Harvest Monday - September 19, 2016


Here we are in the middle of September and our temperatures are finally seasonal.  Well, more or less seasonal.  We are in for a warmer than usual week – temps in the mid-20’s (around 80F) until Friday – but then it’s back down to cooler fall weather.

So on to the harvests, starting with the smallest - a couple of golden raspberries.

'Fall Gold'

They were delicious!  There are a few more on the canes and it looks like we may also be getting some red raspberries too, if they ripen up before we get a frost.  This has been a rather dismal year for berries – yes, I only planted them last year, but our summer drought really did a number on them.

Now on to a first harvest for this season.  Last night when I was emptying the compost, my curiosity got the best of me & I pulled a carrot.

1st carrot of the season
(the photo was taken at nightfall so the lighting wasn't the best)

Well, the one that I pulled – a Mokum – looked amazing and it cleaned up even better:

9” long and weighed in at 162 grams (5.7 ounces)

Since we’ve had such a hot summer, which is not the best situation when it comes to growing sweet carrots, I’ve been holding off on harvesting hoping that some cooler fall weather may sweeten them up.  Lucky for me, I didn’t get around to sowing them until June, so I’m not too worried about them being over mature.

Of course, we had to taste it.  Super crunchy and it tasted good, although I must say it could have been a bit sweeter.  I’ll start to pull up carrots as needed now, but will leave the bulk of them until cooler weather arrives.

The other 1st was a Zao Feng squash, which is now in the basement:

Zao Feng squash together with a scallop squash
and final harvest of Trail of Tears beans (for drying)

This was a small guy, weighing in at just over 2 lbs.  There is not much information on this particular variety, so I’m going to let it sit in the basement for a few weeks before trying it, just in case it needs that time to sweeten up.

This was a light harvest week for tomatoes and peppers.  There are still a lot of fruits on the plants but I just didn’t get around to picking them.

A few tomatoes (including the 2nd last Brandywine)
together with the final harvest of cranberry beans (for drying)

Variety of peppers and a tromboncino

The skinny tromboncino in the photo didn’t get fertilized, but it was big enough to pick & was included in a scramble that my son made (he was so proud!).

As a side note, something has been eating the Lemon Drop peppers:

Nibbled Lemon Drop

Unlike other peppers that may be nibbled because they are in direct contact with the ground, that is not the case with these.  The damage is to peppers that are hanging on the plant, with no ground contact, and it is only on fully ripe, yellow peppers, not those that are still green.  I’ve even had one pepper completely eaten where the only thing left hanging on the plant was the core with the seeds.  So far, I’ve lost about 6 or so peppers but it seems that the culprit has moved on as I inspected the plant yesterday and didn’t see any more damage, even though there are quite a few ripe peppers on it now (which I’ll be harvesting today).

Two of the bean trellises were taken down this past weekend and I harvested any beans that were left.  After a few weeks with zero fresh bean harvests, this small harvest was cooked for lunch the same day:

Garden of Eden & Golden of Bacau

Another tromboncino & a few cucumbers were picked:

Tromboncino & a variety of cucumbers

The cucumber vines are looking pretty bad as they slowly succumb to powdery mildew but I may be able to get a few more fruits before they get pulled.

The broccoli is still producing side shoots:

Arcadia side shoots

And after a few weeks with no harvests, I’m finally harvesting kale again:

Red Ursa and White Russian kale

I’ve actually decided to take the netting off the brassica bed at this stage.  My thought is that, even though there still may be cabbage white butterflies fluttering about, I think we are late enough in the season that they wouldn’t have time to lay eggs that would hatch and cause much damage before our first frost.  The bonus is that the kale will get a bit more light and harvesting will be much easier.

My harvest totals this week were:

Beans – 212 grams (0.47 lbs)
Broccoli – 1,282 grams (2.83 lbs)
Carrots – 162 grams (0.36 lbs)
Cucumbers – 1,582 grams (3.49 lbs)
Kale – 544 grams (1.20 lbs)
Sweet Peppers – 124 grams (0.27 lbs)
Hot Peppers – 640 grams (1.41 lbs)
Summer Squash – 1,486 grams (3.28 lbs)
Winter Squash – 968 grams (2.13 lbs)
Tomatoes – 968 grams (2.13 lbs)

Total for Week – 8,010 grams (17.66 lbs)

Total to Date – 184.78 kg (407.37 lbs)

To see what everyone else has been harvesting over the past week, head on over to Our Happy Acres where Dave is our host for Harvest Mondays.

Comments

  1. My guess would be that it was a rodent that snacked on your peppers. They are good at just nibbling the good parts and leaving the stuff that they don't like. They get into my Meyer lemon tree and strip the the peel and pith from the lemons, leaving just the juicy naked lemons hanging from the tree.

    Your garden has been very productive in spite of the drought, over 400 pounds so far!

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    1. Thanks Michelle! Rodent damage makes sense as most of my other pests such as slugs and earwigs aren't as specific about what they eat. All those naked lemons must be quite the sight - strange how they go for the bitter pith but not the good stuff on the inside.

