End of June Harvest

Pretty big harvest today, mostly because my sister is here and I was waiting on harvesting most of the week so she'll have her pickings. So we have alot of beans, peas, potatoes for pierogi, carrots, chery tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cucumber and couple of heads of garlic.

Green Beans were 1lb 9.3oz, potatoes 4 lbs 9.4oz and carrots at 11.3oz

 Shelling peas were at 12.6 oz, yellow squash at 8.8oz and last of sugar snap peas 3 lbs and 2.6 oz.   

  Yellow wax beans were only 3.7 oz, cauliflower and broccoli 12.6oz, and cucumber 2.3 oz.

  Cherry tomatoes were 2.3 oz, kale at 5.2 oz and garlic at 7.5 oz total.

A bit of cooking...

This week I didn't do too much cooking - mostly simple things like salads, or potatoes with peas and carrots and some kind of a protein. But I did try another batch of plum jelly - this time it turned out properly with clear bright color and just a little bit too sweet for me, which means hubby will like it.

 Then I also made european version of the potato salad with Red Bliss potatoes, home grown peas and carrots, diced onions and pickle and diced cooked eggs. It's called "Olivie" and supposed to have cubed ham but I didn't feel like adding it and I used fresh peas instead of canned as normally would.

 And this not quite from the garden but some parts were - cucumbers and scallions and blueberries came from the garden. My hubby loves seafood and I love spoiling him so seared scallops over salad with tomatoes, strawberries and avocado - that was his dinner last night. He didn't complain one bit :)

Community Garden update

Just a quick look around at the Community garden plots. The one with tomatoes didn't come out right so i'm not posting overall shot and you'll see some details later on. Here we have a patch of pickler cucumbers in the middle and somewhere in between are eggplants. To the right are peppers and butternut squash on the back being trained to go on trellis and so ar resisting.

Up-close shot of one of the pepper plants - Carmen variety. I haven't tried it before so can't say if it's any good. Hopefully it is, because it's also very prolific. It's hard to see from overall shot but there are bushes that are covered in mini-peppers. This has fruit about 3" so far.

 Another item I'm watching very carefully - Indigo Rose cherry tomato. Supposed to be first true purple variety and you can see some of the purple hue developing on the plant. Can't wait to try it.

 Other tomatoes are doing pretty good, even if they're not very tall - about 3-4 feet at the moment. But they are all loaded with tomatoes. This I believe supposed to Cherokee Purple - looks pretty good.

 And there are several cherry tomatoes - this happens to be Yellow Pear. Soon will be ready to pick.

Next time I'll try to take more pictures but I was running late so had to hurry and just water it all before heat sets in tomorrow.

First peppers, beans and cucumbers!

Mid-week pickings - broccoli, carrots, first cucumbers, two cherry tomatoes, first peppers, swiss chard and scallions - I know I should have left peppers grow longer but I really wanted to use them :)

 Peppers = 4.4oz, carrots 3.5oz and 5.1oz of pickler cucumbers.

 Broccoli was only 1.6 oz, swiss chard 6.6oz, and scallions at 4.4 oz.  

 Allot peas were picked this time but it's coming to the end - heat wave did allot of damage to peas.   

 First beans were also picked but it was just over 1oz. Peas came to 5 lbs 2oz

 Can't wait until it really picks up speed - more beans are growing and tomatoes are ripening.

Tomatoes on steroids???

I'm used to seeing tomatoes get to 6 feet in August but have never seen them over 5 feet in June! With the rate they're growing they'll be taller than my hubby (he's 6'2") very soon. Being a 'shrimp' myself they're already towering over my head :o)

Weekend harvest

Another round of harvesting this weekend. Left to right - shelling peas, red potatoes, berries,  broccoli, carrots, baby squash, beets and sugar snap peas. I intentionally put red potatoes from previous harvest into the picture to show that I am NOT reusing them for pictures! The only reason I pulled more is that new batch of potatoes are going to someone else who is having some struggles financially and can use some help feeding her family.

 Combined peas came to 2 lbs and 10.2 oz, beets at 7.3oz

 Broccoli was at 3.1oz - they are sideshoots, potatoees at 2lbs and 1.2 oz; and berries at 7.5oz.

 There are some baby cucumbers forming on pickler bush and squash is in full bloom so looking forward to that harvest. I didn't count baby squash and carrots in this weight (because I ate them before i weight them).

Potatoes, carrots and scallions

Quick pickings today in the garden - only because storm went through the area and leveled pretty much everything. I re-staked the tomatoes but potatoes will have to be pulled sooner because they're all flat on the ground now. So I picked some reds and one bush or white potatoes and scallions.

 And of course had to snitch few carrots out of the bed - Nantes and Purple Dragon. Some are good but some are a bit on a small size. It doesn't help that I'm not letting them grow properly :)

 Carrots were used right away in today's meal - shrimp with peas and carrots on a bed of kale.

And then weight was recorded, coming to 9.5 oz of onions and 3.5lb of potatoes

 These will be used in tomorrow's potato salad - will try Granny's recipe that she used on the weekend

Sea of Peas

Someone asked me why I'm posting the same pictures of peas. Well surprise - they are NOT the same. They are being picked every 2 days and I'm on peas overaload. Just to give you idea here is my peas plantation. When you come throught the arbor and look to your left side this is what you will see - a wall of peas - the last one that was planted and it's dripping in ripening pea pods - using my fencing that surrounds the garden as a trellis for support.

just follow the wall around the corner to more peas - these were planted earlier and also ripe and full.

Skipping the section of squashes and beans on that side going to the back corner of the garden - more peas. These are mostly in shade so they're trying their best to reach toward the sunny area.

 Then you have a section of asparagus and off to the other corner - more peas also in shaded area.

 Skip one interval with beans and strawberries you arive at yet another section of the garden that ends with a corner covered with yet more sugar snap peas.

 and finally we're back at the entrance on the right with more peas - this time they are shelling.

And if you pick all that perimiter like I did today without snacking like I normally do this is what you'll have in your basket (or in my case on the table) - alot of peas that are ready for eating or stirfry.

 And put into a bag this bundle came up to 3 lbs and 9.6 oz.

So yes, alot of peas planted and picked all the time and I will make sure to plant alot again come fall time because we love fresh peas and I will save some of them for winter meals as well.