Harvest Monday September 19 2011

Another week, another great harvest, including some great looking carrots, the last of our peppers and some more delicious tomatoes!!
Here is a look at this weeks harvest:
Tomato - 7.92 lbs (126.65 oz)
Carrots - 4.60 oz
Bell Pepper- 3.00 oz
Jalapeno Pepper- 5.65 oz
Gypsy Pepper-4.25 oz
Wax Pepper-14.00 oz
Cubanelle Pepper- 1.26 lbs (20.25 oz)
Total for this week: 11.15 lbs (178.14 oz)
Total for the season: 50.85 lbs (813.60 oz)

Crossed the 50 pound mark! Only 13 lbs  or so to match last years total. It is going to be very close, but I think we can do it. All in all I am impressed with the nearly 15 lbs of peppers we grew this year from only 6 plants, especially the Jalapeno's. 2 small plants kept going and going until this weeks cold finished them off.

For the upcoming week I am going to weed, turn, and amend the soil for garlic planting, and slowly transition some stuff to fall garden and transition some stuff to bed.

First Paste Tomato

The first Striped Roma paste tomato was brought home on Wednesday!!! It looks like there are a few more ready to turn a vibrant mix of red and yellow that may make it home before the end of the week!

I've updated the Tomato Watch in the sidebar with this year's first tomato harvests!

Harvest Monday July 18th 2011

Another week of heat and humidity did the garden well. Everything is going smoothly except for the pole beans and zucchini both the victims of critters, though the pole beans might have time to recover, it looks doubtful for the zucchini.

This week we had 2 firsts - The first tomato and peppers of the year. We took home a Cherokee Purple that was about to turn red last week which I had accidentally knocked off, but it turned this week and we got to enjoy it. I would have had a 2nd tomato from the same plant this week but the animals got to it before I did. I saw the tomato and Friday afternoon and knew I would be returning to the garden the following day for some work, and thought I could take it home then, but I was wrong. When we got to the garden on Saturday the tomato had 3 nice sized bite/peck marks. Lesson learned I guess! Regardless of the outcomes I have updated the tomato watch sidebar to reflect the first harvested Cherokee Purple (still waiting for a striped roma).

As for the peppers we took home, they look more like last years wax peppers then the cubanelle, jalapeno or bell peppers we are growing this year, so until I know otherwise I will count them as wax peppers. We also pulled the final Kale plant from the spring that was still hanging on.

Here is this weeks Harvest:

Tomato 2.85 oz

Pepper (wax) 3.65 oz

Chives 2.35 oz

Kale 6.10 oz

Mesclun Greens 4.65 oz

Parsley .30 oz

Huckleberry 3.75 oz

Total for the week: 1.478 lbs (23.65 oz)

Total for the season: 7.73 lbs (123.65 oz)

Less greens and more tomato and peppers in the near future I'd imagine, and hopefully some pole beans at some point too!

If you want to see what other's are harvesting or share in your own bounty stop by Daphne's Dandelions the home of Harvest Monday!

Tomato and Pepper Watch!

July has been great for the tomato's and pepper in the garden. After a June that featured seemingly endless rains and not many warm days July has been hot and humid!

As a result the tomatoes and peppers have been making their presence known. Here's a few pics I snapped last week:

The cubanelle's pictured above are coming on strong. 3 plants and at least 15 peppers already!

This Cherokee Purple is by far the biggest tomato I have so far. The plant its on is a little weak but this tomato is looking mighty fine!

Lastly, the Striped Roma's aren't nearly as big as the Cherokee's but there are a lot more of them.

It doesn't seem like this years tomato and pepper conditions are as good as last year, but that is fine, I am happy for each and every harvest and the experience of nurturing the plants and enjoying the bounty!

Signs of things to come

The garden has quickly transitioned from waking up to promising future delights. While weeding on Sunday I snapped a few pictures.

Our first 2 tomatoes made their presence known! Almost 2 weeks before I spotted one last year these 2 tomatoes can be found on one of the Cherokee Purple's that Gail picked out!

Not to be out done 3 bell peppers have already set fruit as well! Hopefully the cubanelle and jalapeños won't be terribly far behind!

Some of the summer (hopefully) lettuce is finally out competing the weeds as well. Here's a nice shot of some Red Cross butterhead that is reaching for the sky.

Finally, a nice pink rose, after all it's not ALL about food, just mostly.

Garden Happenings

The garden and I have come out of our winter slumber and things are slowly coming to life. The garlic is flourishing, radishes have sprouted, and the kale and arugula look pretty great. We're waiting on more lettuce, carrots, and bush beans to sprout as well. We also planted a little huckleberry plant we picked up at a local nursery.

