Harvest Monday 6.17.13

It's Harvest Monday.

It is. I promise! I may be slacking lately, but it's not on purpose. The sickies are still hanging around my house. Hopefully a bucket of Lysol and another week will set things right again.

Meanwhile, the garden has taken a real beating. I pulled out all the bush green beans, and the Holstein beans, the zucchini and the cucumbers. It's looking a little barren in one of the new raised beds. I'll need to get around to replanting it this week. I'm thinking about covering it with some netting and trying for another batch of cucumbers there and maybe some determinate salad tomatoes. Things that will stay low enough under the cover and behave. LOL.

Meanwhile my corn fell in the last massive wind/rain storm we had and it was really bad timing. The tassels and silks are already out and some of the stalks broke - at least half. Bad news for the remainder of the corn that still need pollinating. I guess I'm just not meant to have a decent crop of corn. But, I'll try again in the fall like always. I'll leave the stalks where they are because the lone cantaloupe is still developing in the stalks and I'm not losing it! The netting is almost 1/2 developed and I can't WAIT to taste that baby!

What I did harvest is a pound of the Holstein beans (dry), 7 huge cucumbers. The last for a long while. :-(

 

 The last zucchini on the plant. A monster no doubt. It was good and will be missed. I couldn't believe that the plant had shot out several new plants from the underside. I had never grown this variety before and will be trying to look through my seeds to see which one it is because even after it was completely attacked by bugs it just kept on going. The plant this baseball bat came off of had split in half from a cucumber worm burrowing and was still trying to produce. Unfortunately the gnats that the frass was attracting coupled with the fact that I was only getting 1 fruit a week now? Eh- not worth keeping in the garden. I don't need a bug attractant.

I also got another good couple of piles of tomatoes, a butternut (The only one! This plant is gone now, too)

 

 

And my girls constant working to keep me in eggs. Bless there little souls. Love my girls.

 

The garden is no longer being very productive. There are a few tomatoes left and of course the sweet potatoes as I need them for meals. The okra are tiny yet, but growing. They should be producing by July 15th. When we get back from our next trip to Alabama in July I'll be starting my Fall tomatoes and getting ready for the fall garden. I can't wait. Something to look forward to while the garden is going into stasis!

 

Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions. Make sure you check out her place to see all the great things being harvested all over the world!

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

What would you do? (zucchini)

I know that a whole lot of you are just gearing up for your warm weather. I, on the other hand, have had enough warm weather that my garden is beginning the end of the Spring glut. This means that all that extra zucchini that I've had around the house is starting to fade away now. This is something that a lot of people can't quite fathom.

But, I have a saving grace. Gardening in Florida may mean a very short Spring season, but it means I get to do it all over again in the Fall! Whoohooo!  I don't normally get completely sick of the amount of zucchini that I get from my garden. (Remember, I've got a very small garden space so I don't have a lot of plants) But, I do get an abundance of it when my plants are at their peak. I know a lot of people don't know what to do with all of their extra squash when it comes at them so fast, so I thought I'd throw this out there.

This is not an exact recipe as much as it is a cooking suggestion. This is because like almost everything that I make... I just can't seem to follow an exact recipe. Try as I might - I just can't. I'm forever changing things or just winging it. I can't help it. I even intentionally set out to measure everything I did so I could post it as this is a  constantly requested favorite. Go figure.

 

If you have a picky zucchini eater, or a lot of company, or just a glut of zucchini... THIS is just the thing for you!

 

Roasted Zucchini w/ Mozzarella & Tomato

Ingredients (roughly):

Zucchini - 1/2 pound (whatever you have on hand)

Your favorite seasoning mix

Sea salt in grinder

Grape seed oil or Olive oil

Mozzarella Cheese (shortcut alert! If you have young kids grab the cheese sticks!)

Fresh tomato - sliced

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 420*

Line baking pan with foil and spray with cooking oil

Slice zucchini ends of and slice in half lengthwise, if zucchini is very large slice again so that all zucchini is uniform thickness roughly for even cooking.

