Harvest Monday and #eatwhatyougrow

a mess of green beans

Harvest Monday once again, hooking up with Dave over at Our Happy Acres. I got over 3 pounds of green beans this week from the older patch. The new bed of bush beans is up and off to a great start with the rain.

more squash

There was a good amount of squash this week and I only had one left over after market on Saturday so that is always a plus.

Hales cantaloupe and Black Tail Mt. watermelon

I got some more watermelons and cantaloupes. They have been pretty good tasting.

Georgia collards

I made the first picking on the new bed of collard greens. They have really started growing fast since the rains have come.

Armenian cucumber

Market More cucumber

I picked one Armenian and a couple of Market More cucumbers. The Market More have had the slightest tinge of bitterness to the skin. I think probably because sometimes they still don't get enough water. but they are still tasty, they just have to be peeled.

I cleaned up an almost empty bed of carrots and also found some volunteer new potatoes. 

cucumber & yogurt salad

#eatwhatyougrow Besides having cucumber in regular salad I've been making a cucumber salad with yogurt and chopped fresh herbs.

omelet in the making

ready to eat

I used up another dozen silkie eggs in an omelet for lunch on Sunday. Along with a couple of collard leaves and some parsley. I also added a lot of Monterrey Jack cheese. Mom says there is no such thing as too much cheese.

Harvest for week of July 24-30
July 24
 large tomatoes      1#  1oz

July 26
Scarlet Kale     1# 12oz
Lancinato kale 1# 8oz
Collards           2# 0oz
New potatoes        12oz
carrots                   3oz
Armenian cuke  1# 12oz

July 27
watermelon   11# 0oz
cantaloupe    5#  7oz

July 28
Cherry tomato 5# 3oz
cucumber        12oz
green beans 3# 12oz
squash       28# 3oz
basil 2oz
sage 2 oz
oregano2 oz
curly parsley 3oz
flat parsley 3oz
rosemary 1oz

July 29
basil 6oz
sage 2oz
curly parsley 4oz
flat parsley 4oz

July30
large tomatos 1# 8oz

TOTALS for the week
large tomato  2# 9oz
kale                3# 4oz
collards         2#  0oz
new potatoes      12 oz
Armenian cuke 1#12oz
watermelon    11# 0oz
cantaloupe      5#  7oz
cherry tomato 5# 3oz
cucumber        12oz
green beans 3# 12oz
squash        28# 3oz
fresh herbs  1# 11oz

GRAND TOTAL 66# 4oz

Farmer Friday

Georgia Collards

I picked a couple of bunches of collards this week, the first of the new planting.

Armenian cucumber

I found one large Armenian cucumber. There are a lot of small ones out there, so maybe next week there will be a bunch. Did you know that Armenian cukes are not true cucumbers? They are actually a kind of melon that tastes like cucumber. That is why they are burpless.

Black Tail Mt watermelon and Hales cantaloupes

I found some more ripe melons. One of the cantaloupes was splitting so I had it for breakfast. It was pretty tasty.

miscellany of veggies

There were a handful of carrots and some volunteer potatoes from a bed I was cleaning up, along with a Market Moore cuke and some large tomatoes.

bush beans

a mess of beans

I picked a mess of green beans. There were a few yellow wax in there too. I do believe that some of the Kentucky Wonder pole bean seed got mixed up in with the Provider bush beans when I saved them last year tho. Some of the bean plants are running like crazy.

assorted squash

Of course there was a box of squash. Lots of the yellow Gold Rush zucchini this week. It's funny how each week there is a different variety that makes up the bulk of the pick. I also picked cherry tomatoes, but forgot to take a picture. Of course I've posted plenty already.

cucumber salad

#eatwhatyougrow And for some eat what you grow ideas. I chopped about half the Armenian cuke into bits, chopped a handful of curly parsley and some basil, along with a small slicing tomato. I mixed it up with some plain yogurt and salt and pepper. It made a tasty and refreshing salad for lunch.

eggs, parsley, chard

For dinner I used up about a dozen little silkie eggs, a handful of chard and parsley and made an omelet. I used some shredded mozzarella for the cheese. I didn't think to take a pic of the finished product.

Squash and other happenings

Tromboncino

Well the Tromboncino squash continue to amaze me. Not only are the squash huge, so are the vines, easily running 30+ feet. The only other thing here that is that big is the Spaghetti Squash.

Squash and morning glory head for the roof

It is getting harder and harder to get the tangle of vines pushed up out of the way to open the greenhouse door. Now some Heavenly Blue Morning glories have joined the fray. I love the blue morning glory flowers with the yellow squash blossoms!

more Tromboncino

I only planted two Tromboncino in the greenhouse bed. So far I have counted 16 maturing squash on the two vines, not including what I have picked as young green squash. And I haven't climbed up on the roof in awhile to see what's up there!

