Harvest Monday - July 28, 2014
The good news is we harvested our first green beans this
week – Yeah!
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| Contender Bush Beans |
The bad news is my
hunch about the browning leaves on the Golden of Bacau climbers turns out
to be right. They are infected with
Bacterial Brown Spot – just like last year – Boo!
Since this disease is infectious, a few of the Contender beans that were planted right next to the Golden of Bacau are already infected - and that is how I was able to confirm that those browning leaves were in fact bacterial brown spot.
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| Contender Bean Infected with Bacterial Brown Spot |
The source of the infection is obviously the seed. Last year, I wasn’t so sure as I made a bit of a goof when I planted the beans, planting them way too close to the peas. They did not grow very well in the beginning and all of my climbers had browning leaves on the bottom (not just the Golden of Bacau) from the too close quarters. I thought that they were perhaps weak to start with and that is what made them susceptible to the infection.
This year, I gave the climbers lots of space (comparatively
speaking). I noticed browning on the Golden of Bacau leaves when the plants were
still small, while all of the other
beans looked green and healthy. Had I
been sure that it was bacterial brown spot (which I wasn’t), I would have pulled
them right there and then.
Another telltale
sign of this infection is the brownish markings on the stems.
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| Brown Markings on Golden of Bacau Stems |
The above photo was taken this past weekend. Earlier in the plants development, the brownish spots were much less conspicuous,
but still present. I did notice them but wasn't sure whether the markings were brown spot or simply natural colouration on this type of bean. Now I know.
The vines are over 6’ tall now and the pods are
forming. Last year, I was able to harvest
around 5 lbs. of these wonderful beans before the bacterial spot took over so I
have decided just to leave them and try to harvest what I can. The infection is probably already in the soil and/or the surrounding beans so even if I pull them up now, there is no guarantee that the rest of the
beans won’t get infected – I think the risk is worth it as I do love the Golden
of Bacau beans.
Moving on from my bean troubles, this past week I also
harvested some more cucumbers and hot peppers. A handful of chives that were destined for tuna salad also made it into the basket.
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| Hungarian Wax Peppers, Garden Sweet Cucumbers & Chives |
The Garden Sweet cucumbers are doing so well! I decided to make refrigerator pickles with the last batch. Yum yum!
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| Refrigerator Dill Pickles |
See those onions in the pickles? My first harvest of onions – ever! I was so excited. I got the kids out there and we picked the smallest Ailsa Craig onions, the runts of the litter, so to speak.
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| Ailsa Craig Onions - the runts of the litter - |
Of course I needed some dill for the pickles – so I harvested a bunch as well.
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| "Hera Organic" Dill |
Making a repeat appearance in the harvest tally is
lettuce. And just in time too as we had finally finished the last of two huge bowls of lettuce
this past week. That lettuce was harvested 3 weeks ago when I pulled the spring planting. The leaf lettuces did fine for the first couple
of weeks but then deteriorated quickly.
The Batavian lettuce (Sierra MI), however, lasted the whole time with only a
bit of browning on the bottom of the stem in week 3.
Pretty amazing.
A few more tomatoes were harvested, still from the
Bloody Butcher plants. I see some tomatoes on a couple of other varieties that are just on the verge of ripening. Our days have been balmy and our nights have been
very cool lately – more indicative of late August than July. Perhaps that is
impacting how quickly everything is ripening? It has definitely slowed down the hot pepper production.
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| Sierra MI Lettuce & Bloody Butcher Tomatoes |
Harvested but not photographed were also a few Sure
Thing zucchini. The plants are still
rather small (compared to what they should be) and I have lost a few squash due
to lack of pollination. On the bright
side, I have seen more pollinators buzzing around the borage recently, so that's promising.
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| Bee Coming in for a Landing on the Borage |
My harvest totals this week were:
Beans - 588 grams (1.30 lbs)
Cucumbers – 1,220 grams (2.69 lbs)Lettuce – 328 grams (0.72 lbs)
Onions – 152 grams (0.34 lbs)
Hot Peppers – 140 grams (0.31 lbs)
Summer Squash – 814 grams (1.79 lbs)
Tomatoes – 256 grams (0.56 lbs)
Herbs – 28 grams (0.06 lbs)
Total for Week – 3,526 grams (7.77 lbs)
Total to Date – 34.94 kg (77.03 lbs)
To see what everyone else has been harvesting over the past
week, head on over to Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Mondays.
Till next time…
Too bad about the beans. I hope you still get a good harvest from them though. And isn't pickle season wonderful? I so love refrigerator pickles.
ReplyDeleteYou said it. I didn't make anywhere near enough last year so I'm glad the cucumbers are doing well (but not as good as yours - 10 lbs in one week - wow!). Now I just need to convince my husband that we NEED another fridge ;)
DeleteYour harvests are wonderful...but I am now in love with the sweet basket your dill was photographed on! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa. I actually have no idea where I got that, but I've had it for years. It sits right on my countertop & I generally use it for produce and fruit that will be eaten in a day or two, especially stuff that needs to ripen a bit more like tomatoes or avocados.
DeleteNice variety and quality of your harvests. Really too bad about the beans, it is definitely seed transmitted. In 2011 I had a case of halo bean blight and wrote about it here: http://davessfggarden.blogspot.com/2011/09/halo-bacterial-bean-blight.html .
