Harvest Monday - May 20, 2013

The first harvest of the season is very exciting!!!  Asparagus!!! 

Freshly harvested Asparagus!!

 

Can you see the spears?

 

In other garden news, this year all 3 apple trees are blooming!!  Super Excited!  Last year two of the trees took a break and didn't even bloom.  The third bloomed, but since there was no cross pollination, no apples..

 

Apple trees

 

Plum trees just done blooming

 

Cherry tree blossoms

 

up close.....

 

For others' harvests go to Daphne's Dandelions............ 

 

 

 

 

Seedlings 2013

This year I started my pepper and eggplant seeds beginning of March.  I've noticed that they take the longest time to germinate.  Beginning April, I started tomatoes, melons, and flowers - dahlia, zinnia, marigolds etc.,  Ichiban Eggplant is a new variety for me.  Other than that I have FairyTale, Mixed nad Long Purple varieties of eggplants.  Peppers are red and green bell peppers, banana peppers, KungPao and Cayenne chili peppers.  I also managed to germinate 6 bittergourd seeds out of 20+ seeds saved from a grocery store bittergourd. 

This year, I've downsized on varieties of tomatoes. Brandywine, Beefsteak, Rutgers and Early girl. Melons are personal size watermelon and Sweet and Early cantelope(just like last year).  Here's how they've grown. Then there's red and green cabbage, brocolli and kohlrabi. 

Our time for planting hot weather plants outdoors is after Memorial day. Until then, they bask in the sunlight near a window....

Dahlia, Bittergourd

 

Kohlrabi, Marigold

\

Onions

Tomatoes, Eggplants

 

Peppers and Eggplants

 

Peppers

 

Melons

 

Ichiban and Fairytale eggplant on left and (different) flower seedlings.

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Monday - Oct 29, 2012

I thought that I had posted the last of my harvests, but obviously not :)  I did combine two weeks of harvests in this post.  It is not much, but cleaning up the garden, I did manage to get some more carrots, turnips, kohlrabi and (gasp) my first (and maybe my only) brussel sprout stem!!  I have no idea at what point to harvest them, but the lower ends started to flower and the top sprouts looked plump enough that I thought I would harvest them.  Yes, it was cooked into a delicious side dish today - with kids approving of it :)

As usual thanks to Daphne for hosting the Harvest Mondays!!

Kohlrabi

 

Carrots, radishes, turnips

 

Brussel sprouts

 

 

Harvest Monday - October 8, 2012

This is a day late, but will most likely be the last major harvest for this season.  I'm surprised that I had so much more harvest at this time of the year.  Since sprinklers were being winterized, I had no option but to pull off last of the tomatoes and other veggies that could be used.  I pulled off all of the carrots and eggplants as well.  Except Kale, Swiss chard, kohlrabi and brussel sprouts everything else is gone.  Garlic was planted last monday, over 150+ of them!!

Spinach

 

Kale

 

Beans

 

Mint

 

Lots of Tomatoes

 

Eggplants

 

2 more bittergourds hiding in the dried vines.

 

Last of the carrots and some beets

 

Thanks to Daphne for hosting Harvest Mondays!!

Harvest Monday - October 1, 2012

This week saw another small harvest.  Carrots were pulled, and there's still another set of them in ground.  It's a good thing that carrots are frost friendly, so I can pick them at different times!  Bittergourds were all taken off, as the vines were frost bitten (:  I did save 5-6 seeds for next year.  Swiss chard is all chopped off, wonder if it will still regrow more leaves...

Tomatoes are still being picked when they turn a lighter color.  I'm battling for tomatoes with voles which are eating it green and another likely frost this weekend (:  I have no intention of covering it again.  So green tomatoes it is.  They do ripen well inside, so I guess it's ok.

Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Mondays to show off harvests, so thank you Daphne for that!

Swiss chard

 

Tomatoes and bittergourds

 

Kohlrabi and carrots

 

Tomatoes (to be ripened indoors)

 

Tomatoes(above) spread out on a newspaper to help ripen them.

 

 

 

 

Growing Peanuts in Zone 4?

We have a huge Farmers market in downtown Minneapolis and it is almost always very crowded - every weekend.  There is a huge assortment of vegetables and fruit vendors selling stuff from their farms(and sometimes stuff shipped from another city or even country). Today was my first visit of the year, not so much to buy anything, but to check out what the farmers are selling locally.  Yes, that is my idea of garden planning for next year :)  Also, I end up buying so much stuff than I really should, so that will keep me busy for this coming week!

I use the farmers market as an idea of what other vegetables/fruits I could possibly grow in my own backyard.  If they can grow it, so can I!!  So imagine my surprise, when I found several people selling buckets of peanuts!!  Peanuts, is one thing I had never ever seen in this market before.  I have been going to this market virtually every year for over a dozen years!! 

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I couldn't take a picture of the beautiful farmstands.  This is what I bought.

The pile on the left is $2.50 and the right side is $5.  I talked to the vendor and he told me that they save the same raw peanuts and plant them next year.  I have no idea if peanuts will do well in my backyard, but seeing the amount of peanuts they were selling, I'm willing to try.  I plan to save some and eat the rest.  If anyone has any ideas on growing peanuts, please let me know.

Also, these are pictures of the covering for the first light frost last sunday.  Plants were still burned underneath, so maybe I did something wrong....

 

 

Bittergourd(on right) burned under the sheets(:

 

Harvest Monday - Sept 24, 2012

This harvest is past our first light frost for the year!  As the frost was early Sunday morning, Saturday saw me busily picking out whatever I could salvage and then covering up everything as much as I could!  Being a windy day, it was hard to keep everything covered (:

Even the melons - 2 watermelons, 2 cantelopes were harvested, none of them ripe enough.  Tomatoes with lighter green colors were all harvested.  I did plan on covering them all, but somehow a frost means very watery tomatoes (when ripe).  Only brussel sprouts, chards, kohlrabi, carrots and beets were not picked/covered as they could withstand light frosts.

Thanks to Daphne for hosting Harvest Mondays, here's my contribution.

Cantelope(ripe), tomatoes, longbeans, cukes, okra

 

Tomatoes, ripe

 

Green tomatoes, before frost

 

2 watermelons and 2 cantelopes - not ripe.