Today's harvest

[blissful]

Pepper, you bring out my envy, I need to get a hold of that. Beautiful stuff.

 

[pepperhead212]

blissful, Glad you're back! With 117 tomatoes, I'm sure you will catch up! I only have 27, though I have a bunch of new ones, to try out this year, as always.

 

[blissful]

blissful, Glad you're back! With 117 tomatoes, I'm sure you will catch up! I only have 27, though I have a bunch of new ones, to try out this year, as always.

Thanks pepper! Mr bliss and I went out in the rain today to the gardens to look at everything. There were hundreds/thousands of flowers on the tomatoes. I asked him to go out with the camera tomorrow and take some pictures, because it is phenomenal. My hair is still stiff from the rain and mousse.


I have a friend, she put in over 400 tomato plants this year, I'm kind of a slacker in that regard. She's a woman married to a man, 2 people household 400 tomato plants. I'd like to give that woman an award for growing them all from seed, and nurturing them so far, and planning to can them too. That will be an amazing year for her.



I usually only put in 40 or 60 but I am running short on thick tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and want to get about 300 quarts put up. I stocked jars and now I'm working on stocking lids.

 

[larry_stewart]

My tomatoes are still inching along. the plants are beautiful, healthy many unripe tomatoes. A few cherry or grape each day, but no ' Mother Load' harvests yet. I tried this one variety called " July 4th". due to its early harvest date. It was more like July9th, but that plant its starting to produce daily. Im more in the 50 quart/ season range. I try to get enough for 1 qt per week of the year. Now that my kids have left the nest, probably dont need as much, but im competitive against myself, and always trying to break my own record I probably won't do that with cukes/ pickles , as the first set of vines are slowing down significantly, and the second planting doesn't appear to be doing great. I ordered some seeds that should be coming any day that are resistant to a couple of things I may be having issues with, and we'll see how that goes. Not sure if there will be enough time for them to produce to capacity but worth a shot.

 

[blissful]

Larry, my aspirations and dreams say 300 qts.


It's not the most likely thing to happen.
2018 I made 100 quarts of thick tomato sauce, that would be 20 quarts of tomatoes cooked down to 10 qts each time with a long cooking time, sometimes overnight. That took 10 batches and 20 days in total.

2019 the tomatoes suffered with a fungal disease, I put up 118 quarts, but they were only diced tomatoes, raw packed, short days of work.


Right now, looking back at what I canned for tomatoes and what we ate, we only have another 18 quarts of thick tomato sauce and 30-40 qts of diced tomatoes left. We ate spaghetti sauce, chili, tomato dressing for salads, a lot this year and I expect we'll keep doing that.



This year we are nearly standing on top of the tomatoes watching for bugs and disease, trying to head off any disease that will kill them off or shorten their lives. That's why 300 qts is only a dream. Anything over 100 will be adequate for us to survive, 200 will get us to next year with some spare, 300 will give us a spare year of tomatoes.


With the beans flowering now, it will be a marathon of beans and tomatoes and somewhere I need to fit in canning corn (that we buy from the farmers here). And canning greens, and pickles....I'm going to be tired in September.

 

[GreenEnvy22]

We're getting steady zucchini and cucumbers now, plus purple beans, lettuce, kale.
There are tons of tomatoes on the vines, but nothing ripe yet. I suspect they will all ripen up while we are away camping next week.

My hot peppers are now all taking off a lot. I've harvested a dozen or so banana peppers, but have lots of ghost, reaper, and cayanne peppers on the plants. My overwintered Paraguayan pepper plants are huge this year, with many dozen peppers forming.
Figs just started to form fruit, and grapes look really good, in spite of the Japanese beetles.

Kids are picking from the raspberry bushes daily, blackberries will be ripening next week.

 

[blissful]

We're getting steady zucchini and cucumbers now, plus purple beans, lettuce, kale.
There are tons of tomatoes on the vines, but nothing ripe yet. I suspect they will all ripen up while we are away camping next week.

My hot peppers are now all taking off a lot. I've harvested a dozen or so banana peppers, but have lots of ghost, reaper, and cayanne peppers on the plants. My overwintered Paraguayan pepper plants are huge this year, with many dozen peppers forming.
Figs just started to form fruit, and grapes look really good, in spite of the Japanese beetles.

Kids are picking from the raspberry bushes daily, blackberries will be ripening next week.

Greenenvy22, you are bringing on my green envy. You are north of us and it looks like you are somehow ahead of us in harvest. I have lettuce, kale, a few zucchini as of yesterday and the day before.



The japanese beetles are there but not in big numbers and not doing a lot of leaf damage here, just a little.


I'm happy for you and thank you for sharing pictures.

 

[taxlady]

Greenenvy22, you are bringing on my green envy. You are north of us and it looks like you are somehow ahead of us in harvest. I have lettuce, kale, a few zucchini as of yesterday and the day before.



The japanese beetles are there but not in big numbers and not doing a lot of leaf damage here, just a little.


I'm happy for you and thank you for sharing pictures.

