Monday, August 13, 2012

Harvest Monday, August 13


harvest 7-21
July 21 squash harvest
                                                      
Wow--is it already August 13??? I realized I haven't posted about my veggie harvests since June, but i've been taking pictures of harvests, so I'm going to talk about it all at once here.

My squash plants have pretty much ended their production cycles, and we yanked out all the dead brown plants over the weekend. This wasn't a good year for squash for us, between the squash bugs, vine borers, and cucumber beetles, but I managed to get a few. We grew zucchini, yellow crookneck, and the pale green one above is Sweet Gourmet (all from Burpee). Back in July when the squash production started to slow down, I thought about starting some new seeds, but time got away from me and then we went to Maine, and now I think it's too late. Ah well, there's always next year!

harvest 7-26
July 26 harvest
Then came the cucumber harvests. Despite the beetles, the cucumber plants have done really well, and did I mention they're growing in containers? Cucumbers grow well in containers, by the way! We used to put up a trellis for the vines to climb, but it got messy, so now we just let the vines hang over the side of the deck. It's a hanging garden! I tried to make tzatziki with these cukes but it came out really runny. I didn't have Greek yogurt on hand, and even though I tried to drain the yogurt and seeded the cukes, it still came out watery. I plan to try again with Greek yogurt. I spent an unreasonable amount of time on the internet yesterday  researching how to make non-runny tzatziki while I watched the Olympics. (I think I'll be trying this version of the recipe next).


harvest 8-1
August 1 harvest
 Right before the Maine trip we pulled every and any vegetable that had any color in it so that the squirrels wouldn't feast on them while we were gone. Clockwise from the top, we harvested cucumbers, habanero peppers, anaheims, jalapeños, pepperoncini, banana peppers, and Sweet Snack tomatoes.

Nothing EVER bothers the peppers, not squirrels, birds, bugs, anything (except for the occasional spider mite). We brought all of these to Maine and grilled the peppers one night when we all cooked out. The tomatoes are Burpee Sweet Snack and the plants have been producing well. Yay!


harvest 8-8
August 8 harvest
As you can see, August is going to be about the tomatoes {knock on wood, cross your fingers, make a wish}, although I'm nowhere near harvesting the amount of tomatoes I have in past year.  (No change on the Mortgage Lifter situation, I'll write a tomato update post later this week). Most exciting--the ground cherries are starting to come in!! They're the little nubbins in the container with husks. (I ordered them from SESE and first wrote about them here, if you'd like to see). We're growing two varieties of pink tomatoes--Burpee Pink Girl hybrids (left, next to the cuke) and Burpee Pink Brandywine (heirloom, single one on the right with the long stem). We bought both as small plants and I want to see which plant produces better.

Not pictured: basil. I've harvested about a cup of basil so far and have added it to sauces, Caprese salads, and pesto.

So far this season I've harvested 11 cucumbers, 4 ½ pounds of squash, just over 2 pounds of peppers, and about 4.3 pounds of tomatoes. I track all my harvests on this tab.

I'm linking up with Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday meme. Check it out to see what other gardeners are harvesting this week.

22 comments:

  1. Cucumbers in containers, well done! do they need much water? Great harvest of peppers, nothing like having to fight the animals for your supper!!

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    1. Thanks, Andrea! Yes, we have to water them every day. They dry out so quickly.

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  2. Hasn't this summer gone by fast? Lovely harvest, especially the cukes of which I chose not to grow this year since it's always a game of chance with our unpredictable weather. Summers a few years back were nice and hot, but lately they've been getting cooler or June starts off with a great big month of incessant rain. I'm liking those jalapeños as my plant is just starting to go into production.

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    1. Thanks Rowena! We almost didn't plant cukes this year, but decided to have four plants in the end, and they're doing well. I'll need them to keep experimenting with tzatsiki! Hope your jalapenos are productive!

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  3. Those are impressive cucumbers!! I think your harvest is better than you give it credit for. :o) I think salting the cukes will help them release their extra water. I noticed the squirrels started ignoring my tomatoes as soon as the blackberries began to ripen, which is fine with me. My blackberries are always too tart for me. I've read that co-planting nasturtiums or marigolds is an effective pest deterrent.

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    1. Thanks Tammy! I'll definitely try salting the cukes next time. Your squirrels sound as pesky as mine! But I guess it's good you don't like the blackberries, keeps those critters away from your tomatoes. :)

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  4. I can see you have done a great job! My favorites are definitely the peppers. I hope you are enjoying all that harvest.

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    1. Thanks Sri! It has been fun to eat stuff fresh out of the garden.

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  5. lovely harvest! ah pesky squirrels! I have a trap but they are not having any part of it; too smart. maybe later in the fall when there is not so much for them to eat I can get the population lowered!

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    1. Thank you Mary! Squirrels are smart, they've gotten around most of the barriers and fences we've put up.

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  6. Your cucumbers look great! I picked my first lemon cucumber yesterday and I'm going to have it in a salad tonight. Good luck with the tzatziki. The only time I tried to make it came out runny, too. :)

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    1. Thanks! I don't think I've ever grown lemon cuke. Is it called lemon because of the color or taste or both?

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  7. Great harvests form your small space! I just poked around your blog a bit and am quite impressed!

    Now, do I see a white tomato and a white squash in that first picture? I am incredibly intrigued! Please tell me more!

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    1. Thanks Bee Girl! That light colored squash is called Sweet Gourmet (from Burpee). Tastes just like zucchini. And the tomato is just a green one that fell off the vine too early. No white tomatoes here, though I've seen some for sale in seed catalogs.

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  8. Great looking harvest! Hard to believe we are almost to the middle of August! Only about 6 more weeks and i have to start worrying about frost!

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    1. Thanks! I know, time is going by quickly. As long as the pests stay away we should be able to keep harvesting through September since frost doesn't come until OCtober, but it seems like it's coming too fast anyway!

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  9. I agree about salting the cucumbers. That's how I learned to make Hungarian cucumber salads.

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    1. Thanks! I'll try a thicker yogurt and something to get the water out of cucumbers.

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  10. My dad grows cucumbers in tubs too - although he does still grow them up stakes. I reckon the key to good tzatziki is letting both the cucumber and yoghurt drain throungh cheesecloth for a while so that they both get rid of a fair bit of juice.

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  11. I've got my fingers crossed for your bountiful tomato harvest! And that the danged squirrels stay away...

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  12. My goodness your garden is producing. My zukes were struggling so I started new plants. Tomatoes are few and far between and now with blight...and peppers...just green chiles...oh well...I love your harvest.

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  13. My cucumbers left much to be desired, but my tomatoes, peppers & squash are still going strong. Funny how each year is different...this is why I join a CSA. If my garden isn't producing something, I'm lucky enough to get it from the farm!

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