Northern New Mexico Melon

I am pretty sure now that the melons in the greenhouse bed are Northern New Mexico, which I first obtained from Bountiful Gardens. (I didn't see it in their catalog when I looked right now though) This is an heirloom from Northern New Mexico, as the name suggests. The first melon from this vine weighed in at 11 POUNDS and can be seen here. The next couple of melons split and rotted after a long dry spell  was followed by a lot of rain. I'm hoping that this one makes it, even if it doesn't get as big as the first one.

purple bean, Trionfo Violetto

The first Trionfo Violetto, an Italian snap bean are showing.

With some rain, humidity and warm days combined to give the squash mildew. Since we are nearing the end of the season I've not done anything about it, as I need the space for some fall and winter crops. If it was earlier in the summer I might have tried spraying milk or compost tea on them, suggested organic remedies to keep it at bay.

So far the worst case is the spaghetti squash, followed by the Italian Rond de Nice and the yellow Zuchinni. At the moment I don't see any on the Tromboncino or the Buttercups.

Garden & Poultry Tour

Eggplant

Well tons of stuff going on around here. We've had a slight break in the heat with some humidity and some rain so things are really taking off. I swear some things like squash vines grow a foot overnight.

I'm going to link up with Oregon Cottage's Garden party, go check out all the pretty gardens!

Lots of new stuff coming along too. Another eggplant, more a pinky lavender color which is really pretty. I think this is eggplant #8, I'll have to check.

Black Tail Mountain Watermelon

The Black Tail Mountain melons are setting fruit.

King of the Garden Lima

The King of the Garden Lima beans are running up the trellis. These are giant limas, speckled maroon. Peter Henderson Co. sold them at the turn of the century, another name for them is Leviathan. These are big plants, too. Last time they went 14 feet tall.

Green house bed

I'm kind of a lazy gardener in some ways. If things sprout in the compost and aren't too much in the way, I tend to leave them. Here is the bed in the greenhouse, you can see a cantaloupe, an onion going to seed, some nasturtiums and a tomato. The feathery leaves in front are sweet alyssum.

Hale's Best Jumbo

Further down the bed is the first melon to set on these plants and what a whopper it is! I've never seen one so big; I just hope it tastes good!

Tromboncinno

The tromboncinno vines have run more than 10 feet long along the house and are now putting out a lot of side branches. Tons of male flowers every day.

baby squash

And now finally, what looks like the first female blossoms coming on. Sure hope they start setting fruit!

ducklings

Now onto the poultry tour! Two months ago I had 9 chickens. Today I have 16 ducks and 13 chickens, with possibly more on the way. (I have a broody hen that should hatch eggs by Friday).

There are 5 baby ducklings in the house. They started close to the same size but now two are much larger than the other three. Either pure Harlequin or Harlequin x Runner.

It maybe a couple more months before we can determine sex on these. But all the boys will be named Dinner.

Muscovies

Yesterday I went and picked up some Muscovies. I have been looking for this breed of duck for awhile. They are not related to other ducks, but can breed with them, although the babies are mules. They say the meat is much leaner and tastes different from other duck meat. I got quite a variety of colors and patterns, can't wait to see them all grown up. I don't expect they will lay until spring though.

Welsummer or Welsummer X Dorking

Still not sure if the four poults I got from a friend are pure Welsummer or crossed with Dorking. They are just beginning to get their combs and so far everyone looks about the same, so it will be a while yet before I know if there are any roosters. If so, their name is Dinner.



Bringing in the Muscovies caused quite a ruckus in the yard. I blocked off the baby pen where my Buff Orpington pullets had been living, so I could put the ducks in there until they get used to their new home. The pullets are getting big enough and have been running around with the big chickens for awhile now, but they keep trying to get back in their baby house..

Poultry, Melons, Squash & More

Ducklings, about 1 week old

Well, I've moved the ducklings to a rabbit cage with a wire floor and a pan under it, so taking care of them will be easier and less messy. They also have more room to run around. As soon as they are feathered they will go outside in the chicken pen.

Welsummers

The young Welsummers went out yesterday. They are so wild and I don't have the time right now to tame them down, I just went ahead and put them out with the big chickens. They are half the size of my Buff Orpington pullets but they have made themselves right at home with the adults, even checking out the adults house. The Buffs are still scaredy cats when it comes to mingling with the adults.

Broody Hen

I also have a hen gone broody, she was quite persistent to sit on the egg nest so I made her a nest in a dog crate with about 10 eggs. When I first moved her over she was pretty upset, but it was almost dark and soon she settled right in. I'm not sure how hatchable the eggs will be, some of them had been in the refrigerator, but I'll try and candle them in a week or two and see how many look good.

Mr Roo and a couple of the girls

Mr. Roo has grown up into a very handsome rooster. However he is also getting to be mean. I have bruises on my knee and thigh where he is hitting me for no reason at all. I move slowly and quietly in the pen, careful not to upset the hens, and then BAM! here he comes. So unfortunately he is going to become chicken stew very soon. I am wondering if part of it is because I did not raise him from a chick, so he doesn't see me as the boss or the food source?

