Monday, August 17, 2015

Harvest Monday, 16 August 2015

First picking

Half of second picking

Fruit takes the staring roll this week. I had to pick the rest of the tree as some of the peaches were starting to fall. In addition I started to pick our Ginger Gold apple tree. Not many. I'll let most of them ripen up more. And the fall raspberries have started, though very slowly. If you notice on my side bar I tally my fruit differently than my vegetables. Vegetables for the most part are grown as annuals and each year is potentially just as good as the year before. But fruit is on mostly on bushes and trees and takes time to start producing. So there is a huge outlay of money at the start and it takes years before the trees pay off. I'm no where near that. But every year my fruit production has gone up. This week I topped last year's record. So far everything has been higher in production except the peach tree. The peaches were very small this year. I've still got most of the apple tree left to harvest too and I expect the harvest to be pretty good. I'm wondering if I'll be able to top 100 pounds this year. It is going to be very close.

One of many corn harvests

Corn continues to be the biggest producer. Though I think I'm way behind last year's production. I'm getting some really small ears and no second ears like last year. Some started to form - even some third ears, but the squash overtook the plants too much and the corn couldn't support them well enough. Also the squash leaves were so tall they blocked the pollination on some of the ears.

One of many cuke and zuke harvests

The zucchini finally picked up some this week. It still isn't super productive, but at least it isn't too bad. I'm not sure why they aren't producing like crazy. This year they missed the squash vine borers. The cucumbers are fading fast. Wilt has taken half the plants down. I'm sure the rest won't be long. But I'm enjoying them immensely while they are still around.

One of two onion baskets

I brought in the last of the sweet onions. I've almost finished eating them too. Yum. I don't think the Walla Wallas are as sweet as the Ailsa Craigs that I grew in previous years. But I like the taste better. I might switch over to them permanently. None of them ever got particularly huge, but they sized up well considering the tiny seedlings.

I should sing odes to my chard. It is so reliable. When I need greens it is always there for me.

And last but not least is one truckload of broccoli side shoots. I eat the leaves and peel the stems and eat those too, so it all comes inside. Broccoli is one of my favorite greens.

  • Alliums, 6.23 lbs
  • Broccoli, 6.27 lbs
  • Corn, 6.63 lbs
  • Cucumbers, 3.34 lbs
  • Greens, 2.00 lbs
  • Herbs, 0.13 lbs
  • Summer Squash, 3.20 lbs
  • Weekly total, 27.78
  • Yearly total, 334.41 lbs, $703.88

  • Apples, 2.98 lbs
  • Peaches, 21.86 lbs
  • Raspberries, 0.03 lbs
  • Fruit Yearly total, 71.22 lbs

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.

27 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous harvest! Did you need to spray your peach tree? I got rid of mine as I never got around to spraying at the right time. I too eat the leaves and peel the stems of my broccoli.

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    1. No I don't spray any of my trees. I keep the area really clean though. Any drops get picked up fast so as not to spread brown rot.

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  2. What beautiful peaches! And though the onions might not be too big, they certainly look very good. I love chard too, it just keeps on giving!!

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  3. The peaches might be smaller but they look beautiful. It is peach season at the orchards around here so we pick up a bag every time we drive by one. Peaches have to be one of the highlights of summer.

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  4. Gorgeous Peaches! Would love to have that in my harvest at some point, but this year we got hit with peach leaf-curl and had to strip all fruit from the tree :(

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  5. Oh, those peaches are amazing! My cucumbers are not doing as well as last year either, especially the Garden Sweets which are my main pickling cucumber. I'll probably make my first batch of refrigerator pickles today, which I think is at least a month behind last year.

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  6. Your broccoli side shoots are so huge, and I agree broccoli greens are so good. And a basket full of sun warmed peaches, how wonderful.

    I was going to freeze broccoli leaves this week, but the caterpillars moved in and quickly decimated them. There were no broccoli pests for so long, I got complacent.

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  7. Your broccoli is in terrific shape. What are you doing to protect it from the bugs and moths?

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    1. I use a row cover on it to keep the moths out. But the aphids get a little out of control, so I spray it every couple of weeks with soap.

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  8. Fabulous peaches. And an ode to chard: "I think that without chard...finding summer greens would be hard." Oh well...

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  9. Hi Daphne, Your peaches are beautiful even if they are small! Wishing my tree would do better. You are still getting a nice variety to harvest. I think I have enough zucchini now! Nancy

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  10. Great looking peaches again this week! I'm looking forward to ours in a few more years.

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  11. How resource efficient it is to eat most all of the broccoli plant! Your inputs (including water) have big yields.

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  12. Oh those peaches are fabulous! It's about time for me to start some chard. I don't grow it in the summer since I don't freeze it and don't get around to eating it in the summer. It is a staple in my winter garden though, so reliable.

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  13. Those are some big broccoli side shoots. And hooray for the SVB's going somewhere else!

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  14. Oooooo beautiful peaches and corn envy, I couldn't grow them here.

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  15. Peaches, wow, I bet they taste so much better than those from the supermarket. And as ever, a very productive harvest

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  16. Another lovely mix Daphne, wow. Can't imagine I would ever be able to grow corn as good as yours.

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  17. You do have some very reliable chard. I've never tried it myself. Does it have a flavor that is similar to any other greens? I've never tried eating broccoli greens either come to think of it.
    I've been admiring your peaches so much that when I bought some from the market recently I was thinking of your beautiful harvest.

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    1. Beets and chard are the same species so they can cross and their leaves taste similar. I'd say somewhere between beet greens and spinach.

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  18. I spent five hours in curriculum meeting today. School is starting, and my garden harvest is my favorite way to unwind. For supper tonight I pulled up turnips, carrots, one under ripe parsnip, and several peppers. Delicious, and very satisfying. Sorry, no picture; I was busy cooking supper!

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  19. Your peaches look lovely. We planted a peach tree a number of years ago, but have never had it bloom. It was supposed to be a hardy variety, but this winter it had a lot of die back. Maybe we'll finally have some blooms next year.

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  20. What an amazingly bountiful week! I'm particularly jealous of your corn since ours won't be ready for a while now! Our first planting failed miserably, so our second plating went in the ground very late. Care to enjoy a cob or two for us? ;-)

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  21. Daphne Another great harvest week for you. You are the first person I have heard of that really likes the broccoli leaves. It makes me think of my late maternal grandmother. I always grew beats for her and boy did she want the beat tops left on so she could cook those up to! There is so much that can be consumed that has kind of been "lost" over the years.

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  22. What a great harvest. I'm impressed by your peaches. I've got a tiny little peach tree which I grow in a container, I know it's never going to give me a huge harvest but I grow it for the novelty factor more than anything. Unfortunately, the fruit it's produced this year just hasn't grown, there's quite a few peaches on the tree but they're all very small. Perhaps I should have thinned them a little.

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  23. I wonder if one day our little peach will be as fruitful?

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