Gorgeous Harvest

One of the reasons why I love gardening is that I love to share the harvests with friends and family.  I went to see my parents last week and I brought with me this gorgeous bounty.  Don't you just love the colors?  I still get giddy knowing that I grew all of this.  I do.  I mean, I only started gardening last year, so it's kinda funny to me that I actually grew garlic, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and green beans, and all from seed, (clove for garlic).  It just brings a smile to my face whenever I harvest, that I can actually grow food, it's kinda comical to me.   I guess I find it funny because it's like I'm in on a funny little secret.  That I can grow fresh organic produce and it won't break the bank.  Heehee.  I love the expression on my parents face when they saw the variety of veggies that are coming out of my little garden, and I think I saw them chuckle as well. It's like they are in on the joke too.  I think they are just as amazed as I am that I can garden with such amazing results and actually grow food!  Haha.  For the first time EVER, I haven't had to buy vegetables all summer long!  For some reason that makes me laugh out loud!  Heeheehee.  It is awesome!

Final Pickings Before Irene

I spent the morning taking one last walk around the garden and tying all the tomato cages to the picket fence.  If it gets really windy it won't go very far since they are all tied up with twine.  I also picked the vegetables that I could save before Irene makes her appearance.  Any tomato that had a blush of pink / yellow was picked and will ripen on my windowsill.  I decided not to pick any of the green tomatoes, I'm hoping they will stay on the vine... I'm sure most of them won't, in which case I'll have to make fried green tomatoes or pickled green tomatoes. I have to find more recipes with green tomatoes.  Do you have any suggestions?  I also picked some basil, I think I'll make some bruschetta since I will be cooped up in the house riding out the storm.  At least I'll eat well!  I saw there was a beet sticking out of the ground, so I harvested it.  It was a small little one, the beets didn't size up very well this year.  More compost is definitely needed for next year.  I'm as ready as I can be for Irene, so now it's just a waiting game.  For all those on the East Coast, stay safe!

The Results of Trading

Today, on my way home, some giant storm clouds were following me.  Don't these look ominous?  It's been raining a lot these last two days, and the garden has been loving it.  And thank goodness, because with the rain we are finally getting some really good veggies forming.  It's been a slow moving growing season, so I am eager to harvest some goodies.

I have really enjoyed trading seeds and plants this year with fellow garden bloggers.  It's such a great way to try out a new variety in the garden without committing to buying a whole seed packet or new plants.  I received some white cucumber seeds from Chronicles of a Frugal Gardener.  These are definitely interesting looking.  They taste the same as regular cukes.  The coloring is definitely cool.  I definitely want to grow these again next year. 

I also got some Sweet Lilac pepper seeds from  Bucolic Bushwick.  Here's the first pepper on the plant.  I am loving this color.  I don't see any other fruits forming.  I hope more peppers grow soon.

Bucolic Bushwick and I also did a plant swap earlier in the growing season.  I'm so loving that the Fairy Tale Eggplants are setting out fruits now. The eggplants are so pretty.  I love the white marbling on the purple skin!  I can't wait to try these!

Here is today's harvest!  It's the largest one we've had to date.  10 cucumbers!  Ten!  Do you see how blaring white the white cuke is at the bottom?  Hehe. I did a happy dance because now I can make a batch of pickles.  Awesome!!  I also harvested some radishes, yardlong beans, snap peas, and my first real sized Scarlet Nantes carrot. The carrot took quite a long time to size up, and in fact, it could have been in the ground a little longer.  It had a nice sweet taste, I definitely want to grow these again.

And here are the sweet dill pickles that I made tonight.  I made these as refrigerator pickles, and should wait 10 days before eating them.  I don't know if I can wait that long.

2nd Week of July Harvest

Yesterday, we harvested all the garlic from this bed.  I planted 40 cloves last fall, and I am just thrilled with the results.  This is our first time growing garlic and it was SO incredibly easy.  I am totally growing this every year!  It is by far one of the easiest things to grow, and the hardneck variety is totally awesome!  Especially since it grew so many scapes for us.  I am planting more tomatoes in the empty garlic bed. 

I also harvested some more radishes, and one puny looking carrot.  I pulled the carrot because it was sticking out of the ground.  Radishes are probably the 2nd easiest things to grow.  30 days and voila!  It's just so satisfying to have a veggie grow so quickly!  Most of these radish bulbs are pretty small, I need to figure out a way to bulk them up more.  I use compost and fish emulsion but they still look a bit teeny tiny. Any organic suggestions you have is appreciated!

This post was meant for Harvest Monday hosted by Daphne's Dandelions, but I'm a day late.

