Today's harvest

[GotGarlic]

We had a small harvest yesterday - banana peppers, a couple of cubanelles and a purple bell pepper.

 

[blissful]

We're in a hot hot hot spell for WI. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I'll harvest a lot of kale. I put the spearmint I dried in 2 1-qt jars today (for tea).

 

[pepperhead212]

I've been hearing about how how it is for gardeners in the MW, blissful! People I know in MN and northern MO are in that same hot spell!

It's below average here, after only a couple hot days. But that heat is headed this way, come this weekend. Some things I'm growing do like the heat, but my greens need harvested, as most have at least a hint of bolting.

 

[blissful]

Welcome back Pepperhead.

Oh yeah, it is hot hot hot here. Tomorrow will be a relief at 85 deg F. I'm hoping to get more done. Mr bliss has been watering at 6 am, then again at night, to do it when it is cooler. I hope you get some warm weather if that will be good for you and your gardens.

 

[pepperhead212]

It's cooling again, now, down to 73° at 2:30 pm, after only getting to 78° earlier. And it is forecast to only get to 76° tomorrow! My peppers, and other heat lovers can breathe easy - Sat and Sun are forecast to get to 90°, and it's supposed to be above average for a while now.

The Yellow Warren and Sunsugar are starting to ripen more, and I sampled one of each outside yesterday, and brought these inside to ripen another day. The YW has a hint of red on it, even more today than yesterday, sort of like Sunrise, but larger. Flavor is very good, just not as sweet as Sunsugar.
2 Yellow Warren and 1 Sunsugar, 6-21 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

1 Yellow Warren and 1 Sunsugar, ready to sample, 6-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Peas wrapping up, will be getting the last row out this weekend and replacing with my extra tomato plants that I've kept potted until they had somewhere to be planted. Also, blueberries kicking in, red currants in full harvest mode ( currant pics taken about a week ago, now just about all ripe and ready to be picked)

 

[taxlady]

Larry, what do you do with your red currants? I ask because they are used a lot in Danish cooking. Of course they go into some desserts, like the infamous rødgrød med fløde. Red currant jelly is an ingredient in Danish red cabbage and it's also used as an addition to gravy, not a lot, just enough to add a little something to the flavour.

 

[blissful]

Larry, what do you do with your red currants? I ask because they are used a lot in Danish cooking. Of course they go into some desserts, like the infamous rødgrød med fløde. Red currant jelly is an ingredient in Danish red cabbage and it's also used as an addition to gravy, not a lot, just enough to add a little something to the flavour.

Do you use them concurrently in the rødgrød med fløde and the danish red cabbage?

 

[taxlady]

Do you use them concurrently in the rødgrød med fløde and the danish red cabbage?

Well, the two dishes would be made separately. The rødkål (red cabbage) would get some of the currant jelly and be served as a side dish with supper. The rødgrød med fløde would have red currants as one of the red fruit ingredients and be served for dessert.

 

[larry_stewart]

Larry, what do you do with your red currants? I ask because they are used a lot in Danish cooking. Of course they go into some desserts, like the infamous rødgrød med fløde. Red currant jelly is an ingredient in Danish red cabbage and it's also used as an addition to gravy, not a lot, just enough to add a little something to the flavour.

I just snack on them. They are at the end of my driveway , so every morning, before leaving for work, I grab a handful.

My wife doesnt like them, as they are more tart than sweet so they're all mine. I kinda compare them to aa more tart, less sweet pomegranate seed, as they are similar in texture ( with the little seed inside).

Also, I dont think the birds figured them out yet, or they just dont like them, so I get an abundance of them. Its amazing how many berries a few plants produce.

Ive had black currant juice in the past which I liked a lot.

 

[pepperhead212]

Here's some of what I harvested today (I snacked on a few cherry tomatoes out there, as well). The eggplants are starting to get a lot of fruits on them; though the Behold has only that one I harvested, so far, it is the largest plant, and has a large number of fruits set already. Soon, I'll have more than I can use!
2 Ichiban, a string, green knight, and Hari eggplant. First WS 58 cuke, and a couple more okra, 6-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Pretty soon I'll be getting a good amount of cukes, as well, and I saw one of the Sambar cucumbers about 3" long, so they won't be far behind.

The Nirmal okra is still the only one of the greens to have one large enough to pick, but the Emerald has the largest plants, and will have some to harvest soon.

Something I can start harvesting now is squash blossoms, from the butternut male blossoms! I stopped counting at 30, and that was only open ones, or ones that were re-opening, not the just formed blossoms. I think I still have them in my freezer from last season.

 

[larry_stewart]

My cukes kicked in. got my first 6 quarts of pickles. One of my tomatoes have wilt. Im a little concerned about a a few more.
Picked my garlic and shallots the other day. Shallot greens flopped over and were drying out. Garlic seemed to be dying off, and with the trouble ive had the past few years with drainage issues, I didnt want to take a chance. Over all a good year with garlic. Ill stick with the German white, as they did the best. Shallots, planted in fall, not much bigger than the bulbs I planted, probably last year I grow them.

Blueberries ready

 

[blissful]

Woo hoo Larry, a year's worth of garlic!

 

[larry_stewart]

Woo hoo Larry, a year's worth of garlic!

Im hoping.
Most look pretty good
some have slightly discoloration , Ill use those first.
Now that I go them out, Im going to pu tin some pole beans, more cukes, Squash and chard.

 

[blissful]

Larry, we had a disagreement, mr bliss and I, on the amount of garlic we need. We used to plant 1500 bulbs and sell garlic, then after a few years of that, much less. Then we'd give some away, but last year we only grew 200 bulbs and people wanted garlic so we went short! I said, we needed 300 bulbs, enough for us to eat, enough for us to plant the next year, and enough for the neighbors that want it. So we did get in almost 300 this year. I'll be so glad not to have to buy garlic! Ours will come out mid July here in WI. We grow Russian Red, average 4 cloves (big big cloves) per bulb.


