Monday, September 3, 2012

Harvest Monday, September 3rd, 2012

I harvested my basil this week. I didn't need it, but it was starting to flower. I like to keep it from setting seed as I've found the plant doesn't do well after that. But it puts out massive amounts if you keep the tops chopped off when the blooms start to show up. I gave the huge pile to my neighbor. I've been eating basil every week, but it doesn't get weighed as I just go out and pick and use it for dinner. I really like basil and chicken together. Little bits might not see the scale, but huge masses do.

My townhouse mate came over and asked what greens I had available. I kidded her about just getting 7 1/2 lbs of chard. In the past I've had greens in my fridge to give to her, but this time I had to go out and pick. This is the first of the "fall" greens. I think I might have to pick some of these and resow. I might have time for another batch since fall hasn't really hit yet.

Once again I missed a zucchini under the foliage. I think I'm getting worse at it. But I'm happy that plant is producing now.

I had two cukes in the harvest basket this week. The rest was dried beans. I won't be putting the bean total in until they are removed from the pod. Since I took down the Cherokee Trail of Tears plants, I can do their tally once they are cleaned up. It is just one of many that will go in the tally though.

The last of the corn was picked. It was so good. I might have to plant this variety again since we liked it so much. In all the plantings we have had a solid five to six weeks of corn which is wonderful. About 30 pounds in all. The yields weren't high due to poor germination so there is very little in the freezer. I had four sections that were 4'x 5' for a total of 80sqft. It shared that space with squash that was planted outside the patch and was allowed to run under the corn. I'd be happier if I got twice as much corn, but since you can't beat sweet corn fresh on the cob, I can't complain too much.

My harvest was smaller this week. Thursday morning I left for a vacation, so it was three days of harvests. I won't get back until sometime today. It was a good time to be away from the garden as there wasn't much ready to pick out there. Hopefully when I'm home things will pick up a bit.

  • Corn 3.00
  • Cucurbit 2.53 lbs
  • Greens 1.89 lbs
  • Herbs 1.50 lbs
  • Weekly total 8.93 lbs
  • Yearly total 450.31 lbs
  • Tally $779.96
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

36 comments:

  1. Your 5 - 6 weeks of corn harvest, is this from just 1 variety? 30 pounds of corn, to me that's a fantastic amount. You are fortunate to not have squirrel problem.

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    1. Yes all from one variety, planted in four waves that were planted about 2+ weeks apart. Well that was the plan. With the resowing it turned out to be more like two waves.

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  2. I am looking forward to hearing the totals of the dried beans. You seem to have had a really good year of harvests. 30 pounds of corn sounds great!

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  3. Your basil looks great. This was the first year that I actually kept up with preventing bloom on mine. I've never had such huge plants. I've been drying the leaves all summer and now have a several year supply, LOL.

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  4. Looks like you have a nice basket full of beans! There is always at least one vegetable that gets away from ya every year! I have had a couple. They still look good!

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  5. Good that you are disciplined with trimming the basil. I always put it off and then it's too late. Your corn sounds wonderful.

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  6. I am the same way with basil - pop out and grab some for cooking and they almost never make it into a harvest tally recap or pictures as a result. Did it just last night in fact.

    My cukes are winding down too but I see some flowering so I am hopeful they will give me one last early fall rally before actually giving up for good.

    That is a nice haul of dried beans, I imagine you will have another good supply of them this year with all the warm weather you were experiencing.

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  7. Thanks for reminding to pick the basil, must do that tomorrow! Lovely zucchinis, mine is sadly just rotting away this year, due to all the heavy rain we got this summer. I will start sow asian greens this week, I think. Have a good week! :) Mia

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  8. Do you dry your basil? Or freeze? Or just use and share? Such wonderful harvests! How much square footage do you have in raised beds? Hope you enjoyed your time away! Susan

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    1. I do both. I dry it and freeze it. I find them both useful. My raised beds are about 570 sqft. I have some other herb beds too and the rock wall garden that is mostly in fruit trees.

