Today's harvest

[CharlieD]

It's getting chilly outside, so DH keeps bringing in green tomatoes to ripen inside. I'm going to make a batch of pickled green tomatoes to see how I like them.
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Love those.

 

[larry_stewart]

All I need is 74,997 more flowers to get a pound!

 

[GotGarlic]

All I need is 74,997 more flowers to get a pound!

You're on your way! [emoji38]

 

[Farmer Jon]

Neighbor is helping get the last of our beans out. Trading a couple days of combineing for free use of the excavator. Good trade I think.

 

[larry_stewart]

How many acres is your farm, Farmer Jon? and what crops do you grow on it ?

 

[Bitser]

Gave away a bag of tomatoes and still have heaps. Guess I'll make more puree, for vacuum-packing and freezing.

 

[larry_stewart]

Picked all the radishes . I ll bring them into work for a friend who likes them .

All thats left in the garden to harvest is a few varieties of lettuce, kale, arugula. Not fully developed Kohlrabi and Broccoli , scallions and carrots which I should have planted 2 weeks earlier. Ill cover them up to over winter and harvest in early spring.

 

[Farmer Jon]

How many acres is your farm, Farmer Jon? and what crops do you grow on it ?

Right at 2,000 acres. We grow Corn and Soybeans.

 

[blissful]

All I need is 74,997 more flowers to get a pound!

Well, it seems like a long way to go too.

Are these bulbs the ones you bought last year, and already harvested last year once, and now these are back this fall?

Are they supposed to be dug up in the spring or fall?

I can't remember how this goes or what the history is on them.


I thought they'd come back year after year.

 

[larry_stewart]

I bought them early this year, but weren't delivered until a few weeks ago. I was getting nervous, thinking they forgot my order.

Unlike regular crocuses which bloom late winter / early spring, these are planted in late summer and bloom in the fall.

I planted them September 8th 2021 and the bloomed last week, so about 2 months . They are not blooming all at once ( Maybe 1 - 3 each day), but since they are to be dried , doesn't matter.

Theoretically they come back year after year (In the fall), but its suggested to dig them up every 3 -4 years to separate bulbs ( I read that somewhere).

I actually planted them in large buckets, cause I didnt want to take up any garden real estate with something that basically is dormant and unproductive during the peak of the growing season).
Financially, it wasnt worth it for the return im getting, but more than worth it for the experience and being able to chalk it off my been there, done that list.

Im pretty sure I got them from Renee's garden. They shipped nicely and the quality and packaging was above average.

https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/saffron-bulbs

 

[Bitser]

Nice variety today: (small-large) Sun Gold, Sakura, Black Cherry, Bolseno, Moskvitch.

Also pulled a few D'Avignon radishes, which do well in the greenhouse. The round one is from a color mix called Easter Egg: red, white, pink, and purple.

 

[Bitser]

Seed saving time. I save seeds from three Russian heirloom varieties: Sasha's Altai (medium-large slicer), Moskvitch (medium large slicer that bears well over a long season), and Peasant (San Marzano-type sauce tomato, brilliant color and deep flavor).

I tweeze out the seeds and put them on a paper plate to dry. The Wusthof tomato knife is the perfect tool for this sort of work.

The sliced tomatoes get thrashed to puree with an immersion blender, much easier and quicker to clean up than our massive old Cuisinart processor. Then into plastic tubs to freeze and then vacuum pack.

 

[larry_stewart]

Nice to be still harvesting Tomatoes !! Makes me wish it was summer again.

Slowly but surely, Im getting there. When all said and done, Ill probably have a ' pinch' of saffron to play with

 

[blissful]

Larry, thank you for all the information. Yes, I like Renee's too! The flowers, with or without the stamins, are quite beautiful. What a pretty purple. I would look forward to next year, if the bulbs double, you might get a lot.



I cleaned and cooked down all the curly ruffled kale, froze it, tomorrow I'll clean and cook the purple lacinato kale, and freeze that too. It's a labor of love.

 

[larry_stewart]

Wasnt the longeewt or thickest carrot I've every grown, but its one of the more perfectly shaped ones. I sill probably should have gotten them in a week or two earlier, since most are not as developed as this one. My intentions were to over winter them ( as I did last year ) and harvest them in the spring to make room for the Onions , which go in their place in early April, but this one was staring at me as I walked by it and I couldn't resist. I may pick more of the4 big ones before I cover them up.

Picked some kale too make kale crisps later ( already got some pumpkin and squash seeds roasting in the oven). from some home grown pumpkins and butternuts. I dont have a harvest pic of hem, but this is what the garden looks like now. Kale to the left and in the back row. Varieties of leaf lettuce and some arugula. Radishes were in the bare spot. Picked them a few days ago. And two the right, in a large pot is 3 varieties of mint which I cut back and has already grown an additional 6 - 8 inches.

Also, harvested my oyster mushrooms ( well documented in the other thread). and marinated them ( along with some store bought regular mushrooms)

 

[larry_stewart]

Heres the post harvest pic. Making Kale chips.

 

[blissful]

Yum Larry!

Your carrot look much more attractive than the ones we usually harvest here. I always blame it on not tilling deep enough, we get offshoots and interesting character carrots. I'm not sure that is the real reason, any ideas why?



I made some kale powder out of my last batch of kale out of the garden. For adding to smoothies or soups. There's never enough kale/chard/spinach/greens!

 

[larry_stewart]

Yum Larry!

Your carrot look much more attractive than the ones we usually harvest here. I always blame it on not tilling deep enough, we get offshoots and interesting character carrots. I'm not sure that is the real reason, any ideas why?

I am the worst , self proclaimed , carrot grower. I'm guessing mine was either by luck, or statistically I was do for a non embarrassing pathetic looking carrot.

Im sure tilling deep and eliminating rocks and other obstacles that a may get in the roots path would help, but I've grown carrots in stuff straight from the bag ( in the past) with no foreign or hard objects, and still get carrots that you're think I lived next to a nuclear power plant .

Each year I say im never growing them again, but they grow at a time where I have enough real estate to give them another shot, and not interfere with getting any other crops in.

 

[blissful]

Im sure tilling deep and eliminating rocks and other obstacles that a may get in the roots path would help, but I've grown carrots in stuff straight from the bag ( in the past) with no foreign or hard objects, and still get carrots that you're think I lived next to a nuclear power plant .

Nuclear power plant carrots. I've tried all types of carrots, and they are perfectly straight for the first two inches of growth and I know this when I thin them, but after they get thinned, they act rowdy and out of control.

 

[Bitser]

More tomato porn. A couple days pick from the keen greenhouse.

Making spaghetti tonight, with sauce from fresh tomatoes.