Harvest Monday

This is what I harvested over the weekend.  I think this is probably the last of the strawberries.  We did really well, harvesting just under 6 pounds of strawberries.  It would have been more, had I known the bugs would go to town on my ripe yummy berries.  Next year, I will definitely go to battle with the bugs by using a good dosage of food grade Diatomaceous Earth. This week's plan is to make some strawberry jam.  I'm also starting to harvest the first of the radishes.  I love how cute they are!

I sowed all the radish seeds at the same time, however, it seems like they are all growing at their own pace.  It's funny how some radishes grow faster than others.  Some were ready for the picking and others hadn't quite developed a bulb yet.  Strange.  This is where I am growing my radishes.  They are growing in between the 5 raspberry plants.  I want a steady supply of radishes so I've been sowing new seeds everytime I harvest the ready ones.  It's too bad I hate the taste of radishes, thank goodness the hubs likes them.  I only like to eat radish greens.  If my husband didn't eat radishes, I would definitely grow these just for the greens!!

Check out Daphne's Dandelions to see what others are harvesting!

Fall Harvest, Probably One of the Last

I've been so amazed with our fall harvests. The bell peppers are still producing even though it's been in the 50s all week. Nights drop down to the 40s. But, we are still harvesting bell peppers, and I also harvested for the first time some mustard greens.  Not much, since the bugs keep eating all the leaves, but I was able to harvest a handful of leaves that weren't eaten up.  They are really peppery tasting. I don't know how much longer before our first frost hits and kills off the rest of the vegetable plants so I have to savor the harvests while I can.

But, by far the best producing plant has been the giant habanero.  It just amazes me how many little peppers I harvested from this plant.  Before I brought the plant inside, I harvested 24 habaneros.  Just amazing!  The pole beans are still producing like mad and I picked my first fall radish.  Nice! And check this out, when I was clearing the tomato plants to put in the compost, I found an heirloom tomato growing! How about that??

I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these habaneros.  I mean, they are hot, hot, hot peppers.  I saw my neighbor the other day when I dug up my habanero plant and she saw me wheeling around the giant plant in my wheelbarrow.  LOL.   (so embarassing)  I shouted to her from across the street, "hey Liz, do you like hot peppers?"  She said yes, so I unloaded a dozen habaneros into her hands.  Score.  One of the coolest thing about habaneros is that even though I picked these peppers when they were green, 3 days later they turned colors!!  From one plant, you can get orange, yellow and red peppers.  So awesome!!  Does anyone know, can you freeze these whole?

For more fall harvests, visit Daphne Dandelions.

Harvest Time!

This is my most colorful harvest to date. I just love this colander full of pretty colored vegetables.

I had a difficult time growing carrots.  These were in the ground for two months.  Look how stumpy they are!  Hahahaha.

Here's a close-up of the carrots. One of them looks like a hand.

We also harvested our one and only broccoli we grew. We harvested this one because it was bolting. Out of 6 plants only one produced a crown. Next year, must add some organic fertilizer. Better luck next year.

See what others are harvesting at Daphne Dandelions.

My only ones

The temperature has dropped to the mid 70s and the pole beans are loving it. They have been growing like crazy! Thank goodness because these pole bean plants were in the ground since early April and they were slow to produce with the relentless summer heat. This is what we harvested this past week. We also pulled the last of the potatoes and I rescued the one and only eggplant left. It wasn't ready to be picked but I didn't want the squirrel to get at it.
I also harvested the only 2 yellow pear tomatos that grew from the 6 plants we put in the ground. The sun followed by lack of rain fried these poor tomato plants and 5 of the plants died before even having a chance to set fruit. (sigh). The yellow pear tomatoes were delicious. I guess quality over quantity. Yeah... okay. I took this photo with the little eggplant next to the tomatoes so you could see how tiny the eggplant was. Better than the squirrel eating it right? I'll take it!!

See what others are harvesting at Daphne's Dandelions.

Today's harvest

I picked 2 more green bell peppers today. I realized that I am just not patient enough for them to get bigger or to turn orange / red. I'm growing 3 kinds of bell peppers. Green, Red and Orange. I never realized how long it takes for those peppers to turn color! This harvest is going to my husband's co-worker. They've been begging him for fresh veggies! :)

For more Monday harvests go to Daphne's Dandelions.

The good and the bad!

The other day when I pulled some of the potatoes out of the ground, I also pulled weeds too. Here are the two bags side by side. For all the good that comes out of the garden, there is always the bad! I guess you can't have one without the other. (Sigh.)

2nd Harvest: Bean + Lettuce

I'm totally behind on blog posts. This happened a few days ago. This was our 2nd harvest so far this season. We actually got one pole bean! Woot Woot! It's very exciting. We also picked a handful of lettuce, Green leaf and arugula is in the mix. The pole beans were off to a slow start because we haven't been getting much sun, but hopefully it will take off soon.