New Bed, Lima's on trellis

I did get that carrot/potato bed dug and will be planting some small artichoke plants out this evening, with black eyed peas in between. This bed is next to a large trellis out front and has some King of the Garden (aka Leviathan) lima beans starting up it.

artichoke plants

Baby Blue Hubbard Squash

The Baby Blue Hubbards are going like gang busters, I think there are 5  or 6 on this plant with more coming on.

Bee Balm

The Bee Balm, Monarda citriodorata is blooming. Click on the pic to see it larger, you can see the bees and hover flies that are draw to the flowers. This is also supposed to be a good tea plant but I haven't tried it yet. Self seeding annual.

eggplant

More eggplant are coming on, both white and purple ones.

Melons on the greenhouse trellis

There are at least 4 more large cantaloupes coming on the greenhouse trellis.

Society Garlic

The Society Garlic is blooming again. The flowers are great in a salad or as a garnish, tasting like a very  mild garlic. It is totally rootbound in it's pot but I haven't decided where to plant it out yet.

tomato wilt

On a sad note I have lost about 5 large tomato plants due to some wilt disease. Here is one of them, about 2 or 3 days ago it just looked like it needed a drink of water. (and the soil was a bit dry so I gave the bed a good long soak) and this morning the leaves are shriveling and drying up. I'm hoping no more succumb, as I didn't plant that many large canning tomatoes.

Around the Garden

the back garden

The back garden is becoming quite a jungle. In the front is the Red Burgundy Amaranth, with chard and bolting lettuce. Behind that is the corn and bolting carrots along with random volunteer hollyhocks.

 On the other side of the corn patch is this hollyhock. For whatever reason my camera, which usually takes great pics, cannot seem to get the true color of this flower. I've adjusted it some here, but it is really more a purple color than this shows.

corn silks

This patch of corn is doing well as you can see above. The ears and silks are showing on some of the plants now, so fresh sweet corn is not too far away. This is Golden Bantam Improved, from the Seed Savers Exchange.

bush bean seedlings

The bush beans are sprouting right up in the heat. Here on the upper right you can see some parsnip flowers bending over to get in the pic and on the lower left the stems from a new planting of red amaranth with is in the corner of the bean bed.

squash plants on greenhouse

Here you can see the buttercup and tromboncinno squash plants running on the greenhouse frame.

squash plants from inside the greenhouse

Here are the plants from inside the greenhouse.

melon

Also growing in the greenhouse beds are some cantaloupe, and look at this beauty, can't wait for it to get ripe.

Eggplant #2

Out on the patio eggplant #2 is growing. This is a white one.

Baby Blue Hubbard

Here's that compost pile out front with the Baby Blue Hubbard squash. Three of the four plants are doing fine after I sprayed them with liquid iron a few weeks ago, but the fourth one is even more yellow now. It's way too hot to do any foiliar feeding now, so I poured the rest of the liquid iron from the sprayer directly around the plant. Since you spray a more dilute mixture than you pour on the soil I don't think this will burn it but it should help it out a little. If we get a couple of cloudy days where the temps are down a bit I could spray, but it's way to hot right now.

carrots and potatoes

This is a small bed where I've been pulling the rainbow carrots from. It's also a lesson in checking the records before planting. Apparently in Jan. I planted some sprouting russet potatoes in this bed and then a couple of months later I planted the carrots. Got a big surprise when the potatoes came up. But those potatoes are done and need dug, so I will not be able to wait for all of the carrots to size up; I need to get them out of the way so I can get the potatoes out of there.  (If I leave them too long they will resprout and the crop will be spoiled).

corn & more

In early May I planted this small bed of corn. At the same time I planted some lettuce seed all over and put on a thin row cover. The row cover as well as the partly shady location really helped keep the soil moist and I've been able to pick a good bit of lettuce from it. Later I also planted some squash plants down the middle. The squash are beginning to spread out and the lettuce is almost down. The yellow flowers are a wild sunflower that I think must have come in some wild flower mixture. The seeds are tiny and the little finches really like them, but they put off a lot of pollen and make me sneeze so they will be coming out.

corn, beans, lettuce

This bed has a bit of corn at one end, a teepee of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, a couple of Aunt Molly's ground cherries, some kabocha squash and under the window screen in the middle of the teepee is a little bit of lettuce.

The rabbit pen

Back in April I planted this bed inside my rabbit compound, with a little fig tree, comfrey and kobocha squash. A month ago the squash plants barely had a few leaves on them (seen here), now look at them!

The rabbit pen from the inside

Here's a shot from the other side of the fence. The lemon mint, also called bee balm is blooming. I don't know why they call it lemon mint; to me it smells more like oregano. The little fig tree is growing a few figs, but they aren't very big yet.

The patio

Along the patio the weed trees are making a comeback, so I''ve been trying to whack a few when I get the chance. The tomatoes are doing well and the tromboncinno squash are running and blooming.

Tromboncinno in the old washer liner

tromboncinno in a tub