The Niagara region has Great Lakes to the north and to the south. It's a special climate area because of that.

 

[skilletlicker]

I envy all of you growing outdoors. Climate inside my 250 square foot apartment isn't much of a factor.

Took most of the two oldest baby bok choys that had flowered and a few of leaves of green onion that reached the lights.

Here's how they were planted from kitchen scraps.


Hoping the bok choy will send up new shoots.
The onion leaves were like hollow straws top to bottom. Wondering if later leaves will improve. Looking forward to home-grown turnip leaves. Will start beet root tops the same way soon.

 

[taxlady]

I envy all of you growing outdoors. Climate inside my 250 square foot apartment isn't much of a factor.

Took most of the two oldest baby bok choys that had flowered and a few of leaves of green onion that reached the lights.
View attachment 41888
Here's how they were planted from kitchen scraps.
View attachment 41885
View attachment 41889
Hoping the bok choy will send up new shoots.
The onion leaves were like hollow straws top to bottom. Wondering if later leaves will improve. Looking forward to home-grown turnip leaves. Will start beet root tops the same way soon.

Bulb onions or green onions / scallions? I had scallions growing outdoors. I harvested them by cutting, rather than pulling them up. They came back every spring for many years. They always just came back as hollow tubes, but still tasty.

 

[skilletlicker]

Bulb onions or green onions / scallions? I had scallions growing outdoors. I harvested them by cutting, rather than pulling them up. They came back every spring for many years. They always just came back as hollow tubes, but still tasty.

Scallions. As it is now, I only have about one foot of growing space below the lights. Figured scallions might be the only oniony thing that'd work.
If all I'm gonna get is hollow tubes then that's where the beets need to go.
Thanks, Taxy

 

[taxlady]

Scallions. As it is now, I only have about one foot of growing space below the lights. Figured scallions might be the only oniony thing that'd work.
If all I'm gonna get is hollow tubes then that's where the beets need to go.
Thanks, Taxy

Yeah, those scallions won't provide much. I think chives would work.

 

[Kathleen]

Skilletlicker, I'm in awe of your ingenuity for a 250 foot apartment!!!!

Here is my harvest yesterday: An eggplant and 10 okra.

 

[pepperhead212]

I got my first round bottle gourd, so far. It's a 41 oz gourd, from the white flowered plant - not sure what that orange flowered plant is - maybe one of my other butternuts, in the flat part of the garden? I still haven't seen a female blossom on those, either, with all these fruits on the bottle and tinda gourd plants; no bitter melons yet, but a lot of blossoms. I also got 2 Rosita eggplants, and 5 more Ichibans, but the Ichibans finally stopped flowering, from all the heat, which is typical for them, but none of the others have stopped.
41 oz Round Bottle Gourd, next to two 8 oz Rosita eggplants. 7-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Also harvested a bunch more tomatoes, and a couple of cukes. Soon, the peppers will be ready. I harvested my first ripe ones today - the superchilis, which are always the first ones, though a little late this season.
First ripe peppers of the season, 7-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Its been so hot here, one of my peppers got burned by the sun, so I put up a burlap barrier to shade the plants until the heat wave passes.

My pepper plant are a little strange this year.the bottom 8 to 10 inches have leaves and multiple large fruit. Then there is a foot of stem that has few ( if any leaves) , then there is a canopy of leaves , flowers and smaller fruit at. the top. If it were just one plant, Id consider it more odd, but all of them are like this. Not sure if it is a variety thing, weather/ environmental thing or whatever . The plants look healthy and are producing, but because of the lack of leaves on that mid section, the lower level fruit aren't shaded at all, which Im guessing is why the one burned. Anyway, at least I found it and corrected it early.

My cute vines have been producing for about a month and are now on their last legs. Already got a second round in the works, should have enough time to mature, selected a recommended variety that is more wither - resistant.

Eggplants are bringing up the rear. Thee smaller variety is producing well, but the larger variety is slugging along.Its like its slow motion.

Ripped up first round of string bean plants. Did really well. Second round went in a week or two ago, third going in to day if its not too hot ( All in different locations in the garden as succession planting ).

Squash plants look healthy, but not as much fruit as id like due to the lack of coordination of male to female flowers. Id consider it an average year so far, but the plants still look healthy and may have a second wind.

Okra kicking in and doing well

Started harvesting my over flower buckets of potatoes. So far so good. Also harvest one potato plant that found ts way in my string bean patch ( due to me harvesting my potato buckets over my compost pile, and some of the rejects got ,mixed in and ultimately spread among the garden). Still have another 10 + buckets before I get to the 2 main potato beds. Today Ill likely practice blanching and freezing French fries to see if its worth doing that the some of the main crop. ive never done it before, but if it works to my satisfaction, that will be a good way to store some of my potatoes. usually I get a few months of storage , then they all start setting up shoots again. I just dont have a cool enough are to over winter store them. ( either too cool and they freeze, or not cool enough).

Also just got my cabbage, rutabaga and pea seeds ( already got my carrot seeds) which will all get planted soon for fall harvesting.

