Harvest Monday 9/9 - 9/16 Part I

I didn't get around to posting last week's harvest again!  This time my excuse is that I was busy trying to use up all the apples that we harvested on 9/15.  So I am going to have to make 2 parts to this post.  one from 9/9 to 9/16 and the next one from 9/17 to 9/23.  It's just a lot of pictures and also I would like to know looking back what was harvested and when. 

Half of apples on two trees - Sweet 16 and Honeycrisp, were harvested.  The ones without plastic baggies were falling off everyday, so we decided to pick them off the trees and work with them before harvesting the bigger and relatively bug free apples.  It was a huge lot of apples to process, especially because we only eat fresh and apple pies.  So about 9 quarts of apple pie filling were made and canned.  I gave away a big bag to my neighbor for making apple sauce, made a few batches of apple turnovers and then onto milkshakes for the kids.  Still couple dozen is now in the fridge...

I should say that we've had a really wonderful gardening season in 2013.  It started out late but with temps below average for months of July and August and the nice rains we had, really helped set the fruits and ripen them before the dreaded frost.  So currently,  we as a family are floating in fruits and vegetables.  I am also very glad that I could share the bounty with neighbors and friends!  I believe it is better to have more than you want, so we can easily be generous with sharing :)

Cantelopes, broccoli, tomatoes and snakegourd

 

Basil and Parsley

 

Green chillies fills up a 5 gallon pail

 

Long beans, fallen apples, snakegourd, beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cukes, dried beans

 

Fenugreek leaves, cilantro, peppers

 

Snakegourds, cantelopes, peppers, cukes etc.,

 

Thyme

 

Sweet 16

 

 Sweet 16

 

Honeycrisp

 

Kohlrabi, cantelope, snakegourds, zucchini

 

The ones in plastic baggies still need to be harvested...

 

Garlic all cleaned up!

 

Collection of tomatoes that I need to work on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Monday - Sept 9, 2013 Part II

Cantelopes, Zestar! apples and Eggplants - Oh, my!  Harvests from this week include that and more ...

For all harvests around the world - visit Daphne's Dandelions!!

Eggplants

 

Red bells

 

Tomatoes

 

Beets

 

Radishes

 

Mint

 

Eggplants, pepper

 

Long beans, plums, snakegourds, zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli

 

Zestar! apples picked !!

 

Banana peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes, red bells, snakegourds

 

Cantelopes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest Monday - Sept 9, 2013. Part I

Technically, this is the harvest for the week prior ( Aug 29 - Sept 2), so will make 2 posts this Monday.  It would be too much pics for one week....:)

Carrots were harvested, snake gourds and also lots of eggplants! 

Eggplants

 

Longbeans, squash, beans, bittergourds

 

Turnips

 

cilantro

 

Baskets!

 

Here's what's inside them - Snakegourds, broccoli, peppers, chili, zucchini, strawberry

 

Eggplant, onions, beets

 

Tomatoes, eggplant

 

Zestar! apples

 

Last set of potatoes

 

Peppers, beans, cukes

 

Snakegourds, strawberries, cukes

 

more Zestar! apples

 

Carrots, beets and tomatoes

 

Kohlrabi

 

Beet leaves

 

Spinach, red cabbage, cucumber

 

Snakegourds, eggplants, red bell, apples, tomatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruits in progress....in our backyard

I am so proud of all the fruiting going on in the backyard and decided to show you why I am so happy this year!  Last year plums=0;apples=0.  This year plums=13;apples=100+;snakegourds=24+.  Well, snakegourd is technically not a sweet fruit, but it is growing for the first time ever in the garden and they're not easy to grow in our zone 4.  It's a vegetable, but a very favorite one at home.  Plum trees and apple trees are almost the same age as I recall maybe a year apart or so.  So I would say they're atleast 5yrs now, except Zestar apple tree which was planted about 3yrs back.  They're all either dwarf or semi dwarf trees. 

Tiny fruit formations create a lot of excitement :)  We are now at harvest time - almost.  Plums are already harvested, save for two still on the tree, apples from 1st tree starting falling every now and then, snakegourds already eaten 3....(who's counting? :) 

Oh! Don't be surprised by all the Ziploc bags on the apples, I use them to cover apples when they are dime sized and this is to prevent bugs in them.  This is the second time I have tried it and must say it worked great the first year.  Takes a lot of baggies, and a lot of those are a waste when the tree sheds the apples, but the ones that were covered until harvest were clean and free of bugs!  I have never sprayed my trees, so this is my organic way of growing apples!!   I have not tried this on plum trees and there are worms in them here and there, we just cut off the wormy side and eat the rest.  They're super sweet except for the peel which is a bit sour.

Plums

Some more 'Alderman' plums from the same tree

 

Honeycrisp apple tree on 8/15

 

Zestar apple tree on 8/15

 

Sweet 16 apple tree

Snakegourd vine

 

More snakegourds!

 

They're really loaded !!

 

A huge Zestar! apple in my kid's hand

 

A huge heirloom Brandywine... fills my hand!

 

Finally a view of my Garden#1 from the deck