Score with a fork like so:







 Rub the grape seed oil or olive oil over the grooved side of the zucchini... yes the grooves are very important. DO NOT forget the grooves. They do two things. They help hold on to the ingredients AND they hold all those wonderful spices in. YUMMO! You don't want to miss out on all that wonderfulness!
OK, Now that you have the grooves all oiled you need to sprinkle generously your favorite seasonings and pop that sucker into the oven for a good 20 minutes. You may even need a few minutes longer depending on the size of the squash. DO NOT BE AFRAID. It really isn't too long to cook the zucchini, even at 420. I promise. It seems like  lot but this is what you get:

Note the wonderfulness. The smell from that is absolutely amazing by the way. It tastes OK, but then it just doesn't taste anything nearly as good as it will in just a few minutes! Now, add the mozzarella cheese and the tomatoes to the top of the zucchini and put it back in the oven. Keep an eye on this now because the cheese can get bubbly in about 5 minutes and while bubbly is nice, burnt is not so nice.

 

 

VOILA!

 

Sprinkle on the sea salt and serve OK and fresh ground pepper if you like that stuff!

(Don't forget this step it's important!)

 

You now have something even the teenager at my house will eat! That is right. I kid you not.

I would not kid about such an event. The boy is getting picky these days. He's almost 15 so you know, being cool is like- paramount, Dude. What? No one says Dude these days? Yeah, well, I do! (Dude.)

 

I gotta tell ya. I'm not the biggest zucchini fan myself. I prefer my zucchini in the form of a chocolate muffin. Disguised and quiet. I also only prefer it occasionally, but these I've been eating every chance I get. I even get cravings for them. Thanks to Sharon for starting the frenzy. The whole cauliflower pizza crust wasn't such a great adaptation, but this one sure did turn out great. Don't get me wrong. The cauliflower pizza crust? AWESOME flavor and it gave me the idea to do some cauliflower fritters just like my okra fritters that taste wonderful and are gluten free (Just like this recipe) but, to say it is a 'crust' eh, not so much. LOL.

 

Anyway... I give you my not so recipe recipe for Roasted Zucchini with mozzarella and tomatoes.

 

YUM! Now, You'll have to excuse me. I have to go make some more.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~



Harvest Monday 5.20.13

I think I've hit the peak of harvests now. It will decline fast. So while I'm happy at the moment I know that it won't last long.

For instance? In the last 48 hours my zucchini plants when from having one green worm boring into it - to a complete infestation. the blossoms now have worms, the leaf stems have worms, the baby zucchini have worms. I do not have worms, but I do have a bad attitude. I knew it was coming, but I'm just NOT happy about it. If Mr. Giant corporation can come out with super germ warfare why can't it come out with a zucchini plant that fights back? LOL. Then again, as big as those plants get? Maybe having them fight back isn't such a good idea. What would happen if they decided they wanted to keep their bounty? That wouldn't be a pretty picture!

OK - On to serious matters. This weeks harvest!

 5lbs 6oz of new potatoes, a few bell peppers, jalapenos, 6lbs of tomatoes, the last of the snap peas (the vines are still there but no more weight will be recorded. The vines will come out this week)
Zucchini, Beans bush and pole, carrots, cucumbers, eggs (of course!) strawberries - but most get eaten in the garden because we only get a couple a day and a leek.

Oh, and that is 6.2 ounces of mint y'all! I made a few drinks this week that needed mint. Some hot tea, and some cold drinks. I'm weird. I really like cold mint. But I prefer it in my chocolate. LOL.

 

 

This weekend saw phase 1 of the big major project done. I"ll share here in a day or two. I also have a couple lovely recipes to share this week with some recent harvests. But, for now I'm late posting this so...

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~



Garden Bloom overview (partial/May)

 

I splurged on one plant to see what it was all about this spring. I'm glad I did. It was a "super Roma" tomato plant, and so far, it's been SUPER! It's taken our extreme temperatures and my lack of care and spat back loads of tomatoes.