We also picked up some beautiful looking tomato, zucchini, marigold and pepper seedlings that will be going in the ground soon.

Pictured above is our collection of pepper seedlings- jalepeno, cubanelle, and 'Golden Summer' bell pepper as well as marigolds.

Below are the Tomato and Zucchini seedlings. We are growing Speckled Roman's for sauce and Cherokee purple because Gail thought they look nice and I never met a tomato I didn't love!

In the front you can also see our 'bush baby' zucchini seedlings:

We didn't have luck with our own zucchini last year so we are going with a mini variety to save space and starting with seedlings to increase our odds this year!

The bed all the peppers, tomatoes, and most of the marigolds will be planted in is going to be worked over just as soon as the weather cooperates. Once that is done the garden will be in full production mode!

Also, my kitchen counter seed starting experiment was not very successful but if any of these mini broccoli or leeks toughen up they might find their way to the garden as well:

If the weather and critters cooperate we'll be harvesting loads of tomatoes, peppers, and hopefully zucchini!!

Harvest Monday August 16th 2010

Tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes! We also harvested the beautiful orange wax pepper in my last post, as well as the first green bell pepper! I had to pull up a few of the potato plant due to crowding/space issues! All in all a productive week!

This Week's Harvest Totals:

11.790 lbs Tomatoes

2.5 oz Cranberry Beans

4.25 oz Bell Pepper

1.24 oz Wax Pepper

14.25 oz Potato

12 oz Basil

.03 oz Mint

Weekly Total: 13.932 lbs/6.319 kg

Seasonal Total: 30.13 lbs/13.667 kg

Harvest Totals have been updated.

If you want to see what others are harvesting or share in your own bounty, stop by Daphne's Dandelions the home of Harvest Monday.

Some Color from the Garden - Shades of Red edition

A short trip to the plot today showed that shades of red are really standing out these days!

The sunflowers are exploding with color. This one in particular caught my eye:

I've been leaving a few Hungarian Wax peppers on the plant to ripen in the hopes that I can get a few red ones for seed. This one is the first to turn orange. In the back right of the photo another wax pepper from the same plant is still in the greenish-yellow stage:
I picked these Cherry Tomatoes this afternoon. They are black cherry, have a slightly sweet taste and are a wonderful dark almost purple color:
One pod of the Ottawa Cranberry Beans produced beans that were more red then the usual mix of cream and red the beans usually end up:
The Cranberry Bean jar (note the new jar) is filling up more and more each day:

Harvest Monday August 9th 2010

A great week weather wise! The tomatoes are coming in full force. Here is a nice picture of some of sundays harvest:

The beautiful bouquet of sunflowers was part of the harvest. We also finally got a few Scarlet Nantes carrots that had reached a good size! The hungarian pepper was just starting to turn from yellow to a more orange, it was picked to add a little zing to a homemade pasta sauce.

Last week we had eeked out 4 cranberry beans, but this week they really came strong! Each trip to the garden resulted in more beans being harvested:

Harvest totals for this week:

3.77 lbs Tomatoes

8 oz Basil

5.45 oz Cranberry Beans

2 oz Carrots

1.10 oz Wax Pepper

Weekly Total: 4.80 lbs/2.177 kg

Seasonal Total: 16.198 lbs/7.347 kg

Harvest Totals have been updated.

If you want to see what others are harvesting or share in your own bounty, stop by Daphne's Dandelions the home of Harvest Monday.

Harvest Monday - August 2nd 2010

This week was an explosive week in the harvesting department! The first full sized tomatoes were picked on Wednesday. 2 Early Girl and 3 Striped Roman tomatoes:

We headed to the garden to do some major weeding and prep work for the fall on Saturday. When we got there we had discovered one of the striped roman tomatoes was collapsing out of it's cage under the weight of all the tomatoes that were on it! For the sake of the rest of the tomato plants we pulled the plant and took home all of the green tomatoes. We also grabbed a few cranberry red potatoes, some baby onions, 3 more ripe tomatoes, and a hungarian wax pepper:

We ended up picking 2 more ripe tomatoes, and some small bunches of Basil, Chives, and Sage yesterday which didn't make it into a photo.

Harvest Totals this week:

1.55 oz Cherry Tomatoes (including the first cherry tomatoes from 7/22)

2.84 lbs Tomatoes

3.44 lbs Green Tomatoes

4.25 oz Potato

1.05 oz Onion

.50 oz Hungarian Pepper

.55 oz Sage

.65 oz Basil

.45 oz Chives

Weekly Total: 6.75 lbs/3.06 kg

Seasonal Total: 11.394 lbs/5.168 kg

Harvest Totals have been updated.

