I kept them covered until they started blooming, then uncovered them to allow pollination. The squash bugs did not seem as bad this year, although I did remove a lot of eggs from the leaves. I set out trap boards and early on the boards worked pretty well. I was also happy with the varieties of squash planted. I planted Sunburst again this year, a yellow patty pan that was very prolific. The Dunja zucchini was a little slow in starting but produced fruit all season, up to cold weather. And it was fairly resistant to mildew, as promised. Finally, the Costata Romanesco squash, an Italian variety,  produced early and very well until it succumbed to mildew and wilt. All are candidates to be planted next year, when I swear I will check the plants carefully every day so I don’t get anymore baseball bats.

 

Swiss Chard (Silverbeet)

Swiss chard was another winner this year after several years of failure. In years past something would eat the plants or seedlings and they never got started. This year my Orange Fantasia chard survived ( I set out four and two survived). This is a beautiful variety with orange stems and dark green foliage. I filled in the holes in the bed with some robust Bright Lights plants I found, and they also did well. I had cuttings up until hard freeze.

Harvest Monday–9 July 2012

This was still a transition week between spring and summer crops. Almost all the tomatoes have set fruit now, along with some of the peppers and eggplants. The pickling cukes are starting to flower along with the first planting of bush beans. Some of the summer squash have flower buds. But with all the promise, there is nothing to harvest except the remaining spring-sowed vegetables.

This is the second picking of Tokyo Cross white turnips, and a lone radish. The rest of the radishes have bolted and were pulled. A few of the turnips show tunneling around on the surface of the bulb but no apparent penetration. I don’t know if this is the cabbage root maggot or nematodes. Anybody know?



The endive and escarole are getting crowded in their beds. I harvested two very large heads of endive which I cleaned up and placed in the refrigerator. Even though I was too lazy to tie up the heads to blanch the, the hearts are nicely blanched just from being cramped in the beds. There were a lot of small slugs in the heads so cleaning them was a chore. We already have had one salad, made with a warm bacon dressing and sprinkled with bleu cheese crumbles at Mark Willis’ suggestion.



Finally, another cutting of chard and mustard. The chard still looks fine but the mustard is thinking about bolting. This mustard along with a previous cutting provided us with a large pot of greens fixed Southern style with bacon drippings and served with pepper vinegar.



That’s what I harvested from my garden last week. To see what others have harvested, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions for Harvest Monday around the world.

Harvest Monday - 2 July 2012

This week’s harvest is a little more varied. The snow peas are producing large amounts of pods. This pile weighed in at a pound and a half. And I am starting to get some side shoots from the broccoli.



Most of the salad bed is bolting and turning bitter. I cut a large bag of leaf lettuce to use in wilted lettuce salad, made with a hot bacon dressing.



I also cut a large amount of the lettuce for salads during the week, but this is probably the last of it until fall.



These are Tokyo Cross turnips, along with a few radishes. The roots were beautiful and free of cabbage root maggots. I don’t need the extra protein in my diet..The turnips are wonderful, sliced up and braised with a little butter. They were mild and sweet, but the greens need to be stripped off the stems which were too fibrous.



Another picking of snow peas yielded another pound of peas. We will have plenty of snow peas for the Fourth of July. Instead of the traditional New England dinner of poached salmon with egg sauce and peas, I do a variation which is a concession to my Midwestern instinct to barbeque on the Fourth. I slow smoke the salmon (a whole one if I can find it) using apple or alder wood. We serve it with a creamy lemon risotto and this year, with a large serving of steamed snow peas. The best part is the leftovers. Cold smoked salmon for breakfast for a week, with the left over crumbs going into scrambled eggs.



Finally, the mustard and the chard continue to grow prolifically and fortunately, the mustard does not look like it wants to bolt yet. And flea beetle damage is still minimal although the pests are back with the warmer weather.



That’s what came from my garden last week. To see what others have harvested, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions for Harvest Monday around the world.