Zucchini is still going strong for now...and the potatoes are still taking turns flowering. This is the last of the taters to flower. In the back you can see the single radish I've let go to seed. This bed hasn't been productive in a year, except for radishes so I figured why not?

The apple tree is blossoming. The first blossomed failed. I wonder how the trees are doing in Alabama?

I'm so curious, and my hubby is going on a quick trip in 2 weeks. It should be early blackberry season there, too. Wondering if I can talk him into bringing back some and taking pictures of my trees...

Pomegranates are doing well this season. I can't wait for them. It takes SOOO long for them to ripen. It nearly hurts to wait so long!

I've got grapes on the vine, too! Not as many as last year, but that is my fault, and it's OK. I knew better with my choice of plants but I just had to have the Concord grapes because I love them so much. They are worth it. Delectable little jewels that they are. 

There is so much more just since the 10 days that I took these pictures. The mulberries are blooming again... Joy? The cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, string beans, Lima beans, all going like gang busters right now. 

The weather is changing daily again. I know that everyone has been talking about how weird the weather is, but well and truly I've never in my lifetime seen 50's in the middle of May, and yet this morning that is what I awoke to. Absolutely amazing.  

Oh, did I mention I fixed a sprinkler head that my hubby tried to fix for the last year? He even replaced the entire head and that didn't work. It was the pipe that was stripped causing the sprinkler head to sit wrong. It just took a little finesse and a lot of muscle and determination to get it right. I do get the feeling at some point in the future we'll have to re-do the entire line section there, but for now it's working again, and I'm rubbing it in that a woman fixed what the man could not.

:-)

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.13.13

It's Monday again. This time it comes directly after Mother's Day weekend. I hope that you have a lovely weekend. I know I did. I didn't just have Mother's Day. I had Mother's weekend. :-)

But, as for the harvest. It was fairly meager pickings this week. I actually harvested more than I care to admit because a rather large amount got eaten in the garden. I pulled the pea vines and well, any peas got eaten while I was there. We had a few cool days so there were more than I care to admit. But the vines were well and truly shot and our hot weather is upon us and not relenting so I knew the vines had no hope. I also ate about a half pound of blueberries. I now have 5 pounds in the freezer, so a decent amount for the year. Not enough for our large family, but a good start!

As for what I can actually attest to?

Zucchini made a major come back this week. This one in the picture is only one of 10 that we ate. I grilled a few, but this wasn't out favorite this week. Our favorite is oven roasted with grape seed oil, mozzarella  garlic, spices and tomato..oh - YUM. Even picky teenager eats it like it's going out of style.  We try to take major advantage of it this time of year because it doesn't last long. I have two very strong plants right now but the bugs have come out this week and that means the plants (not just the zucchini) are going to be suffering soon.

I knocked the tomato off the vine but it is nearly ripe now. I also took one that was starting to blush and ripened it with a banana. That was the one we used for the zucchini oven roast. The snap peas are still giving and looking O.K. The vines are hanging tough for now. Not producing well, but still just enough to save their booties.

The blueberries are just giving  the bare minimum they can now. The mocking birds found the fruit this week and I got dive bombed by 3 of the suckers Saturday. I may have to invest in a pellet gun. Wonder if Mockingbird stew is any good? Kidding...sort of.

 

I'll be back to give details of my weekend later. For now- I'd better get back to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

Harvest Monday 5.6.13

Monday - Already? You've got to be kidding me! This weekend went SO fast!

I worked on a project for the chickens. I forgot to take pictures while I was working because i was by myself, but now that it is almost finished I have to go back and take photos. It's worth it. I turned the door around to their pen. I always hated the door leading to their run. I still do, but I hate it a little less now. LOL.At least I can OPEN the door now. See, it used to open in, and the little chooks always seemed to toss all the shavings wood chips and anything else they could find right in the path of the door. I fixed that! It did impede on their space a little, but there is only 3 of them and they do have a good sized run for just a couple of them. I have a few other things up my sleeve for them this summer, too. Just a couple things to help in the way of boredom and keeping them occupied during our seasonal rains. :-)

Ah, but that isn't why you are here is it? It's not just Monday... it's HARVEST MONDAY! Of course! This weeks harvests included the first potatoes and zucchini of the year. I threw those on the grill with some pork chops Friday night. I love it when a meal comes almost entirely from the garden, and ALL local. :-)

Also harvested more carrots, another cauliflower. This one topped out at a decent 2lbs 9oz. a few strawberries a pound of blueberries (not all pictured) and ... well... Oh yeah! One H.O.T. radish. I'm guessing that the weather is just getting too warm for them now.

