Harvest Monday

Summer Apples

Welcome to Harvest Monday! I can't believe another week has gone by already and we are entering the second half of the year. Oh my where has time gone?  Harvest Monday is a great blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions, so hop on over and visit with other gardeners from around the world.

One day the wind was blowing the apples off the tree plus the birds were starting to get into them, so I picked the tree clean. They are a bit sour, was waiting for them to ripen up a bit. I have been trying to find out what is causing that brown corky growth on the tops of some of them. When I search for cork in apples the pictures look different from this and shows corky spots on the inside. These are fine inside, just have that dry brown spot mostly on the top part and not all of the apples show it. I'm wondering if it's sunburn.

Golden Bantam Improved

This year I have some of the best looking corn plants I have ever had, they went 7 feet with the tassels, almost all had 2 ears per stalk and some put out tillers and tried to make more. BUT it was so very hot and dry when it put out tassels and silks that the pollen was just drying up, so my beautiful 10-12 inch ears are nowhere near being filled. What is there tastes delicious, however. So, note to self, corn should not tassel the last two weeks of June!

Eggplant

I harvested some more eggplant. These are not as big as they look; that is one of those little cereal bowls from the dollar store.

tomatoes

The small salad tomatoes are winding down, only 3 pounds this week instead of nearly 5. They are now split about half and half, Princepe and Snow White.

In addition there were two Black from Tula, along with a paste tomato and a small round one from volunteer plants.

Rond di Nice

And of course some Rond di Nice squash. This one weighs about a pound. The five pound monster that was imitating a green pumpkin was fed to the chickens. The other sorts should be coming on shortly, maybe next week. I think I'm going to stuff this one full of tomatoes and cheese. Maybe I"ll add a little sausage to it. mmmmmm.....

See this post for a garden tour and the newest additions to the poultry flock.

Harvest Monday

Purple Dragon Carrot blossom-white

Boy what a week, so glad that's over! In addition to working my 40 hours I promised a friend to help with their vacation bible school because they were doing a weaving and dyeing unit and I know how to do those things. So all my evenings were taken up with that; I had to get up at 4am to water things.

So I didn't really get any pictures of my harvests this week, although I did harvest tomatoes, chard, amaranth, sorrel, some herbs and more of the Red Pontiac potatoes. Love this Harvest Monday blog hop sponsored by Daphne's Dandelions!

pink carrot blossom

The Purple Dragon carrots and really blooming up a storm. And I spotted an unusual blossom; this one is pink instead of white. I'll tag the stem and save those seeds separately just to see if it's passed on to the offspring.

corn

The Golden Bantam corn seems to have taken off overnight. It is now taller than the blooming carrots (on the left of the bed) and showing signs of tasseling, although I don't see any ears or silks yet.

Hale's Best

The Hale's Best Jumbo melon that I planted in the cold frame has a good sized fruit. Something is digging under the plants tho, either a rat or a ground squirrel and I have a rabbit nibbling on the outer edges of the vine. The digging killed some of the vines and a couple of the bean plants. But I don't see any hole in the ground around the frame where I could easily set a trap.

Bonanza Dwarf Peach tree

I came home on Friday to find a large branch had broken off my little peach tree (seen here under some nylon net to foil the birds). The leaves weren't very wilted so I took it in the kitchen and stuck it in a jug of water. The leaves revived and I'm hoping that at least the peaches will soften up enough to eat. It's my own fault; I didn't thin it nearly enough, there are probably 30 peaches on that branch!

Italian Heirloom Tomato

The Italian Heirloom Tomatoes out front are setting fruit.

Tomato Alley

The tomatoes on the patio are going like gangbusters, especially the Princepe Borghese. You can also see that the Tromboncinno squash have grown past the roof line and been guided sideways.

plum tree with bird netting

I put bird netting over the plum tree. Maybe I will actually get a few really ripe plums for me this year!

Eggplants in pots

The eggplants are doing well and beginning to bloom

pepper plants

I did manage to amend the bed where the peas had been and planted out the peppers that were in 1 gallon pots. Some of them are beginning to bloom.


I didn't get any pictures but I did take some chard, mixed greens, tomatoes and potatoes and sold most of it at the farmer's market on Sat. The tomatoes were snatched up quick. In fact most vendors were out of produce in about 45 minutes! Hopefully this week will be a little less crazy and I'll get a chance to take more pictures this week.