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.

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Monday - Sept 17, 2012

This maybe the last major harvest for this year!  On the possiblity of a light frost today evening, I harvested as much as possible yesterday morning.  I found the watermelons were off the vine, not because they were ripe but because the vines started dying off, maybe because of cool nights(?)  I have no idea.  I cut open one on the demand of my younger child, but the inside hadn't yet turned a darker color yet, but it was consumed as a juice.  I was told it was delicious, nevertheless. 

I feel a little sad that this year's harvests of chili peppers and tomatoes are maybe half of what I had last year.  I was on vacation for the main part of their growth, so that might be a reason.  Anyways, something is better than nothing :)  I hope to do better next year!  I am very happy with the bittergourd plants.  I grew 2 plants out of maybe 20+ seeds, but they were saved from gourds we got from grocery store.  From those two plants, so far we've gotten 7 gourds!!  There are few more tiny ones, but they may not make it if there is a frost.  There are still a couple more melons that have to ripen. Most of the plants are starting to yellow and slow down on production.  This week is predicted to be about 20 degrees cooler! 

Thanks to Daphne for hosting the Harvest Mondays!  There are too many pictures this week, so my apologies in advance. 

Bush beans

 

Kohlrabi, tomatoes, okra, cukes, chili peppers

 

Watermelon, ripe jalapenos, chili peppers

 

White radishes

 

Tomatoes, bush beans, long beans, cuke

 

Radish greens

 

Cilantro

 

Fenugreek leaves

 

Garden produce!

 

 Jalapeno

 

Kung Pao peppers

 

Cayenne Pepppers

 

Bell Peppers

 

Tomatoes

 

Long beans, red chillies

 

Eggplant, bittergourds, watermelons, banana peppers, zucchini, cuke, kohlrabi

 

Beets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Monday - Sept 10, 2012

I'm posting this a day later, as I've been busy yesterday and didn't get around to uploading everything!  This week, eggplants came in and so did tomatoes(finally!).  The moles/voles located my beets and proceeded to uproot the plants and eat the small beets(sigh...), so I spent sometime readjusting my fence and so far there are no more uprootings.

The cooler nights are making the plants slowly turn to yellow and fade away.  The signs are prominent on zucchini(powdery mildew), cukes(both), melon plants are browning and so too tomatoes and long beans.  The rest on the plants are on their way out and it won't be long before everything starts dying off.  The first frost here is around Sept 22nd.   Until then, these are the harvests for the week.  Thanks to Daphne for hosting the Harvest Mondays!

Fenugreek leaves

 

Bittergourds, banana peppers, long beans, eggplants

 

Beet leaves

 

Golden beets (some of them half eaten by voles)

 

Long beans, tomaotes, cuke

 

Swiss Chard

 

Kale

 

Basil

 

Tomato, cukes

 

Bush beans, turnips, tomato, cukes, okra

 

Long beans, tomatoes, orange bell, cukes, sage, thyme, red chillies