Now that full sized tomatoes have certainly been harvested, the tomato watch is over. I'll note the first harvests and keep track for next year!

Another First harvest this week:

2 undersized Cranberry Bean pods had already dried out, yielding 4 Ottawa Cranberry Beans. The beans came from Daphne by way of Ottawa Gardener.

If you want to see what others are harvesting or share in your own bounty, stop by Daphne's Dandelions the home of Harvest Monday.

First Tomatoes!

Gail and I picked our first tomatoes today!

A pair of black cherry tomatoes. I could have left them on the vine another day or two but the urge to pick them was just too tempting. Their flavor was sweet yet rich, as expected from a 'black' tomato.

They just might be the only harvest this week, but I'm pleased!

Signs of Things to come...

It's hot out. 6 days of 90F/32C or higher. Before watering the plot I took a few shots. Here is what is (hopefully) coming in the near future:

(This Sunflower is nearly ready to burst with color)

(The first Yukon Gold potato has started blooming. At least I think it's Yukon Gold)

(The Ottawa Cranberry Beans I got from Daphne are flowering and setting pods)

(Black Cherry Tomatoes are on their way)

(Early Girl Tomatoes?)

(Looks like there might be a Zucchini in there somewhere!)

(Blurry but wonderful looking Hungarian Wax Pepper)

Everything is growing so fast I'm barely able to keep track of it all!

Doorstep of Summer Garden Tour

With summer officially starting yesterday I thought a pictorial of my plot would be nice. So here is a photo tour of plot Z-1(aka my plot) at the Fenway Victory Gardens on the eve of summer. Photos were taken Sunday afternoon.

Walking through the gardens, below is the view as you approach my plot:

(Z-1 is the first plot on the left)

When you arrive at the gate you will notice the hi-tech security system:

(intruders beware!)

Upon entering the plot, to your left, along the front fence bed 1 - Broccoli, Carrots (poor germination), Leeks, Cabbage, and Onions (poor germination):

(Broccoli, Carrots, & Leeks in the front. Beyond the nasturtium is the cabbage and poorly germinated onions)

Moving on to bed 2 - A mishmash of Broccoli, Mint, Mesclun, Carrots (much better germination), Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Romaine and Spinach:

(The first half of bed 2: Broccoli, Mint, Mesclun, Carrots, & Cucumbers)

(2nd half of bed 2 - Sunflowers, Romaine, Spinach. The blank spot on the left housed the first planting of mesclun greens)
Bed 3- the center bed is home to the Tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, more Sunflowers, and more Nasturtiums (most of them are between the tomato cages):

(the view of bed 3 from the front of the plot)

(Basil at the back of bed 3)

(Looking from the back of bed 3 towards the gate down the row of tomato cages. You can see the Nasturtium flowers between each cage)

Bed 4 is the home of the Potato Trench & Pole Beans:

(The potato trench is filling in nicely, and the trellis' are starting to fill up with pole bean vines)

Behind the 2nd bed is a small batch of chives and then the herb bed (bed 5) - Garlic Chives, Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, some Sage, more (but smaller barely visible) chives, and borage:

(patch of chives between bed 2 and the herb bed)

(the main herb bed. Garlic chives in the front left look like grass. Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, some Sage growing close to the Cilantro)

Next to the Herb bed is the usual home for 2 of the 3 tomatoes in buckets. I move these around at my whim, but generally 2 of them sit between the herbs and the final bed.

(no such thing as enough tomato plants)

Bed 6, the last bed sits in the back right corner of the plot. There are 2 rows of Beets, Zucchini, and more Sunflowers in this bed:(Beets in front, Zucchini in the middle, a few Sunflowers and Daylily's in the back)

Here is a view of the plot from the backside. The gate can be seen in the back of the photo:

(plot Z-1 in all of its glory)

Finally, the last shot is a view from the front left corner as you approach the plot:

Thus concludes the tour of my plot on the eve of summer.

Tomato & Pepper Watch

While working in the garden this afternoon we saw that the first tomato and peppers had set (very small) fruits:

The tomato seedlings we got at the Natick Community Farm were not properly labeled so I'm not sure what type of tomato is pictured above. My best guess would be that it is a Peacevine Cherry Tomato.

Pictured above is of our first Hungarian Wax Pepper! The camera had difficulty getting a clear shot, but it's clearly a tiny pepper.

This last photo is from one of the Yankee Bell Pepper plants.

I'll be doing inspection of the tomato and pepper plants every few trips to the plot in order to keep track of when fruit starts to set on each of the plants.