Today's harvest

[bbqcoder]

Great pictures that were posted. Got back from vacation so I spent time in the garden getting caught up with weeding, harvesting. I have not harvested many peppers this year yet, even from my overwintered ones. But I noticed my overwintered plants are huge with lots of flowers and little peppers.

I pulled most of my garlic before I left but there were a few varieties that still had a lot of green leaves that I left alone thinking they would not do much in a week. I was wrong. It seems that the leaves died quickly and many of them were left in too long such that they did not have a protective outer wrapper. Oh well, will have to use those up first.

I left most of my scapes on my garlic this year and I can conclusively report that it does make a difference in bulb size. Bulbs with scapes were 25-40% smaller than ones with the scapes removed.

I also noticed that I have some baby asparagus growing in one spot from a bird. Very cool! Will try to post some pictures soon.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

Harvested my first couple dozen Jalapeno's yesterday and stuffed them with cheese/bacon, made a nice appetizer for a party. Have a bunch of Thai peppers ripe too.

Getting excited for hot-sauce making season.

I think this week we may have enough tomatoes to also do a batch of salsa.

 

[pepperhead212]

More peppers - it's definitely pepper season! Before I harvested these today, I had 7 trays of peppers in my dehydrator, out of 9 available trays. I might need my old dehydrator again!
Thai Vesuvius 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Aji Dulce and Chocolate Habanero 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's a photo showing some of the many chocolate habanero peppers, which are now ripening quickly.
A view of the chocolate hab plant, showing the incredible number of peppers on the plant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few more things I got today:
Bitter melon, plus a few tomatoes and tomatillos, 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The komatsuna finally bolted, later than ever!
Komatsuna, Summer Fest, finally bolting, on 8-14. Latest ever in my garden. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The senposai was attacked by cabbage butterfly caterpillars, with severe damage to the central leaves. I pulled off a few caterpillars, and thought about treating with Bt, but why bother? It's going to bold soon, as well. So tomorrow I'll harvest all of my greens, and do something with them. And then clean up that row for the next garlic crop.
Senposai leaves destroyed overnight, by cabbage butterfly caterpillars. 8-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

The cabbage caterpillar gets me every year to the point where I rarely grow anything in the cabbage family anymore.

Ripped up my Kirby vines. Starting to turn yellow, a little mildewy and the kirbies were sub par.

 

[pepperhead212]

The cabbage butterfly hasn't really gotten me in the past, because I never had any brassicas growing at this time, and I always covered the crops early on, due to rabbits, and again with the fall crops.

 

[bbqcoder]

The cabbage caterpillar gets me every year to the point where I rarely grow anything in the cabbage family anymore.

I have trouble with them at my house but not at the community garden. Not sure why. Maybe there are more wasps/insects flying around in the community garden? I did see a squished green cabbage caterpillar on some plant and some sort of wasp dancing around it. Seems that the wasp is attracted to them from what I can tell.

A friend of mine in Rindge, NH has a bunch of monarch caterpillars on their milkweed plants. Will have to keep an eye open for them in my gardens. Hope to see them this Saturday.

 

[larry_stewart]

I have trouble with them at my house but not at the community garden. Not sure why. Maybe there are more wasps/insects flying around in the community garden? I did see a squished green cabbage caterpillar on some plant and some sort of wasp dancing around it. Seems that the wasp is attracted to them from what I can tell.

A friend of mine in Rindge, NH has a bunch of monarch caterpillars on their milkweed plants. Will have to keep an eye open for them in my gardens. Hope to see them this Saturday.

I got black swallowtail caterpillars destroying my dill and parsley, but I think they're cool and I kinda plant enough scattered throughout the garden, so I always have a stash I can get to.

 

[pepperhead212]

I always plant a bunch of dill, just so the black swallowtails have their food, but unfortunately, this year it bolted very early - I think the early heat waves did them in. Same variety as last two years (dukat), and the one that went crazy in my hydroponics. Too bad they don't like basil!
One variety of butterfly I did see on my basil flowers, when I went out there to trim off all that overgrowth, and blossoms. I left the blossoms on the one that I didn't really use this year - Everleaf, which was supposed to go longer than others w/o bolting, but it turned out to be the first! The pollinators get their fill on those.

 

[bbqcoder]

I got black swallowtail caterpillars destroying my dill and parsley, but I think they're cool and I kinda plant enough scattered throughout the garden, so I always have a stash I can get to.

That's neat! I had 7 black swallowtail caterpillars in my parsley 2 years ago. They didn't eat much unlike the cabbage loopers eating my brassicas. But a week later, they were nowhere to be found...

 

[larry_stewart]

Got my cute little curry tree in the mail today !!

Gotta prune this one properly, right off the bat so it doesn't wind up like my other leggy one.

This baby one has just about as many leaves as my 10 year old tree has on it

 

[bbqcoder]

Curry tree looks good!