The zucchini are full bore now. I've got a good 6 on the 2 bushes/vines? Hmm... Anyway We'll be swimming in them the next couple weeks which is good. They tend to only last a few weeks now as we get into May and June so we will be sure to take advantage while we can!

The potatoes I pulled up are the ones that are planted around the blueberry bushes. I didn't like the idea of leaving them to grow to full size under the blueberries and damaging the bushes roots. I knew the longer I let them grow the more likely I'd have a hard time digging them out and end up hurting the bushes. Since they flowered almost 3 weeks ago I've been keeping a close eye on them. Turned out to be the perfect time to pull this little bush we each got a small potato perfectly proportioned for us!

I would love to show off to you my first blackberries of the season as well, but my lovely daughter decided that she wanted to pick me a bouquet of flowers... (Can you see where this is going?) Just so you know when you cut a blackberry flower it only last a few hours in a vase. Also, just so you know it's REALLY hard not to cry when you realize just  WHAT the flowers are that your well intending child handed you with a smile on her face. 'Happy Mother's Day' she says. Happy Mother's Day, indeed. What a gem she is. Every. Single. Bud. And from the thornless canes no less. LMBO.

Ah, well. I suppose it wouldn't be gardening without trials and tribulations, now would it?

 

OH! Guess what else weird just happened? My blueberries REbloomed! Check it!

How Weird it this? I talked to a local blueberry farmer about it and more than half of his crop re-bloomed as well. He thinks it is because of the really late weird frost/freeze we had a few weeks ago. We had another weird cool spell just Saturday night - it actually got down to 59*. For us in May... that is just freaky. The blooms this time aren't as pretty and I'll assume they won't be as large of fruit, but so far on the bushes that have re-bloomed I have about half again as much fruit. That is good because I didn't get as much fruit this year because we didn't get but about 40 chill hours total. The bush in the picture is only a second year cutting so the fruit wont be kept. It's too small to support it yet. Next spring I'll allow it a small crop.

I'm rambling now. Off to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~ 

 

 

Harvest Monday 2/11/13

It's Harvest Monday again.

 

This time I'm not linking in though. I don't have any pictures, and nothing wonderful to report. I did have a small harvest this week though.

 

1 zucchini and 2 tomatoes. :-)

 

Hey, it may not be much, but it keeps me going.

 

We also harvested the flu and another ear infection. That is why I'm not linking in and why I have no pictures to share yet again. Tomorrow I head back to the Dr's for what I am afraid pretty sure will be the assurance of the next round of surgery for my littlest.

 

It seems each Spring I get to report this event. Unfortunately it is preceded with so many sleepless nights that by the time we get here I'm relieved to get the surgery scheduled and then by surgery day I may be nervous for the surgery but the actual surgery it self is such a relief! Sleep is in my future, I just KNOW IT!

 

We have flu complications as well. Friday Kate was feeling perfectly fine after fending off her bout of flu. Today she is snotty and wheezy. Looks like we will be heading back tot he Dr's again for her this afternoon or tomorrow as well.

 

We had plans for hunting this weekend, but I'm not so sure that is going to happen now as it requires us to leave them each at different grandparents houses. My fingers are crossed for miraculous recoveries for both, but my brain is realistic and preparing for the reality of another quiet (LONG NIGHTED) weekend at home.

See you soon.

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 1.28.13

GEEZ! It's the end of January already, I can't believe it.

