End of June harvest

This week has been a mix of good and bad - good that I was able to get really good variety of veggies, and bad that some things like strawberries and peas came to an end of the harvest. Pulled a volunteer potato that was blocking my melon patch and had enough for a nice meal with  head of broccoli (wish those were growing better).

I picked half of the garlic from the small garden - about 30 or so bulbs. Some started to split from too much water and some rotted on roots, but majority could have used a bit  more time. And I was very happy with the size overall. 

So far I've cleaned only about 19 heads and the rest still waiting outside drying on the chair.

And I've picked first cherry tomato! Not very big and could have used another day to get sweeter but it was a treat to have first tomato of the season!

Then I pulled few Yukon Gold and one blue bush from the small garden - I need that space for my carrots. Blue potatoes were disappointing, but yukons are very good in harvest so far.

another new item - rutabaga! It's a bit small and I only picked 2 to try for taste but it's also first time I tried growing it at all so not too bad of an experiment.

and of course tons of lettuces and kale - many were yanked out because they're started to bolt. will have to plant something else instead.

Community Garden first harvest

What can you get from 3 zucchini plants? How about over 13 lbs of zucchinis in one picking! That's because I was on the road for a week and wasn't able to get to some of these in time so they got much larger than I'd like them to be. But, at the community kitchen I don't think they care as long as they have something to feed the hungry. So Monday morning this bunch will be delivered to the kitchen.

 And I also picked 4 cucumbers - just over 1lb in weight and there are about a dozen small ones on the vine.

For now I'll keep community garden totals separate so I can see how it's producing.

June 21 Harvest

It's been a very good week in the garden. I've been picking enough veggies to eat every day now - from young potatoes, peas, strawberries, broccoli and greens.

And we had enough strawberries for several batches of strawberry jam - here's a picture of one with lemon mix - slightly tangy and sweet at the same time.

Here are some of the dishes we've enjoyed with our own veggies.

No more patience for groundhog!

For 3 years I've been very patient with the animals around the area - they're alive and want to eat whatever they find. But no more. Today I told my husband to trap ALL groundhogs on the property and move them the heck out of here!

These were pole beans and cilantro and green beans in two containers.

 Yellow wax beans and purple Velour that was already flowering!

 And more green beans and peas were completely destroyed!

No more Mr Nice Guy - I WANT THEM GONE!

Harvest June 16

Today's harvest included salads, strawberries, arugula, garlic, swiss chard, kale and whole lot of rhubarb. With overload of rain storms in the past two weeks I was forced to pick a lot more garlic than I needed - but had no choice as the roots started to rot and stalks turned yellow.

Earlier in the week I also picked first fingerlings and the last of the cherries from our trees.

 Can't really say I like fingerlings, but my hubby likes them so I grow them for him. I personally look forward to more blue potatoes and Yukon Golds.

Cherries were so good that I'm looking forward to next year with anticipation of really good harvest.

Lost peas harvest to groundhog

Today we had a very rude awakening in the morning - my husband found a groundhog in the large garden. He must have been enjoying all-you-can-eat buffet for quite a while before we spotted him, because all strawberries that climbed outside the fence, cilantro plants that were growing outside among other herbs, all peas on the border were decimated. He literally pulled peas down and chomped all peapods leaving broken stalks.

 The few left over plants that were inside the garden that he didn't quite get gave me a tiny harvest - less than half of what I was hoping to pick this weekend. Very upset about it as it's my favorite snack food.

 Taking closer look around the house we found a brand new layer groundhog created - right in front of the garden entrance under the house. Sadly he's here to stay so my garden will suffer more losses.