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  9. Basil looks wonderful. It goes so well with so many dishes, i've been using it in making tomato sauces.

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  10. Your basil looks great. I love the smell of it in the garden while I'm working. Will you dry it? Freeze it? maybe make pesto? What will you do. We have a bunch of it now and don't know what to do.

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    1. I've got plenty in the freezer and dried, so this batch was just given away.

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  11. I haven't been weighing my stuff, but I've had a good year for sure. Hubby was gone last year, so put alot more stuff on the shelf. This year we are eating it all:)

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  12. My basil is in full bloom right now - it just sort of happened... it was all leafy and then full of flowers. I need to go out and give ita drastic trim and make some pesto. Thirty pounds of corn sounds impressive, how wonderful it would have been if it had reached its full potential!

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  13. Great looking harvest. We are still several weeks away from fall greens but everything is coming along well. The lettuce seedlings will go out in a little more than a week!!

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  14. Hope you had a nice vacation. The harvest looks great as usual.

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  15. You have a great harvest as usual. Still that is a lot of corn, tho it's hard to get as much as you can actual eat! I didn't plant enough basil and what I did plant isn't getting enough sun. I love pesto and put it on all kinds of stuff, so next year I will be planting a lot more basil so I can put pesto in the freezer for winter!

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  16. You are still harvesting a nice variety. Wish I had room to grow a little corn. I didn't plant much basil this year and it didn't grow well but yours look wonderful! Thanks for sharing your harvest and the opportunity for us to share! Nancy

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  17. I really need to get some basil along with some other herbs harvested and dried. I'm a little behind!

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  18. Your basil is amazing! We've harvested a bit here and there, but I don't think I have nearly as much planted as you do! Fantastic!

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  19. Your squash look much like the Cocozelle I am growing. I usually harvest them when they reach a pound and the flesh is still mild, seeds are small.

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  20. Nice basil! I haven't harvested mine yet, but I know I don't have that much!

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  21. I lost most of my basil this year. It took me a while to learn why it kept turning black. But now I know that it can't sit on my counter for days unattended to :). Your's looks great. What variety is it?

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  22. Oh to have 30 lbs of corn. I planted about half the area you did and got 1.7 lbs! Although those squirrels didn't have the courtesy to at least weigh the corn they harvested!

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  23. Great looking harvest Daphne - I'll have to try out your tip about the basil to see if I can extend the life of my plants this season!

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  24. Every time I want to harvest my hard beans, it rains. A lot of them are getting eaten by bugs or they resprout in the pods. I have so much to learn....

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  25. Your basil is so beautiful! I have been doing really well at pinching the flowers on my basil but it got away from me this last week and now it is covered with flowers. I have planted two more plants for the fall and hope to keep up with them so I can get some good basil for pesto and spaghetti sauces.

    You are so blessed to have had all that corn. So many people lost their corn to drought. I didn't grow any this year as I didn't have the room for it but next year will be my first year of trying. Which variety did you plant? I would like to try it next year since you had such good luck with it.

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    1. It was Ambrosia. I found germination difficult. After that they were easy, but I had to resow a lot.

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  26. Everything looks terrific. That corn sounds tasty.

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  27. I've had similar luck with my basil. Looked pathetic at the start of the season, then once it got real hot it greened up. Like you I try to keep it pinched and the six little transplants have now become a lush green bush that is taking over a third of the bed. I dried a little but I mostly process it into pesto. Some pesto gets used right away and the rest frozen.

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  28. A little late! I was keeping my basil cut back and was told that I'd have much better pollination if I let it bloom, since it really draws bees. Next year I'm going to plant it in various areas of the garden and let some bloom to draw bees, and keep the other cut back.

    http://planetpooks.com/?p=4901

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  29. THank you for suggesting I share my harvest on Monday ... I can't wait to participate from my OHio garden!

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