Farmer Friday

almost 2 pounds of basil

pesto!

Farmer Friday! A little late getting this done, I've had a ton of stuff to do this week and today. The other day I picked a bunch of basil and made pesto.

cherry tomatoes

More cherry tomatoes, still a lot of splits and rots from the rain. Not as many as before, and some of the plants seem to have a blight or something. I'll be cutting them out this week as soon as I have time.

trying to get in the garden gate!

Wild asters, lambsquarters, volunteer tomatoes and a giant squash vine are clogging up the access to the new garden, but I did manage to get in to pick beans.

picking beans

part of the bean harvest

I was worried that I wouldn't have enough beans to fill my pre-paid orders, but there were plenty, almost 10 pounds!

squash, lots of gold patty pan

More squash of course. this week there were a lot of gold patty pans, with a few of each of the other kinds.

Armenian and Market Moore cucumbers

A good amount of both kinds of cucumbers. I also picked some greens, kale, chard and collards, but I figure you've already seen them. I didn't have time today to pick herbs and flowers, so I'll do that in the morning before I go to market.

Harvest Monday

Pandorino cherry tomatoes

Harvest Monday is a great blog hop to show case what you are harvesting and doing in your garden each week. Host by Dave over at Our Happy Acres it's a lot of fun to visit the other gardens, even if I can't go there in person.

I picked 11 pounds of cherry tomatoes last Friday. I am really enjoying the Pandorino, a grape tomato from Italy. They make large clusters which almost all ripen at once, making for very easy picking. They also taste good. Will be planting more of them for sure next year.

Lancinato Kale

Scarlet Kale

I picked  a good amount of  kale, which is  a staple seller at market.Some customers look for the Lancinato, aka Dinosaur kale and others like the Scarlet. I will probably try some new ones this fall. I also picked a small amount of chard, but didn't take a picture. I used to wait and let the chard grow large and put it up in bunches but most people like the smaller baby size leaves.

Albino, Golden and Ruby Queen Beets

green onions

I picked some beets, the Albino and Golden beets grow very slowly compared to Ruby Queen and Chioggio.  I also picked some green onions.

Straight neck, Gold Rush zucchini

I picked a lot of squash this week, this was just one crate full. I have 10 different kinds and pick the patches clean on Friday, so generally even the largest ones are only a week old. Even a lot of the large ones still have very thin and tender skins.

something eating the melons!

Still some good ones!

Until recently nothing had bothered the watermelons, but now something is eating them. There were still some good ones to pick though. I am really disgusted with things though. It looks like I won't get any cantaloupes. Now the birds and squirrels are eating them before they are hardly half grown. Seriously considering pulling all the melon vines out as soon as the last watermelons are ready to pick and planting something else.

Black Beauty and Black from Tula tomatoes

I picked some ripe and almost ripe large tomatoes. Bird pecks, squirrel bites, blossom end rot, growth cracks, they were sure ugly and only about half were edible. But they sure tasted wonderful. I'll be brainstorming over the winter how to protect them better next year from all the wild life.

herbs and flowers

Of course I picked herbs and flowers. I don't sell that many fresh herbs so bring them home and use them myself or dry them. I am still trying to figure out how to keep the flowers longer, especially the dahlias. By mid morning at market the stems are turning black and the flowers are wilting. I am wondering if it's because I tie the bunches together and maybe the stems are getting crushed. I think next week I'll try just making the bunches in individual containers and not tieing them up and see if that helps. I also think the heat in my house is not helping. I sure need a walk in cooler!

On Sunday I picked all the apples off a small tree because the birds were attacking them like crazy. Out of the 19 pounds about 2 pounds were half eaten. I saved them to make vinegar out of.