I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. :-) This weeks harvests are strange for me. I'm still unsure of exactly what type of greens I had planted, but I did harvest them this week. 7 pounds of greens,  just shy of 2 pounds of tomatoes a zucchini and 2 pounds of sweet potatoes. 

Ah, the greens wilted a bit from the heat. I can't believe how warm it got on Sunday.

I only harvested the sweet potatoes because I was moving the location of the patch. This is what has grown from the slips since my Fall harvest. Half of the new planter box will be sweet 'taters. I think they got too much water in the box against the fence and while I don't mind where they were at, it will be easier to control their willy nilly growth this way. Besides it will be pretty to have the vines hanging over the sides. :-D We vegetable gardeners don't always have the advantage of appearances first.

The girls enjoyed helping out with the harvesting and took advantage of my being preoccupied. The greens were a little more roughed up by the time they were done. LOL. They didn't do much but peck at them, but it was still funny to tell the kids they were eating greens that had been henpecked. *snort* They are back to laying very well again. I can't help but to think of it as a kind of reward for them. They also got to pick through the compost that went into the new planter.

 

An update on the build of the first planter box coming soon. It didn't come out quite how I planned. LOL. It's all good, just not what I was envisioning. Apparently when you've been married for almost 20 years your husband thinks he gets to have his input. I let him because I don't want him hating the garden and the work I ask of him. Smart, right? It was hard to let him do stuff though. I wanted it done MY way. In the end it is still functional and satisfies us both. I guess that is what matters most.  ?  Right  ?

Linking into Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday. Thanks Daphne! You're a doll for always hosting~

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 1.14.13

Welcome back for another ugly edition of Harvest Monday! LOL. Linking into Daphne's Dandelions once again. Thanks Daphne for being such a great hostess!

I just don't have very much going on lately. I spent the weekend pruning like crazy and hopefully it will pay off in the next 2 months. Everything already thinks that it is Spring and the blooms are beginning early. Too early. Hopefully this will shock the systems of the larger trees into waiting just a little longer.

Anyway the harvest this week? Pecans, Zucchini and 2 tomatoes.

I'm pounding away at the pecans. Another 8 pounds have been put away. Vacuum sealed and stored away for another year. This years crop was a disappointment. I am not sure that it isn't our fault for waiting so long to gather them and then leaving them up in Alabama rather than bringing them home to Florida with us. But, it's all part of the learning process. It could just have been an off year. We definitely didn't get enough rain and that would have to do with only half of the pecans being filled out well. But the a lot of them are also damaged in other ways. Shame, too because this years color is one of the best. Ah, win some lose some.

In the past I always put the pecans into like sized bags, but this year I am varying the size bags I am making. Some bags will be larger for baking sets of pies and things and some smaller for fresh eating and the likes. Hopefully this will serve us better and keep me from needing to open a second bag for just a handful of nuts and then forgetting that I have an open bag. Not that they go to waste around our house. We are a nutty bunch. The kids and the hubby make sure that any unused portions get eaten in case I forget for too long. Funny though, we may eat an cashew here or there but 90% of our nut intake is pecans and peanuts that we grow here or that we get from the property up there. My goal this year is to try once again my hand at growing enough peanuts for our peanut butter consumption. We eat a lot of peanut butter. I'm also going to make a pecan butter as soon as I'm done picking these darn things. It's worth a try. I'm not sure I'll love it but the kids might.

See you soon!

Barbie~

Blogger issues

Turns out the picture problem has been going on since Friday. At least I know it isn't me. I'm trying to skirt the issue by uploading int he HTML format. Let's see if it works...

The first large bowl of pecans. These have now been dried and are awaiting vacuum sealing  
                             
Zucchini, tomato and oranges...
                            
My sweet girls gift of eggies. <3 I'm not sure which I like better. The chickens or the eggs. LOL.

So, if you have blogger and can't upload pics from your computer switch to HTML format and good luck!

See you soon!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 12.10.12

Harvest Monday again. I do love harvesting, but the harvests have been few and far between as of late.

