My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Harvest Monday

Zucchini, Rond di Nice
 Thanks to Daphne's Dandelions for hooking up gardeners all over the world for Harvest Monday!

Another first this week, the Italian zucchini Rond di Nice (round from Nice). This one weighed in at 1 lb, 2 oz, the next one was 2 lbs, 6 oz. I ate the first as a salad, chopped with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of balsam vinegar. The second I sold at the farmer's market.







Red Pontiac and Mountain Rose
I dug all the Red Pontiac potatoes left and grubbed gently around some of the other varieties. The others aren't really ready yet but I found a few Mt. Rose. They are the bright red ones. I don't know if they will hold onto that bright color as they get more mature but if they do then I will probably switch to them for a large planting next year. They will probably sell better at the market than the lighter colored Pontiacs.

Princepe Borhgese & Snow White tomatoes




I picked over 4 lbs of small tomatoes, mostly the Princepe Borghese, with a few Snow White and Red Currants. I sold most of them at the farmers market; no one else has any tomatoes yet. But people are looking for slicers so next year I will try and get my big tomatoes planted much earlier and try and have tomatoes in early June.

I forgot again to take my camera to the market so no pic of my table. I didn't sell any chard or greens this week but two other venders also had greens. I did sell a couple of herb plants and will try and get some more cuttings taken and potted up, especially of my different mints.





The broken branch from the peach tree that I put in a jug of water in the kitchen softened up all it's peaches, there were 28 altogether.






strawberries and plum


A few strawberries trickled in and a few plums with bird pecks were blown off the tree in the wind.









Rainbow carrots



A few small rainbow carrots. These are Lunar White, Amarillo Yellow and Purple Dragon. I love the look of the Dragon's when you slice them, bright orange insides with red/purple outsides.







And YAY! we finally got some rain. Our last rain was March 18. Sat. afternoon a huge storm rolled in and we got .2". This morning the air smells so good and fresh. I love it when it rains. That storm was a total surprise tho, it wasn't on our forecast! and totally unexpected. I'm hoping for more very soon, that would be a big boon to the garden and really help with the water bill!

23 comments:

  1. beautiful harvest! I've never seen round zucchin, how did that taste comparing to regular or romanesca?

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    1. I liked the flavor better than regular zukes; but like most summer squash they are still on the bland side.

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  2. Just gorgeous! That zucchini looks so interesting. I love trying new (cute) summer squashes, even though I am not a huge squash fan.

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  3. I am glad your wares are selling at the farmer's market. :)

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  4. Rain.....beautiful rain......
    Love that first zucchini, how did it taste?

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  5. That a fun looking Zucchini! I've wanted to try different types for years but I never seem to get around to finding the seeds.

    Oh how I wish we could get some rain! We haven't seen a drop since April!

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  6. Hi, You sure do a large variety of veggies. I seem to keep growing mostly the same things that we are familiar with. Nice harvest! Nancy

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  7. Hi! You sure do a great variety of veggies! I seem to keep growing mostly the true and tried! Great harvest! Nancy

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  8. Sorry to post twice. Thought the first one didn't go through. Nancy

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  9. So glad to learn that the peaches from the broken branches softened up for you, bet they were tasty.

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  10. You have a lovely varied harvest this week. I really like the darker red potato too - it is definitely more visually appealing - although the taste is truly what counts! My potatoes are just starting to flower so I have a while before I will start grubbing around to steal some new potatoes, but hopefully not too much longer.

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  11. Nice varied harvest, you have squash, potatoes, tomatoes already? When did you plant them?

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    1. The Red Pontiac potatoes were planted in Jan, the rest of my potatoes were planted in March, the first of them should be ready towards the end of the month. The small fruited tomatoes I'm harvesting now were planted under lights on Jan 6. I didn't get my bigger tomatoes in until March, so they are slower.

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  12. That's a beautiful harvest! I love the zucchini and how exciting to have potatoes ready!

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  13. I would have bought those tomatoes - they look great. Glad you seem to be getting good sales.

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  14. The potatoes and tomatoes look awesome. :)
    I had never seen carrots other than orange carrots, lol, so thanks for sharing. The peaches look yummy too!

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  15. I'm a big fan of Red Pontiac potatoes and those are some real beauts. I saw that your soil pH is 9? Mine tested at 7.7 and I thought that was high. That must be very challenging to grow things in that pH.

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    1. It is a huge problem growing in this pH. Besides our water has a lot of minerals in it and so that doesn't help either. I keep putting on coffee grounds, leaves, worm compost, along with soil sulfur, to get the pH down at least a little. Of course it also ties up the iron and some other minerals so I have to use liquid iron sprays as well as adding some to the soil for some things. My garden in TX was the other extreme, it was around pH 6 but that's easy, just toss the wood ashes on the garden when you clean out the stove!

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  16. Wow! Such amazing harvests! I would love a few fresh potatoes but we have a ways to go before ours will be ready!

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  17. OMG, Rainbow Carrots! I've seen seed packets for them, but I've never dared to try them (the last time I tried to do carrots I failed miserably).... Do they taste the same?

    We're hoping to do potatoes too, but I'm still trying to figure out when the best time to start them will be. Your potatoes look so yummy!

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    1. This batch of carrots wasn't really big enough to be able to distinquish differences of taste. I'll be planting more different colors this fall and maybe I'll do a 'tasting'.

      If you are not sure when to put in your potatoes or any other plant and don't know an experienced gardener in your area to ask then check with your local agricultural adviser. In the US every county has one, you can usually find their phone number as the USDA Extension Office.

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  18. Love the carrots! Starting seeds indoors is great, it means you get to see the fruits that much faster! And who doesn't like an 'early' tomato? Yum.

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