Harvest Monday

7 out of 10 varieties of squash

I missed Harvest Monday last week so I will combine things this week. This is a really fun blog hop with participants from around the world. My daughter was visiting from Florida, plus 3 of my grand daughters came to stay and visit with her. Squash production last week was down to just around 20 pounds because the plants had gotten too dry. In fact I've lost about 3 of them. This week we were back up to about 50 pounds with a lot of tiny fruits coming on. The monsoon season has begun and the rain and cooler cloudy days have really revived a lot of plants.

Scarlet Kale

The Scarlet and Lancinato kale have really been producing. I average 5 or more pounds of kale a week. Most weeks I sell all of it, occasionally there will be one bag left over.

Hales cantaloupe

I did finally get some cantaloupe. They were totally ripe, but watery and not very sweet. I blame the rains, they took up too much water.

More Hales

On Sunday I picked more cantaloupe. I ate the smaller two for breakfast and they were much better than the first ones.

a bowl of herbs

I picked a lot of herbs both weeks. The rains are really helping the basil and parsley. Some of the parsley is trying to go to seed but I keep cutting the flower heads out, hoping to keep it going.  

Black Beauty and Black from Tula

Cherry tomatoes were down this week, there were a lot of splits and rots from the rain. Also I think the cooler cloudy days slowed down ripening. I did get some big tomatoes but of course never enough. I'm thinking I need about 100 plants of large tomatoes to satisfy the demand but can't figure out where to plant them all where they would be at least somewhat protected from birds and squirrels and without crowding out some other crops.

Market Moore cucumber

I got a couple of cucumbers. I hope there are a lot next week for the farmers market, people have been asking for them.
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new potatoes and herbs

home grown chicken

#eatwhatyougrow  On Sunday I used the last of the new potatoes and some fresh herbs left over from market to go with a roast chicken which I cooked way too long. It was good any way. I used a bunch each of flat parsley, curly parsley, Thai basil and some garlic.

Harvests
7-13 carrots 1#  0 oz
        squash 3#   2 oz
        Scarlet kale 4#  4oz
7-14
cherry tomatoes 5# 6oz
large tomatoes   3#  0oz
squash                19#  8oz
TOTAL FOR WEEK JULY 10-16  36# 4oz

7-18
cantaloupe  4# 8oz
cucumber         4oz
7-19
Scarlet kale   4# 4oz
lancinato kale 2#8oz
chard               2# 4oz
7-20
cherry tomatoes 2# 13oz
squash              6#  13oz
7-21
squash             51# 8oz
cherry tomatoes  2# 5oz
carrots               1#
beans                0#    1oz
7-23
cucumber                8oz
cantaloupe          9#  9oz

TOTAL FOR WEEK JULY 17-23  86# 3OZ

Farmer Friday

cleaning up

I cleaned up this bed in the creek side garden this week. I've been holding off planting a lot of stuff, waiting for rain. We got a good rain Monday night so time to get in gear. 

red wigglers

I was really happy to see s lot of earthworms in there. Worms are one of the biggest fertility boosters you have. 

planting seeds

 Later I planted a row of rainbow carrots, a row of turnips and half a row of red and green Mizuna mustard. I couldn't find the rest of my mustard seed so I planted the other half of the row to dill.  I sprinkled some radish seed in with the carrots. 

Scarlet kale

I planted out some Scarlet kale seedlings

Collards

And a few more collards. The ones that I planted before that got a little crispy are looking better. 

driveway bed with lime basil

The lime basil by the driveway has really taken off. I cut them all down to dry. 

bush beans under bird net

The green and yellow beans are doing well.  There weren't even a handful of pods to pick today but they are loaded with flowers and tiny beans. 

Scarlet kale

I picked lots of kale. Cherry tomatoes are way down this week. The plants are loaded with green fruit but there were a lot of splits in the ripe ones. 

erosion control

The storm Monday did some damage to the swale above the new garden so I worked in that a little bit. 

assorted summer squashes

The squash harvest was also down this week. But they are putting out new growth and I see a lot of tiny fruits coming on for next week. 

Market More cucumber

FINALLY!!! A little cucumber!

a bowl of herbs

Lots of herb orders this week. Thai and Italian basil, curly parsley, oregano and sage. 

new potatoes with herbs for roasting

I had some new potatoes set aside for us (sold all the rest already) and roasted them with fresh chopped parsley, sage, basil and oregano. So yummy!

