Monday, July 27, 2015

Harvest Monday - 27 July 2015

Welcome to another Harvest Monday post from Eight Gate Farm. Thanks as always to Daphne's Dandelions for hosting this forum. It was a wonderful week of harvests for us, as I hope it was for you.

Beans and more beans:



 Including last Sunday, our tally is well over eight pounds. Never before have we harvested so much so quickly.


Peas and more peas!



A couple of heads of Green Ice lettuce, just getting ready to bolt.


Our first "Tigress" green zucchini, at a perfect size.


Two more "Yellow Fin" zucchini.


And then later, one of each.


Our first peppers--not red-ripe yet but needed to spice up a delicious Bahamian Conch Chowder. Of course, here in New England conch are scarce, so we used clams. The peppers are "Aruba" cubanelle, and "Big Bomb" hot cherry.



Our crush, two more artichokes:


A bouquet of chard, which went well with zucchini in a quiche.


A bouquet of New Red Fire lettuce:


A bouquet of beets:


And a bouquet of Mokum and Nelson carrots. This year I am growing the fugliest carrots ever. I don't think I sufficiently tilled the bed. But you know, all cut up, they look as good as any carrot, and they taste great too.


After posing with so many bouquets, The Kitchen Goddess reminded me she used to tell me "always a bridesmaid, never a bride." All right, TKG, I eventually manned-up, didn't I?

I took as many of the "Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers" soup peas as were fat, maybe about half the crop. I figured they would dry up better indoors. Here's Daisy-Cat, the Chief Produce Inspector, with the pickings.


As you can see, there were some off-types in the seed lot. I really like growing this pea, but my mistake was taking "dwarf" too literally. They got super-crowded at four per square. Next year I think I will grow them on short trellises.

We continue to get handfuls of blueberries and raspberries, which although doesn't seem to be much, does add up nicely over time.



And our first tomato debuted this week. It's a "Taxi," which TKG begged me to grow, wanting some tomatoes of a different color. Fine, but to me, tomatoes are one thing, and one thing only...red.


It does not look big, but weighed a respectable 5.3 ounces. Here is it cut up:


It is very juicy and flavorful. Okay, TKG, you got me.

And the very last picture of peas (collective sigh of relief), as I pulled the vines today. Normally I let the pea bed go fallow after the last harvest, but this year I'm experimenting with a much later planting of cucumbers. Maybe they'll climb the trellises. You also see some Summer Crisp lettuce I'm trying for the first time.


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, and apologies for going so long. I leave you with a snap of a lovely Lemon Queen sunflower that opened this week. It was a free seed packet from Baker Creek.


18 comments:

  1. You certainly are hauling in the beans and lots of other things. I pulled all my pea vines last week because they were covered with PM. Normally I wouldn't replant the squares either but maybe I will try your idea and plant some cucumbers. I have the seed and it couldn't hurt to see if I get something.

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    1. Yes, that's exactly what I thought too. The ones I planted at the beginning of the season are stunted--we may get a few picklers but the Diva are scrawny. So no harm in planting more picklers now (the Diva seed is too precious to experiment with).

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  2. What a wonderful haul for one week! Love the selection and such a pretty flower too.

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    1. Thanks, Jenny. It was gratifying to get so much this week.

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  3. You have a nice mix of veggies coming in from the garden now. And I have serious bean envy looking at all your beans! And I'm with you on the ugly carrots. Who knows when they are cut up, or grated for that matter.

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    1. Thanks, Dave. Of course I'd like to have lovely photogenic carrots, but these will do.

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  4. What wonderful harvests! So envious of those beans - only 2 of the 6 varieties I planted look like they will give us a good sized harvest, and that hasn't even started yet. I've been keeping an eye on the Taxi tomatoes & they are definitely much paler green than the other varieties. I hope that means they will start to colour up soon.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret. Once the Taxi starts to get yellow, it finishes quickly.

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  5. Lovely harvests. Congrats on the first tomato. And see all the colors taste good. My favorites when I could eat them, were black tomatoes.

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    1. Thanks, Daphne. Yes, I'm sure I'll branch out into more "odd" colored tomatoes.

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  6. Outstanding harvest, a mix of cool weather and summer vegetables. Artichokes are icing on the cake.

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    1. Thanks, Dave. It was a good week for us, with the 'chokes topping it off.

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  7. Wow,so many beans! And your zucchini looks so perfect!

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    1. Thanks, Susie. I had my doubts as things started so slow this year, but I'm gradually improving my outlook.

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  8. I love all the bouquets, almost better than flowers. You are really hauling in the goodies now. I'll second Daphne, you must try a black tomato, they always seem to have the most flavor.

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  9. What a great harvest! First off, you managed to pick a zucchini at the right size- that's commendable enough! I am also admiring your lettuce. It has gotten too hot hear, but I am hopping to reseed a fall crop in 2-3 weeks.And very garden needs a sunflower plant! Lemon Queen is just lovely. Enjoy your harvest this week.

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    1. Thanks, Lexa. I love sunflowers, so we have bunches.

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