Harvest Monday - 8/30/2010

I had a good harvest this week as well.  Things are starting to wind down in the garden, though.  Cucumber has powdery mildew and is almost at the last stages.  Lower parts of tomato plants are brown and the top is turning yellow.  Okra has started to produce now! Beans is still going strong, although the plants don't look as green as they should.   Yard long bean plants are yellowing as well.  Just a matter of few weeks, before the garden comes to an end.  It's sad to feel the end of summer, although I will have more time for everything else.  Please visit Daphne's Dandelions to see how everyone else's garden is doing.

Monday - Green Beans

Monday - Tomatoes and green bell pepper

Monday - Chili peppers, cucumbers, okra, banana peppers

Monday - Radish pods, yellow squash

Tuesday - Tomatoes, chili peppers, okra

Tuesday - More Radish pods, okra, chili peppers, toamtoes, eggplants

Thursday - Yard long beans, green beans, okra

Saturday - green beans, yard long beans, tomatoes, chili peppers

Sunday - cucumbers, chili peppers

Sunday - tomatoes

Harvest Monday - 8/23/2010

Our garden is doing great!  August is usually a great time of the year for harvest, here in Minnesota.  Almost everything that was planted should be producing now, if they produce at all.  Here's my harvest for the entire week.  Please check out Daphne's Dandelions for other great harvests around the world.

Monday - Tomatoes

Monday - cucumber, okra, beans, yellow squash, chillies

Tuesday - tomatoes

Tuesday - cucumber, red bell peppers, chillies

Tuesday - Yard long beans, okra, green beans

Wednesday - tomatoes

Wednesday - White radishes

Wednesday - Carrots

Wednesday - Lonely beet

Wednesday - First Eggplant, yard long beans, dried cow peas, red bell pepper, cucumber, chillies.

Wednesday- More green beans!

Thursday - Tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber, okra, chillies, lone yard long bean

Friday - Green beans

Friday - Tomatoes

Friday - Red bell pepper, yellow squash, okra, cowpeas(dried), chillies

Saturday - yard long beans, green bell pepper,chillies,cucumbers, okra

Saturday - zucchini, green chillies

Saturday - tomatoes

Sunday - Sweet banana peppers, red bell pepper, okra

Sunday - Yellow squash, zucchini, chillies, yard long beans

Sunday - Tomatoes, cucumber

Oh baby, Sugar Baby!!

I'm talking about my Sugar Baby Watermelons.  This is the first year with any kind of melons.  As such, we're still watching and learning the whole process.  We've been waiting a long time to harvest this melon, but aren't sure when to pick it.  The first melon was spotted on July 7th, but it seems to have grown just a little bit more and then stayed the same size till now.  Sugar Babies are supposed to grow between 6 lbs -10 lbs. 

The first and smallest melon bagged into onion mesh bags, to support the vertical growth of the vines.

This is what I found online about harvesting any kind of watermelons-

Use a combination of the following indicators: (1) light green, curly tendrils on the stem near the point of attachment of the melon usually turn brown and dry; (2) the surface color of the fruit turns dull; (3) the skin becomes resistant to penetration by the thumbnail and is rough to the touch; and (4) the bottom of the melon (where it lies on the soil) turns from light green to a yellowish color. These indicators for choosing a ripe watermelon are much more reliable than "thumping" the melon with a knuckle. Many watermelons do not emit the proverbial "dull thud"when ripe.

To apply the first rule, I looked closer at the tendril and this is what it looks like

Still looks green!

The other thing, that was mentioned about Sugar Baby watermelons is this-

When the plants are in full bloom, you can expect the watermelons to be ready for picking thirty five days later.

Well, the plants were in full bloom mid- July.  So, it seems we are pretty close to that thirty five days.  We also had more melons since then.  Almost all, are much larger than the first one above.

This is the largest one! I had to use 2 bags for this one!

This is probably the avg size.

I've got two in a bag!

Vertically grown watermelon vines.

At this point, we've still waiting to harvest the first melon.  Supposedly, Sugar Baby watermelons are really sweet as they have a high sugar content.  I hope we can taste them, soon!

Lot of harvest to show off this week!

I had a wonderful week picking so much veggies - I've been busy trying to use them up in recipes!  I will be linking to Daphne's Harvest Mondays where you can see what garden produce, others in the gardening community have been busy with, this week.

On Tuesday -Tomatoes, okra, sweet banana peppers, chilli peppers, cucumbers, 1 yardlong bean.

Tuesday - Swiss Chard

Wednesday - first pick of the season- carrots!!

Wednesday - tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers

Thursday - Red bell peppers, Asparagus, green beans, zucchini, okra, yard long beans, tomatoes, chilli peppers.

                                            Friday - Cucumbers and tomatoes.

Friday -Yellow Squash, Red bell peppers, chilli peppers, beans

Friday - Swiss Chard

Saturday - tomatoes, okra, beans, chilli peppers, cucumber.

Saturday -Green beans and Yard long beans

Saturday evening - found more tomatoes and chilli peppers.

Sunday - Asparagus and tomatoes

Sunday - Red Bell pepper, cucumbers and a bean!

Sunday -Radish Pods.

Radish Pods grow when the mature Radish plant goes to flower and then turn to pods.  My white Radishes were too mature to harvest and I let them go to pod.  I found an interesting recipe for the pods at Aayis Recipes.  A few pictures of my Radish plants -