ReplyDeleteJust read your post - very interesting and quite similar to what I have except for the yellow hallowing on the leaves. It can be a challenge to diagnose these types of diseases as they are often so similar to one another. Now I just have to find a new source for my beans - haven't really looked yet, but hopefully it won't be too difficult.
DeleteThat's a bummer about your beans, but at least you're still able to harvest and enjoy some. Everything else looks so good! Just like the bees, I love borage - - it's so pretty. Do you harvest and eat it, or just enjoy it as an ornamental?
ReplyDeleteSo far I only enjoy them ornamentally - I've heard that the flowers are nice in salads, so I may try that at some point. But I doubt I will ever eat the leaves - I don't think I could get past all those prickles, even if they do apparently soften when cooked.
DeleteThere's a;ways some disease or pest to deal with isn't there.? This year seems a particularly bad year for problems. I think many things overwintered as our last winter was so mild - hardly ant frosts,
ReplyDeleteThat was exactly like us last year - super mild winter the year before and cool, wet weather well into June - and lots of (bad) bugs and disease in the garden. This past winter we had EXTREME cold (down to -40°C/-40°F!) where even the schools were closed. I do think we have fewer bugs this year but, unfortunately, the cool, wet weather we have had recently hasn't helped with disease prevention at all.
DeleteHope you get some Golden of Bacau beans, Beautiful cucumber, I too am in love with your basket with the dill.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norma. I'm crossing my fingers on the beans - and hopefully the new seeds I get don't have any hidden surprises like these did!
DeleteI think it's fun that we're at the same yearly harvest total of 77lbs right now. I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do a harvest update today though - maybe later this week.That's disappointing that your beans are diseased. Hopefully you'll get a decent harvest before they go down.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence! I do have hope for at least a modest harvest as I think they were much worse off last year and I also wasn't as diligent in removing the diseased/dead leaves. Looking forward to reading about your harvest!
DeleteYippee for the onions! And that bacterial disease on the beans is a real shame. Thankfully I've not run into that one before. I do hope the beans produce for you. I'm a fan of the flat golden wax beans too, though I've never grown the Golden of Bacau.
ReplyDeleteIt is super good - so tender & stringless and BIG. The pods were about 1" wide and most were 7" long - I even had some that were 12" long! And they were so tender and mildly sweet, even if you missed a few and the beans began to fill out.
DeleteThe Gold of Bacau beans do sound like they are very similar to the Golden Gate beans that I'm growing this year. And interesting too is the fact that Fedco Seeds, the source for my seeds, replaced Gold of Bacau with Golden Gate in their offerings. Good luck, I hope your beans manage to produce a decent crop.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle - It's beginning to sound like there may be an issue with this particular bean. Well, at least I have an alternative with the Golden Gate beans, especially as Fedco now ships to Canada (finally!).
DeleteThat bacterial spot is a nasty thing. I hope you are able to quarantine it in the future so it doesn't affect any more beans. The Contender beans are a beautiful bean. I've never grown that variety but they remind me of Providers.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, so long as I keep beans out of the "infected" bed for the next two years, I should be ok. Contenders are lovely. They were actually the first seed I ever saved & this is now my third year growing them.
DeleteThe top photo of Contender beans is so beautiful. I am so sorry about the Bacteria Brown Spot. Thank you for educating us on what to look out for. The rest of your harvest looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rachel - It is sad especially as it is such a wonderful, distinctive bean.
DeleteHooray for your first onions and green beans! That first picture of beans looks so perfect. I've noticed some spots on my beans too, wonder if it is the same thing. Now I'm going to have to check out the stems. It seems like there's always some disease or pest to deal with in the garden. We keep getting rain and more rain and it's not helping with diseases around here. Those fridge pickles look delicious. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteYou said it - I think it's pretty rare (or even non-existent!) for a gardener to go an entire season without loosing something to a pest or disease. We've had cool, rainy weather recently too & now I'm getting all paranoid about the tomatoes.
DeleteI am still harvesting Bloody Butcher tomatoes - the only ones so far. Sorry about the beans but you are so smart to stay on top of it and take action. Your cukes and onions look great. Nothing like pickles from the home garden.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite surprised at how early they were - a full two weeks before everything else, even those with the same # of days to maturity. Making your own pickles is a whole different taste experience from those in the store - there is definitely no comparison!
DeleteThe Contender beans are beautiful and congrats on your first onions, sorry about the Golden Bacau, it's a beautiful bean, I've not grown gold color Romano beans before, is it a waxy bean?
ReplyDeleteIt is like a wax bean but I find it to be much more tender - to me it's got an almost melt in the mouth type of texture...so good!
DeleteI agree on the lovely dill! Mine is short and seems "rusty". It is so interesting to see the different types of pests / diseases that are common in other parts of the country. I've never seen that happen to beans before, but I've only grown them a few years now.
ReplyDeleteYou just never know what is going to hit you from year to year. Not much you can do about the pests in your area or environmental conditions like humidity, but it's especially sad when transmission is through seeds, which I think should be preventable.
DeleteGreat harvest! Your pickles look very yummy. I've never had brown spot on my beans, but thanks for the info! I love learning things from other blogs.
ReplyDeleteThanks Thomas - it definitely helps to know what to look for!
Delete