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  2. Interesting variety of harvests! It is odd that your pepper damage occurs off the ground; seems like a lot of work for a chipmunk or something, but you never know.

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    1. Thanks Will - I think Michelle is probably right about the rodents. I've had to place my soybean meal & organic fertilizer into covered plastic pails as they kept chewing through the bags to get to the good stuff.

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  3. We have to leave netting on brassicas all the time as if not the wood pigeons devastate them even in the middle of winter.

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    1. I must say that removing those dang covers is liberating... even if it is only for a short time.

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  4. Nice harvests! We haven't had much rain either and it makes this gardening thing much harder. Before we had a fence, I had deer eat peppers and they would always bite about half of them off, never eat the leaves and leave the rest of the pepper on the plant. They also decimated pretty much any other green foliage, so it should be obvious if deer are your culprit. They even took a nibble of some jalapenos!

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    1. Oh, deer are the worst although I doubt they are the culprit in this case. There's no damage to any part of the plant other than the peppers and it's ONLY the Lemon Drops that are being eaten, even though there are 31 other plants in that bed...whatever it is has VERY specific tastes! So far, we don't really have any deer issues around here - now excuse me for a minute while I find some wood to knock on ;)

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  5. I wonder what's eating the peppers, very strange. The carrot looks good, you should be in for a decent harvest if that first one's anything to go by. I've had a good amount of cucumbers off my one plant but I think it's just about done now, it's got powdery mildew though I did get another three cucumbers off it just yesterday, I might wait just a little while longer and see what happens.

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    1. Holding off on pulling the plant is a good idea. At this stage of the summer, any cucumbers that you can squeeze off of the vines is a good thing. I usually wait until either the plant is completely dead or there's a frost, whichever comes first.

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  6. Whatever nibbled on the peppers must like them hot! Hopefully they will now leave some for you. I'm amazed you are still getting side shoots on your broccoli. And that is one nice carrot! Hopefully there are more like it waiting underground.

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    1. I'm hoping for even more broccoli side shoots as the weather cools down a bit - that Arcadia is a real trooper!

      Fingers crossed on the carrots - that's the bed that had the most vole activity early on in the season so I'm a bit anxious about what I'll find.

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  7. That sure is a pretty carrot! And what a great amount of broccoli side shoots, they look wonderful. I only have a few plants which aren't doing well so just get one or two little ones each week.

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    1. Well, I'm more than overdue for a good carrot year as the last time I had a good harvest was over 3 years ago! Hopefully there are no unpleasant surprises courtesy of the voles in the rest of the bed.

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  8. Nice that you have ripe chilies. Mine are still green. Whatever ate them must like it hot. I'm not going to say anything about the broccoli because I'm too jealous.

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    1. Oh, you are too funny David :) I'm sure our super hot weather has contributed to the outstanding performance in the pepper bed. The harvest next year may be quite different if we have a "normal" summer, something I'll have to keep in mind so as not to be too disappointed.

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  9. So nice to see your garden trending to fall with the broccoli and kale. The raspberries when few are even sweeter!

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    1. So true! It seems like those small and 1st harvests are always the most appreciated, no matter the fruit or veg.

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  10. It's a shame about the Lemon Drop chillis having been nibbled - but at least the culprit knows a good chilli when it sees one! Congratulations on producing that very fine carrot. I hope there will be lots more good'uns for you!

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    1. Thanks Mark - If there rest of the carrots are like the first one, it will be one of my best harvests ever. But with the vole situation, that a big IF.

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  11. Just shows me how much one can produce later in the season if you keep at it. That carrot is beautiful! I pulled mine and they were small. Stuck them in the refrigerator and they are just about gone now!
    will have to buy. Nancy

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    1. I've not had much luck with carrots for the past few years, so I know how you feel. Maybe you'll find a little spot in your new garden to grow some next year :)

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  12. Those Tromboncinos look quite humorous. I have some potatoes sprouting in my compost pile, but no carrots.

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    1. The tromboncino is huge - and delicious, just in case you decide to experiment ;) And nothing wrong with volunteer potatoes...I have a few in my carrot bed and can't wait to see what's there once I dig them up.

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  13. I lost my golden raspberry plant due to the extended hot dry weather and I neglected to water. Will have to plant another next year and make sure to remember to water. I planted Mokum for the first time this year haven't pulled any yet as they were planted late.

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    1. I feel your pain - I think that at least 4 of my blackberry canes died off this summer. I'm hoping to extend the drip lines into the berry areas next year. I look forward to hearing what you think about the Mokums - it's always nice trying out a new variety when you have company :)

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  14. You really had a lot of variety for this time of year. Congratulations on the raspberries! Fresh raspberries are so delicious. Hopefully next year you'll have many more.

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    1. The raspberry/blackberry patches have had a tough time this year. They really need some tlc so I'm going to give them a good weeding and some mulch before winter sets in.

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  15. Still impressive harvests through September, and during a drought. Wow! And, yes, congrats on the raspberries! Yum!

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    1. Thanks Beth - I am enjoying the final harvests of summer, but at the same time I'm quite looking forward to the winter break :)

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