1. my lunch, picked out of the garden this morning
2. my pepper and tomato seedlings, waiting for transplant.
3. my puppies
Tag Archives: harvest
first harvest!
Lettuce. Such a rewarding little plant.
Today for lunch I had a salad from my first harvest of lettuce. I started three different types in a shallow tray that I kept on our back patio and was able to snip enough this morning for 2 cups of lettuce. I added a few chopped cherry tomatoes ( a splurge yes, but they were leftovers!) and a tablespoon of ranch dressing. oh how i’ve missed fresh salads.
Garden Season has officially begun.
lettuce types: Rocky Mountain Lettuce Mix, Black Seeded Simpson, and Little Gem.
the life of a garden – 2009
honestly, where has the summer gone? the most startling realization that fall was in fact approaching was on my way to work two weeks ago. my usual 60 mph speed (let’s be honest, if i can break 45 on the two-lane route of death, it’s a happy day) was disrupted – by the flashing school zone lights. SCHOOL is starting already! it’s ludicrous.
what’s also ludicrous is just how many pictures i’ve taken of the garden this year. but it’s a good thing too – because when i’m about to make the same mistake as this year by growing tomatoes nowhere near the vicinity of a trellis and am forced to prop them up in various embarrassing degrees of string and stake concoctions, i’ll have a picture to remind me.
so i took some iniative for the first time in ages and corralled them all into one place – well, at least i’m in the process of coralling them – and anyone with a large bit of time on their hands can hop on over here and see the whole process from barren chunk of weedy lawn, to “hey! i’ve grown something you can eat!”
roll call
the tomatoes are really coming in now, and as the next couple weeks may be their last hurrah (more on that below), i thought i’d introduce the cast .
Sungold. My first tomato to come in (on july 23rd) and now they’re coming out of my ears. An orange cherry that is very very sweet and easy to pop into salads or salsas.
Yellow Pear. Still a small tomato – more like a cherry tomato with a pear-like stem and a super bright yellow color.
Carbon – A purple beefsteak variety, and probably my most prolific grower (aside from the sungolds) Mine turned out a dusky red, with a little green at the top.
German Red Strawberry – At least, I think this is a German Red Strawberry. The labels I had in the ground got washed off before I could write down what I had planted where. It doesn’t fit the seed catalog description perfectly, but it’s the only large red variety i grew this year.
Roman Candle - Even though these look like yellow Roma tomatoes, I don’t think they’re related to the Roma. Romas are considered paste tomatoes, meaning they don’t have as much juice inside, making them better for tomato paste and tomato sauce. These are pretty juicy, but I love their shape and color.
Green Zebra – The tomatoes are actually meant to stay green. As they ripen, they get greenish yellow zig zag stripes.
Moneymaker - This was a variety I grew last year and I enjoyed them a lot. They’re not huge slicing tomatoes (only about the size of a ping pong ball) but they’re bright red and almost perfectly round.
Now for the bad news… my tomato plants have Late Blight. I would never have known what this was if I hadn’t been reading a few other garden blogs this season. basically, its a fungus that can spread from long distances through the wind and thrives in cool, wet conditions – our summer has been unseasonably wet (which i have never complained about until now) and presents as small brown patches on plant leaves and stems. if it infects the fruit, the fruit turn dark brown and shrivel up. there isn’t a cure, only uprooting the entire plant, wrapping it in plastic and throwing it away keeps the fungus from spreading. the fungus isn’t harmful to humans, so that’s the one upside – if i can keep it under control by cutting away bad parts, i can continue harvesting any unaffected fruit. since our tomato season can easily extend into october barring any big frosts, i’m pretty bummed at the thought of losing everything only 1 month into harvesting tomatoes. but everything else is looking good and i can always try again next year.
gettin into the groove
what we’ve collected over a week
what we collected just this morning
sungold cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes
yellow beans: Pencil Pod
green beans: Contender
horn of plenty yellow squash
the tomato harvest has finally arrived
what’s growing – and what’s just teasing me
what’s growing:
lettuce, lettuce, and more lettuce. it just keeps coming, and honestly my new recommendation for anyone who wants to grow something and either thinks they have no room or thinks they’re an idiot in the garden: grow lettuce. it will give your ego a boost. all you need to do is sprinkle lettuce seeds on the soil, top with a miniscule amount of additional soil, water regularly and wait about 30 days. then, eat the lettuce and keep eating it for eternity.
bush beans. i have a green variety and a yellow variety. both have produced well. i planted two rounds of these, which has worked out well. when one round tuckers out, the other is just kicking into gear. we’ve eaten them grilled (way tastier than i thought they’d be) and steamed.
basil. note to self for next year: grow lots more, grow more varieties (just bought some deep purple basil at the farmer’s market yesterday), and label the varieties!
dill. chives. these are perrenials and have done really well this year.
strawberries. next year’s crop (and all the years after) will be even better.
cherry tomatoes. sungolds are the sweetest things i’ve ever tasted!
my pumpkin. it’s already spewed out of the bed, and has decided to sprawl over the ground and nearby fence. this year, i’m letting it. note for next year: go back to the drawing board on growing pumpkin vines vertically.
what’s teasing me:
the rest of the tomatoes. just turn ripe already, you’re breaking my heart
bell peppers. see above.
squash, zucchini, cucumbers. i’ve harvested only one squash (i have two varieties) and only two zucchinis. no cucumbers at all yet. very frustrating.
harvest is complete on: shallots, garlic, and most of the potatoes
garden update: mid-july
the first* harvest is in! ross and i came home from the beach last weekend to find a beautiful yellow squash and green zucchini just waiting to be picked. and i’m not exaggerating here: they were gorgeous
the strawberries are ramping up again for another mini harvest (since these strawberries are “everbearing” they produce small, continual yields over the whole summer, instead of one, big, fat yield in june).
as of yesterday – july 23 - two super sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes were plucked from the vine and popped into each of our mouths. first tomatoes of the season!!
——————————
*no, i guess its not really the first harvest of the year – we’ve been bringing in loads of herbs, lettuce, and beans already (and recently: potatoes and shallots too!), but squash/zucchini and tomatoes are what really get me excited, you know?
what you’re lookin at: four types of loose lettuce (2 of the types are lettuce blends, which are actually made up of many types of lettuce), onion chives, parsley, basil, green beans and dill.
early summer harvest
i’m harvesting a handful of beans every day along with lettuce + herbs enough for 2 generous salads. throw in 3-5 new ripe strawberries a day (not bad for the little guys’ first season) and the harvest has definitely begun in the garden. last saturday, ross and i broke out the grill and made an amazing meal of grilled rib-eye (from a friend’s farm in blacksburg), grilled peppers/onions/our own green beans tossed in EVOO and herbs, and a heaping side of our own salad. now all i need is a tomato to make me feel complete.
speaking of tomatoes, the tomatoes, squash and peppers aren’t ready yet, but they’re getting there.
i’ve decided that late june/early july is my favorite time of year for the flowers in the front yard. nearly everything is in bloom and there’s so much color up there!
