Monday, June 22, 2015

Harvest Monday - 22 June 2015

Welcome to another Harvest Monday report from Eight Gate Farm, brought to you by Daphne's Dandelions. Thank you again, Daphne! To those in the northern hemisphere, Happy Summer!

This week we had several more harvests of lettuce like this one:


We're not tired of salads yet, not by far. But there will come a day...

Our first harvest of snow peas:


The variety is "Blizzard," which I chose as a substitute for "Avalanche" (get the snow connection?) that I've grown in the past. These are nice, but Avalanche has more tendrils and fewer leaves, making for easier picking. Both set the pods in pairs, which is handy.

The Sugar Snaps will need a few more days.

Two more heads of broccoli, this time "Arcadia." Again, these are nice, but at about 7 and 5 ounces respectively, they are much smaller than the pounders we got from Arcadia last year. Maybe I pick too soon, but you really have to watch it as the buds flower out quickly.


And several more picks of cherries. As I said last week, we really are just trying to get what we can before the birds eat them all, so we pick the lower-hanging ones when they have at least a blush of red.


The experiment of letting them ripen inside went well. We found that leaving them on the sheet pan and just covering with a tea towel worked best; those we placed in a paper bag have not turned red as quickly. So yes, they do ripen, at least in the sense of turning red. I can't say they get much sweeter though.


I found an old copper label on the tree that said the variety is "Tartarian Black." Looking that up, I see they are supposed to turn dark purple, almost black. I wish! But it is sort of amusing to see all the pits on stems still connected to the branches. Maybe next year we will net the lower branches. But my experience netting our blueberry bushes is that the birds still find a way in, and often get trapped--a nuisance.

Some went into a Father's Day breakfast of cherry-corn pancakes, featuring our own cornmeal and maple syrup. Yum! Oh, and The Kitchen Goddess wants you to know that she did not burn the bacon like it may look. Husband just does not know how to properly light a photograph.


Father's Day...hah! Did Soon-To-Be Disinherited Son call?

A look at the Dwarf Blauwschokkers peas (that's a word whose spelling I need to memorize soon). Isn't its flower lovely? It could qualify as "edible landscaping."


This is my first experience with dry/soup peas. My intent is to just let the pods dry on the vine. Does anyone know? Might they mold instead that way?

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I may not post next week, as we are having a lawn party that weekend. Happy harvests to all!

Last minute update: inheritance reinstated.

14 comments:

  1. The cherries look fantastic - I've recently covered my blueberries after finally realizing the birds were getting them all. And that broccoli looks so nice - mine are still tiny, but you are right, they can flower so quickly so checking them daily. Happy belated father's day!

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    1. Thanks, Susie. I expect we will be netting our blueberries soon--something I never look forward to.

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  2. Those are nice broccoli heads, I would be happy if my Arcadia produced those size for me. My garden neighbor (who is Dutch) grows Blauwschokkers and lets them dry on the vine. But you need to get them off before it rains on them.

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    1. Thanks, Dave. I guess then that I can leave them on the vine for awhile, but not until the whole plant withers, like I wanted to.

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  3. I've found that if you net trees, you have to net the whole thing and tie it off at the bottom of the trunk. That keeps the critters out. Of course this is only doable for dwarf trees. You would need one heck of a net for a regular sized tree. But maybe you could apply the same technique to a branch. Gather it all at the bottom of the branch and tie off there. Netting is such a pain. I wouldn't do it except that I would get no fruit at all as the squirrels here eat it.

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    1. Thanks, Daphne. Yes, we would need a circus tent for this old cherry tree. But your suggestion about the individual branches will probably be used.

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  4. Netting is a big pain, for sure. When we tried to net our blueberries, we lost more berries that got ripped off by the netting than we did from the birds. Fortunately we have a big mulberry tree that keeps the birds busy while the cherries are ripening. Daphne's idea sounds promising though.

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    1. Yes, I've found that blueberries grow best on the outside, so netting only accomplishes so much--the birds can still reach in. Still, we got plenty last year. This was a hard winter on the plants, so I'm not expecting greatness.

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  5. I did not get around to sowing snap or snow peas this spring and I really miss them. Yours look so perfect and delicious.

    To answer your question about my Romanesco zucchini, I did start it fairly early, on March 21 in containers. I harvested the first zucchini on May 16, so I don't know if that's quick or not...

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    1. Thanks Michelle. The peas are delicious. They are something we really look forward to.

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  6. I'm so glad that you shared your cherry experiment - and just in time too as we are just about to start harvesting & it is a real nuisance to remove and replace the netting, so I'm thinking we will be harvesting all we can even at the partially ripe stage & following your sheet pan/tea towel advice.

    And I actually quite like crispy bacon, so it looks fine to me!

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    1. Thanks, Margaret. Let us know how your cherries turn out.

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  7. What an interesting cherry experiment. I don't have a cherry tree but the woods around us is full of 'wild" cherries. The birds are feasting on them. Your weekly harvest looks great. Keep enjoying those salads before it gets too warm.

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    1. Thanks Lexa. I'm actually trying Summer Crisp lettuce for the first time this year, so if all goes well, the salads will continue!

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