This weeks harvest:

11 ounces of green beens

4 ounces roselle 2 unfertilized zucchini (3 ounce total) and a dozen eggs.

I should have taken a picture of the zucchini. They were truly picture perfect. Beautiful little miniature squash. But, they were picked, and stir fried with dinner. Sorry!

 

Linking in with Daphne's Dandelions once again, and as always sending a great big Thank You to her for being sucha  generous hostess.

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

Harvest Day 5.29.12

It's not Monday. So, I'm late - again. Hey,  it was Memorial Day so I had plans. Plans that got blown away by Sir Beryl. Good thing we decided not to go anywhere. Turns out that there were a much greater number of downed trees and my parents had no power up in (North of) Jacksonville for 24 hours at last count.  No fridge or freezers and that also means that their 7 (yes, SEVEN) dogs that have the invisible fence to keep them on their five acres would have been roaming free out in the storm without someone there to start up the generators. Not to mention that the picnic and all the other outdoors activities like camping we had planned wouldn't have been so fun in 45 mile an hour winds. We were only planning on going to Ocala after all. Not all the way to Jacksonville. Silver Springs State Park is what we had our eye on.
Oh, Well. Next weekend we'll have a condensed version of the same thing.

Instead I welcomed a gardening friend over to see my mess and our kids enjoyed some watermelon while we enjoyed some conversation. It was a good distraction from thwarted plans and picnics gone awry. I sure hope their plans held out and Illuminations was still wonderful for them! Thanks, Tina for stopping by. Next time hopefully the lawn mower will be up and running and my grass won't be trying to attack your ankles! Troy found a treat for Nick and is waiting to see him again, too. :-D  The pool is back and ready for action. ;-)

I spent yesterday evening cruising the garden not really expecting to find much to bring in but to my surprise I did. And, I found quite a lot!

I had a roma and a bush tomato damaged from the storms, so those came out. There are a few of the tomatoes in this picture, but most of them didn't make the cut. I don't think they'll ripen so they aren't here to be represented. If they do I'll show them later. But these four all were starting to blush so they are here. A few more carrots - that large one weighed 6 ounces! The first eggplant of the season (THANKS RICK- that is from your baby long purple plant from the swap) 2 cukes some broccoli, strawberries, purple podded beans and dragons tongue.

This is the haul from earlier in the week. A key lime, a few carrots, cucumber, zucchini, green garlic, broccoli, and below 4 pounds of onions out of the main bed of alliums, I pulled them because they were starting to multiply by division more and more. It's getting hotter out and that means less likely to bulb at this point and I don't need this many green onions for my cooking. I do after all still have this many onions in the garden still. Bummer year for the onions. But, again Florida is a huge give and take State.

There is no guarantee when you garden here. The sun is extremely low, extremely hot and it makes for quick crops, and that is good and bad. The downpours and humid conditions are hard on the plants and certainly perfect for making mold and mildew. It's an evolving process and an ongoing experiment. I'm always faced with the next question. These onions are one of the prime examples of how gardening here changes every year. Some years I get great big onions and some years it fizzles. But this year I got great lettuce and some years I get none. Go figure. Same with the carrots. I'm still getting them and it's already 90 degrees out regularly. Normally the carrots are done and gone by late March. Here it is going to be June and I'm still pulling and picking them. :-D 

I roll with the punches as every gardener does. My garden looks bear right now to me. I'm waiting for some cowpeas to come up and the old spring tomatoes will be going out - while the new fall tomatoes will be growing and waiting their turn to get into the garden. I still haven't found a good determinate/semi-determinate variety for me/this area. I feel like this is a struggle I will always deal with in some form or another. Maybe I'll just go by a crate of the suckers! Maybe, like the carrots I'm just missing something that i haven't found yet.

Oh, I did learn something kinda new this weekend while I was cleaning up around the place. Will share tomorrow. ;-)

Gotta get ya back here some how!

'Till next time!

Barbie~

HARVEST? MONDAY 5.21.12

I don't have much to share. But, linking into Daphne's Dandelion's to share it! Thanks Daphne for always being a great hostess. Don't forget to stop by her place and say hi!