I've been going through my first batch of dried garlic. Taking them down, cutting off the stalks and cleaning the dirt. Have about 8 more bunches left to do. Most will probably need to wait another 1-2 weeks before I prep them.

 

[larry_stewart]

I got my garlic hanging in the garage. Last year I made it through December before I had to start buying it again at the store. I doubled up this year to hopefully get me through a full year. In a few weeks Ill be visiting the Garlic Farm up in Connecticut ( as ive done the past few years). to buy some seed garlic for next year, and also chew the farmers ear off on some garlic growing advice. I usually plant 50 % from online order, 25 % From what I harvested, and the other 25 % what I pick up at the farm. Ill probably expand my garlic, and decrease my onions next year. Onions are too inconsistent for me, I prefer the garlic, which is usually a predictable win each year.

 

[pepperhead212]

Curry tree looks good, Larry! It's amazing how the trimming brings on areas of new growth, and I wish I'd known that early on. How big is that pot that it's in?

Peppers and okra doing well, and a bunch of new growth on tomatoes, with a lot of blossoms. This is the "lull period" I knew was coming, due to the blossom drop, during the heat, and hopefully these won't drop from this week's heat.

Soon, fall crop gets planted indoors...

 

[larry_stewart]

Small pot, maybe 2.5 to 3 inches. I'll get it into something bigger, and let it get some growth and root development before it makes its way inside.

Im getting some new eggplant and tomato flowers too. Not sure if there will be enough time for them to develop, but I hope so, since my tomato year has ben disappointing so far. Peppers , for me, have always been primarily a September crop. I ve picked a handful plants look healthy and loaded with small peppers or flowers. Im guessing Ill be up to my neck in peppers in the weeks to come. Got a few watermelons that I also hope have the time to mature.

 

[larry_stewart]

Soon, fall crop gets planted indoors...

What fall crops will u be starting ?

 

[bbqcoder]

In a few weeks Ill be visiting the Garlic Farm up in Connecticut ( as ive done the past few years). to buy some seed garlic for next year, and also chew the farmers ear off on some garlic growing advice.

Where is this farm located? I will be visiting my brother who lives in Fairfield, CT this weekend. Usually drive on 84 to 91 to Merritt Pkwy.

I did a web search and found a place in Granby, CT. It seems that they only sell German White.

Ill probably expand my garlic, and decrease my onions next year. Onions are too inconsistent for me, I prefer the garlic, which is usually a predictable win each year.

I had a great onion harvest again. Same for my friend. I used a combination of onion sets and seedlings. Grew reds, whites, and yellows as well as potato onions.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, I'll be planting some chard and lettuce, which I already have popping up, in my windowsill boxes around my deck. Plus some kohlrabi, and a lot of Asian greens - bok choy (a couple varieties), tatsoi, komatsuna, senposai, misome, mizuna, and probably something else I'm forgetting! lol These are all faster than traditional brassicas, and "cut and come again" varieties.

I will probably direct seed some snow peas and sugar snap peas, but it depends on whether I can do something about those rabbits!

 

[larry_stewart]

Where is this farm located? I will be visiting my brother who lives in Fairfield, CT this weekend. Usually drive on 84 to 91 to Merritt Pkwy.

I did a web search and found a place in Granby, CT. It seems that they only sell German White.
.

Thats the guy ( unless there are 2 in Granby)

On September 14th they have " Open Farm Day". A bunch of the local farms ( about a dozen) open their doors, sell their stuff, some give samples or even talks on what they grow. very informal and different each year. Thats when Ill be going. 2 years ago I felt like I was an apprentice, I asked the guy so many questions. Last year, didn't see him ( he was probably hiding from me ). but still bought some garlic to plant. I think he only does have the on variety. He has regular sized and then there are those that are huge ( not elephant, just huge specimens of the German white).

What I like about getting some directly from him is that the farm is about 60 miles from me , so if that variety works for him in his region, likely will be a good variety for me ( and it has been). Ive also had good luck with the Montana giant and music varieties too.

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, I'll be planting some chard and lettuce, which I already have popping up, in my windowsill boxes around my deck. Plus some kohlrabi, and a lot of Asian greens - bok choy (a couple varieties), tatsoi, komatsuna, senposai, misome, mizuna, and probably something else I'm forgetting! lol These are all faster than traditional brassicas, and "cut and come again" varieties.

I will probably direct seed some snow peas and sugar snap peas, but it depends on whether I can do something about those rabbits!

There's enough time for the kohlrabi to mature from seed ? ( I assume there is or your wouldn't be planting it ). I might try some too.

I got some chard , peas and beets in. Also some dill, hoping I can get a bunch to freeze for the winter.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, I rarely have frost until sometime in November, and most of those things I grow, including kohlrabi, are resistant to cold temps into the 20s. Kohlrabi starts being ready for harvest between 40 and 45 days, so they are definitely ready before a heavy enough frost comes to kill them.