I've had good luck planting beans after garlic. Last year we planted sunflowers and beans, that worked out too but the sunflowers barely had time to make big heads before cold weather hit. They were pretty though.

 

[larry_stewart]

Initially ( a few years back) I grew 60 bulbs which only lasted til December. I figured if I doubled it (120) it would last me a year. Now I grow about the 120, but usually aaah the 10 month mark, they start to sprout. The past 2 years Ive had drainage issues, partially cause of the soil ( even though Ive been growing I there forever with no issues until a few years ago) and partially cause I was planting them too deep ( even though I was doing that forever with success. Its also tradition( for us) was one of our July 4th activities , to harvest garlic that day. Now they look like theyre ready aa a few weeks earlier. Anyway, Ive changed the soil in the garlic beds, amended it to make its drain well. I plant the garlic 1/3 the depth I used to. And other than Mother Nature, I have not even watered them ( they are mulched with shredded leaves from the fall). they are now in the drying/ curing process. Most look good, although a few are splitting and may have that over watered look to it. Ive noticed differences by garlic type and also row they were planted in ( although slight, some rows get more sun than the other).

The shallots, on the other hand, I grew 2 years ago, planting them in spring,. They did ok, but nothing to brag about ( I dont even really use shallots, so I did it for the heck of it and chalk it off as a been there, done that). Then I read somewhere that they could be planted in the fall ( like garlic) for larger cloves. So last fall, I did that. The tops were so healthy looking, which led me to believe that I was going to get aa bumper crop, only to the disappointment of getting shallots slightly larger ( maybe) than an average garlic clove. Ill use them, but to have to peel a dozen + small shallots , just to get the same was one onion doesn't seem worth it ( to me, there is not enough taste difference to matter).

Wow,1500 bulbs!!! your back must have killed you after planting that many bulbs.

 

[blissful]

Larry, I'm so glad you changed the soil for them. That can make such a difference. With the 1500 I didn't kill my back but I've hurt my thumb two years, with trying to jam the clove into the soil too hard. I've learned to not do that, and I can get use back in my thumb by squeezing a tennis ball for a few weeks after that.


I've never tried to grow shallots. We grow yellow onions, the winter storage type of long keepers, being more north we grow the long day onions so we get the big bulbs. Sometimes around 12 oz, most baseball size, some smaller. I think we have in about 600 in the regular landscape fabric gardens, and then another 100 just planted everywhere else we have space. That's just about enough for us for the year. (I have 2 2-gallon buckets of them left in the kitchen from last year's harvest, and about 6 qts of diced onion frozen.)


I have not had to process shallots, (peel) but I do process the garlic cloves (a qt at a time) by blanching in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then running under cold water and the skins slip off easily. I wonder if that would work for shallots too. Then you could peel them in large amounts and freeze them for future use.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, Besides the Thai food, and certain Indian foods, in which the shallots make a big difference, there's another thing I use them in place of, when I have a lot, and when I'm totally out of the others - scallions, in some Chinese dishes. Onions just don't do the same, but the shallots taste great, in those Szechwan dishes I make, with large amounts of scallions. Also, planting shallot from seeds grows good scallions, and faster - they look a little flat, but they taste great. I have some of both types in the second bed, and the shallots are definitely larger.

I'm going to go out and check out the garlic today - rain is forecast for Saturday, so I may have to harvest before that. I have 130 out there - a few stunted, but not many.

 

[pepperhead212]

I did harvest my garlic today - looking closely, almost every one had at least 3 brown leaves, so they weren't going to grow much more, even those small ones. As always, the Estonian Red was largest, with only a few smaller ones, which were the larger metechi and music size! Only planted 28, however - from my harvest last season, which was 7 very large heads, all 4 cloves each. Maybe I can get more this season. The Georgian Fire had many larger heads, much like the ER, but some smaller ones - I'll find out how they store this season. Music and Metechi were smaller, but traditionally these have stored even longer than larger heads, even when small.

Only had 4 of those heads that had totally turned brown - about the same as other small ones, but I always group those together, and use first. They've all on the back porch, to cure enough to dry the surface, before brushing the dirt off, and tying them up in bunches, to hang in the basement. I still have a bunch down there - just sent some home with a young friend of mine, that replaced my kitchen faucet a couple days ago - I paid him and his friend, as well, not just with garlic! That was mostly for his Mom, who wants me to help her grow garlic this next year!
The largest, as usual - the red by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The other 3 garlics - a row of Metechi, and small and lager head rows of Music and Georgian Fire. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's another bed I uncovered today, and has in it something I was talking about earlier - shallots and scallions. Both of these varieties were started indoors in mid-February, and transplanted there sometime in later March. The shallots are much farther apart, as I didn't have as many, plus was hoping to see them grow larger, but the scallions I just want for scallions.
Shallots on left, scallions on right, 6-29, planted in early spring. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I uncovered the bed with greens, carrots, shallots, and scallions... and a lot of weeds! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I have one row of carrots in that bed, and only picked 4, that were growing together in pairs. I was surprised that there weren't more like that - I thinned them well!
First carrots of the season, pulled on 6-29, only because they were two pairs, stuck together. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

As I was weeding, I noticed a lot of volunteer dill!

 

[larry_stewart]

As I was weeding, I noticed a lot of volunteer dill!

What's funny is, everywhere I intend to grow dill, it does just ok, but the dill that grows where either I accidentally dropped a few seeds , or the wind blew the seeds does much better.

Nice carrots, which variety are those ?