This weeks harvests:
7-5 Cherry tomatoes  1# 13 oz
      Large tomatoes     3#  6oz
7-6 carrots                  1#  2oz
      lancinata kale       2# 8oz
      green onion          4# 10oz
      scarlet kale           4# 7oz
      beets                     6# 0oz
7-7 curley parsley             8oz
      Italian basil                 4 oz
      Thai basil                    2oz
      Cherry tomatoes   11# 0oz
      Watermelon           20# 10oz
      squash                    67# 0oz
      chard                            12oz
7-9 apples                     19# 4oz

TOTALS
cherry tomatoes         12#  13oz
large tomatoes             3#    6oz
carrots                          1#     2oz
kale                               6#   15oz
green onion                    4#  10oz
beets                              6#     0oz
herbs                                       14oz
watermelon                   20#  10oz
squash                           67#   0oz
chard                                      12oz
apples                            19#  4oz

GRAND TOTAL    143 # 5oz

Harvest Monday

Cherry tomato mix

Linking up with Harvest Monday, a great blog hop with gardeners around the world showing off their harvests. Lots of fun!

This week I finally had enough cherry tomatoes for both my Superior customers and our Globe-Miami Farmers Market.  I picked almost 10 pounds. I think next week will be even better. Next year I don't think I'm going to plant to tiny currant tomatoes. They just take way too long to pick. I am liking the Italian grape tomato call Pandorino. They are a nice size, good flavor and heavy producers, 8-10 fruit in a cluster. On the other hand I am not liking the Blue Cream from Baker's Creek. They are really splitting badly and don't want to come off the stem. I will not plant them next year. Besides I wasn't impressed with the flavor. I much prefer my old Snow White.

yellow scallop squash

This weeks squash harvest was only a little over 20 pounds.  I had a day when the plants wilted badly which reduced yields. But next week should be better as I've been trying to keep them more evenly watered. 

Black Tail Mountain Watermelons

Amazingly I have watermelons. So far nothing is bothering them so next summer I'm going to plant a lot more. I still have Hopi Yellow melons but they were planted later. They are new to me. I am thinking about covering my hoop houses in hardware cloth so I can plant cantaloupes in them next summer and actually get some!

Just hatched butterfly

Sunday morning I saw a just hatched butterfly.  I think it's a double swallowtail, our Arizona State butterfly

before

after

Also on Sunday I spent a little while cleaning a weedy corner.  There is still more to do but it was getting too hot. The little bit of green left on that bed is actually carrots.

dried basil

I also spent some time stripping leaves from dried herbs and putting them in bulk bags until I have time to put them in smaller ones and label them for sale. 

I picked some green and yellow snap beans but forgot to take a picture.  

Albino & Golden beets, small onions

I pulled some Albino and Golden beets. They grow a little slower than red ones so I try to plant them in their own beds. 

I also had a few very small onions. One of my lists said plant in January. I didn't think that was right but tried a few. Very tiny bulbs. So will stick with Sept/Oct plantings.

I picked flowers too, sunflower, yarrow, zinnia, marigold. I don't think I got a picture of them tho.

This weeks harvests:

6-28

Cherry tomatoes 1# 4oz

Beans.                  1# 14 oz

Scarlet Kale.         1# 0 oz

Squash.                 3# 8 oz

6-29

Scarlet kale.         1 # 4 oz

Lancinata kale      2# 7 oz

Belinda potatoes.  30 # 0 oz

6-30

Cherry tomatoes.   8 # 4 oz

Sage.                            2oz

Italian basil.                10 oz

Thai basil.                    10 oz

Flat parsley.                 10 oz 

Curly parsley.                8 oz

Lovage.                         4 oz

Squash.                   20# 8 oz 

Black Tail Mt. Watermelon 29# 0 oz

Carrots.                     1# 0 oz

Beets w/greens.        2# 0 oz

Small onions.            2# 0 oz

5 bunches flowers

Harvest Totals Week June 26-July 2
cherry tomatoes       9# 8 oz
beans                        1# 14 oz
Kale                          4# 7 oz
potatoes                   30# 0 oz
herbs                        2# 8 oz
watermelon             29# 0 oz
carrots                      1# 0 oz
beets                        2# 0 oz
onions                     2# 0 oz
TOTAL                82# 3 oz
Harvest totals do not include all the things I ate while I was working!