 The last week has been about the summer change.  Here is the one basket I remembered to take a picture of.

These carrots have changed my mind about how I'm growing carrots from now on. I loved growing them in with the onions all willy nilly. It worked out well - and this giant type also worked out well. They took no longer really than the smaller types and I got so much more! Look at the normal sized on in there next to the larger ones. Wow! What a difference. Considering how MANY carrots this family eats....I'm thinking go BIG or go HOME! er... OK I am home- but you know what I mean.

The biggest honking carrots, and nice sized green garlic (I'm begining to think I'll only get green this year) a good cuke, some okra, berries, zucchini, broccoli, a few beans, a young red onion. A decent haul. I got a couple chilis and 2 small romas this week as well as a few more okra and broccoli- but that is about it. I really was concentrating on getting things changed over.

More sweet potato slips went in. 6 more - so 12 total. I won't be breaking a record with that number, but I have so many other things i want to grow that I don't have space for much else. They are all bush type of course. The peanuts are all up, the soybeans didn't germinate very well. I'm quite disappointed. I think I'll risk moving the plants and distributing them so that they can at least benefit from the area given to them rather than leaving them crowded to one side, as it seems the ones that did germinate all were together. (figures) There wont be any more slips going in now. I used the butt of the potato to generate the last of these. They had some great roots though! Awesome for not having transplant shock. LOL

The last stand of sweet corn for summer is up. I'll try again in fall. I don't know what my failure is with it all the time. Like carrots I just keep trying. I'll figure it out at some point! ;-) The last batch from a few weeks ago was delicious, just miniature. I'll plant popcorn in the heat of the summer. Funny- the corn always grows up in the plots in Alabama. Humph. Guess the clay holds the nutrients better and longer. Even with all the amendments and how wonderful things are doing (compared to how they USED to do) I still can't get corn to grow. Oh, well!

I also cleaned out the rest of the non vining green beans, so any green beans you see now until fall will be non green, flat Italian, or for the first time ever, POLE! Speaking of - it seems to me that I may have stumbled upon something. My dragons tongue beans are not very, uh - 'poley' they are much more bushy. They are also not holding up well in our humidity. :-( They have loads of beans that isn't the problem at all. Its that the poor little plants have already gotten mildew. *sigh* Can't win for losing 'round here I suppose. You should see those beans here next week.

Hopefully the growth of the seedlings will be good this week and I can do some update shots soon. Right now it would just look like a blank garden and then a lot of the same old stuff you always see. (the allium patch, the blueberries, etc)

Summer is here officially - we have our first Tropical storm off the coast of Florida and it's 'officially' hitting 90 each day this week. Yikes!

Stay cool my friends!



'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.2.11

Happy Monday! Harvest Monday, of course. Joining in at Daphne's once again to see what the world is harvesting, and sometimes how they are using their harvests. Break out your Maypoles people the harvests have begun to diversify. It's time to string the ribbons and celebrate!
This week was the most productive by far this year. Lettuce, berries, beans, CARROTS (each day a few as I needed them!)

 

 

 

 

*Onions (small bulbs, but oh so good) 6lb total      *Green beans total of 5lb 6oz      *Zucchini I forgot to measure it all but 4lb 7oz       *Carrots for a whopping 3pounds, my largest EVER harvest of them       *Strawberries 9oz     *blueberries 15oz      *lettuce 8oz      *peas 4.5oz      *peaches 2lb 3ozs!   Blackberries  4oz  *broccoli 1lb 6oz

The broccoli is nearly final, and the lettuce is final - I am still undecided if I will allow the remaining plants to try to give me side shoots. The second succession of beans are starting, just as I'm almost ready to pull the first set out so perfect timing there. The most productive zucchini has PM so it's a matter of time now... and that's all right I'll have it again in a few months in the fall. I'm sure I'll get a few more weeks out of it, until the steady afternoon rains come. Now I will have to keep an eye on my winter squash I suppose. Ho hum.

'Till next time!

Barbie~