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

assorted cherry tomatoes

It's been quite awhile, but I'm going to try to start linking back up with Harvest Monday Harvest Monday is a great blog hop originally started by Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions. She has passed the hat to Dave but still a great blog hop and great way to see what folks all around the world are harvesting.

For those coming to visit from Harvest Monday, I used to participate when I just grew veggies for myself. Now I have expanded a lot and grow for a couple of small farmers markets. So some things are coming in much larger quantities.

summer squash; I have 10 different varieties

Lancinata or Dinosaur Kale

I have a lot of summer squash varities; a generic zucchini plus, Black Beauty, Gold Rush, Mexican Grey and Tondo, a round Italian variety. Green and yellow patty pan plus one called Scallopini. Early Straight Neck. The Trombonccino haven't started yet as I got them in later than usual.

Right now I am growing 2 kinds of kale, the Lancinata plus Scarlet, which is a pretty red frilly one.

herbs and flowers

Marigolds and zinnias

I have a lot of herbs; most of them don't sell very well fresh, which is weird. People are more inclined to buy dry. So I take fresh ones to market and dry the leftovers. Four kinds of basil; Italian, Lime, Lemon and Thai. Curly and Flat Parsley. Lavender, Lovage, Oregano are all coming in now, tho the lavender is about done blooming.  I sell small bouquets mostly of zinnias and marigolds but also other things as they come along, like yarrow and calendula. I grew a lot of dahlias for the purpose but am still experimenting to see how to keep them from wilting right away.

So harvest totals from June 18-25;

6-21 squash 5 pounds 

         Leeks 10 ounces

6-22 Scarlet kale 5 pounds

         Lancinata kale 6 pounds

6-23 cherry tomatoes 3 pounds 4 ounces

        Squash 80 pounds 0 ounces

        Leeks 4 pounds 12 ounces

        Potatoes All Red 5pounds 10 ounces

                     Belinda. 8 pounds 6 ounces

                     All Blue 7 pounds 5 ounces

Totals:

Squash 85 pounds

Kale 12 pounds

Cherry tomatoes 3 pounds 4 ounces

Leeks 5 pounds 1 ounce

Potatoes 21pounds 4 ounces

Total Harvest 125 pounds 9 ounces

Farmer Friday

Rainbow Beets

Been a long week with lots of work done and still a ton of things on my to do list!  I pulled all the beets from the main bed because the irrigation is not giving it enough water. So will be working on that this week before I replant the bed. So a lot of small golden beets this week.

baby watermelon

new potatoes

First tomatoes of 2017; Red Currant

Red Currant tomatoes are a prolific and tasty tomato, although small. It is believed that these are some of the original tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes should be in full swing in the next couple of weeks. However I despair of having any large tomatoes this year. A stinking squirrel has been stealing all the big green tomatoes.

fresh herbs

lots of squash

Lots of other things going on around here, maybe I can get a few more posts in later in the week.

Farmer Friday

cucumber starts

Boy oh boy is there a lot of stuff going on around here! Cucumber and squash starts, herbs, flowers, eggs in three! incubators. I love spring, the promise of the harvest season ahead, the new life and regeneration of nature. The bees are buzzing, the earthworms are working, the chicks are hatching. Daily there are new sights, sounds and scents. Nature is amazing and abundant!

about 1/3 of the eggs waiting to hatch

Red locust tree blooming

squash starts

Tansy herb

Lemon Basil

Lime basil

Sage

Madame Cecile' Brunner rose

gosh that is not half of what is growing and blooming right now! And harvesting cool weather crops, with some coming out so that warmth lovers like tomatoes and  squash can go in!

loose leaf lettuce

Red Russian Kale

Spinach

Rainbow Chard

6 truck loads of manure

Pictures can be deceiving. That does not look like  a huge amount, but that is 6 pick up truck loads of manure. It's still a bit warm, running about 100 degrees F. (yes I do take it's temperature!) but that will be just perfect to keep the cantaloupe and watermelon plants toasty! I just need to get a rabbit proof fence put up around it.

Giotto thinks this hen house is for him!

In other news I bought another kit hen house and put it in mom's back  yard. I need to move some birds out of the big barn to make way for all the new chicks hatching!