Good chance Ill get a few melons this year if the plants hold up.

And now on the the exotics ( at least for me)

I really thought id get a pineapple this year, but I guess the plant had another thing in mind. Looks healthy. Ill keep it going outside , then bring it in for the winter.

Pomegranate plants that I got in the very early spring flowered while they were still indoors, never pollinated and the flowers fell off ( there were 2 flowers). When I got it outside the plants lost all their leaves and did not look well at all, so I kinda put them in a partially shaded area , and basically forgot about them until last week. I just happened to pass them in their out of the way spot, and I saw a lot of new leaf growth , along with about 10 flowers. all of a sudden I had too research and read up on how to care for the plants , cause hey have just now jumped too the top of the list, priority. I would love to get pomegranates in the garden. Last time I saw this was last year when visiting Washington's house in Mount Vernon. Took the garden tour, and he had a few in his garden ( probably;y where I got the idea to purchase them from). Strongly recommend touring his garden. The tour guide wasn't great , but the garden sure was ( and so was Jefferson's in Monticello).

Cinnamon tree looks healthier than ever. Ive never actually harvested cinnamon from it, but Its like my scratch and sniff tree. every time I pass it, I do that to get that cinnamon smell on my fingers. occasionally Ill pop a leaf off and kinda nibble on the stem end of the leaf, where you can get the taste.

Finally, the surprise of the season for me. I have a coffee plant for at least a decade. I hate coffee but my wife loves it , so it was for her. In the very early spring, while indoors, I noticed if flowering ( about the same time as the pomegranate). First time it ever did this. I was excited and took advantage of the opportunity to hand fertilize the few flowers I saw. Wasn't sure if it was self pollinating, but hoping it was since I only have one plant. Anyway, the flowers dried up and fell off. Didnt look like any fruit set, so I put it outside , in kinda of partially shaded area and water it regularly. Something told me the other day that I should inspect it more closely , which I did , and sure enough, I saw multiple coffee beans. once again, this plant has just now been placed on my top priority, Id love to get enough beans to make coffee for my wife. Probably will taste like crap, but at least Its mine

The last one that im hoping for is my dwarf banana, which is in prime real estate in the garden, doing well. ive gotten flowers from the larger varieties in the past, and very unripe small bananas out of them which were inedible, But I was excited just to get to that stage up here in new york. Im hoping to get some bananas this year. Its a bucket list thing for me. Ive been trying for at least 15 years.

 

[bethzaring]

Not today's harvest, but harvest over the past week..All my garlic curing on the north side of my house.

 

[dragnlaw]

And now on the the exotics ( at least for me)

I really thought id get a pineapple this year, but I guess the plant had another thing in mind. Looks healthy. Ill keep it going outside , then bring it in for the winter.

Man, you are dedicated! But, Larry, I thought pineapples were either boys or girls. Don't you need two? or do they develop on the same plant.

 

[larry_stewart]

Man, you are dedicated! But, Larry, I thought pineapples were either boys or girls. Don't you need two? or do they develop on the same plant.

Ive done it a half dozen times and all solitary plants. I assume they can self produce based on that, and assuming that no one within a bees range is also growing pineapples. I know it also takes 1 1/2 - 2 years after planting the pineapple top to actually produce. Id be lying if I told you I remembered the age of this one but im guessing its about that. As long as the plant looks healthy ( which it does), worse case scenario is it winds up back inside over the winter. I have had them fruit inside in the middl of the winter and other times in the spring and summer outside. The only way I remember this, is one summer I have the picture to prove it, and the other time, I remember noticing the baby pineapple eon fathers day morning. I was such a proud papa that day. I think my kids are jealous that the pineapple was my pride and joy that day

Here are a few pics over the years. My daughter proudly holding the sorriest looking pineapple that we got in the muddle of the winter. My cats keeping the plant warm by laying in the pot, another on that we got inside over the winter. A few shots of out door ones ( one shows a few Meyer lemons I got too). The small one that is shot outside was the fathers day one I think.

 

[pepperhead212]

I picked the first tinda gourd today, after that bottle gourd yesterday. It seemed quite heavy, for its size. I will probably pick at least one of the long ones tomorrow, then maybe make a dish with all three in it, cut up in different shapes, to see if there is any difference in flavor, or texture.
15.6 oz Tinda gourd, beneath the 41 oz Round Bottle Gourd from the day before. 7-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I got the most okra for one day this morning, so I took that, and a few more days worth of okra, cut both ends off, then in halves (a few in thirds), and steamed them. Then I put them in my dehydrator, along with 2 racks of eggplant and 1 rack of tomatoes. I recently dried some thawed okra from last season, and it was a delicious snack, and I figured this would be about the same...I'll find out.
Largest harvest of okra in a day, so far this year, and the Emerald is just getting started! 7-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

More cherry tomatoes, and 6 more cukes today, too. My neighbor loved getting some of those cucumbers.
Cherry and Tiger tomatoes, 7-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[Kathleen]

I picked okra today. Erm...for a picture, I'll post it in the dinner thread!