Harvesting Anything?

mudbug · #1 07-18-2001, 04:54 PM

For those ChefTalk members with personal gardens:

It's such a joy to pick your own home grown veggies and it's about that time of year. Are you harvesting anything right now?

Isa · #2 07-18-2001, 05:50 PM

Every day before dinner I go on to the balcony to pick up my lettuce leaves. You have to make salad in summer. I also have my choice of fresh herbs.

Many tomatoes on the vine not quite ready to be picked though.

Rhubarb is growing strongly, I could start picking but I'll let it get a bit bigger.

momoreg · #3 07-18-2001, 06:40 PM

The carrots and shallots are ready, and I picked quite a few string beans last week, while very few have come up this week. That, I don't understand.

The rosemary, thyme and basil are thriving, and I use them all the time. Tomatoes are still green. Celery is just about ready. I'll give it another week.

The yellow bell peppers are still green. I'm very excited about those!!

Linda Smith · #4 07-19-2001, 01:50 PM

I have been munching on the greens for quite some time now- mizuna, arugula, meslcun. Picked my first batch of sugar snap peas last night and threw them into a stir fry. That's about it so far...oh and the weeds are doing quite well.

Svadhisthana · #5 07-19-2001, 01:58 PM

I had some basil from my "urban garden" mixed in with my tomato sauce today. yuuuuum!

Linda, glad to hear your weeds are doing so well!

#6 07-21-2001, 10:20 AM

yep on the basil and shallots...cucumbers are starting.....would thank all good thoughts of rain my way!! The stream is getting low...(hopes of rain in Big Bay)

islander · #7 07-21-2001, 10:00 PM

Wishing I had planted waaay more basil, but I will know that for next year. Enjoying new potatoes, tons of lettuce and savoy cabbage. The strawberries and raspberries have been amazing this year. Now, if I could just keep the deer out of the garden...We do have a 10' high fence, but they are going UNDER the fence. I think it's time for a rain dance too. I hope everyone is enjoying their garden as I am.

cape chef · #8 07-24-2001, 06:23 PM

I went away for two weeks and my gardens are over flowing, Many types of culinary and ornimental herbs...both my annual and perranual flower gardens are ripe for the picking (my wifes a florel designer)Brandy wine tomatoes are working there way,as are my baby yellow beets and ozzete fingerlings. I have been making rose water with some shrub rose petals (rosa rogosa)cultivar.

planted some pumkins that are forming and all my squash blossems have been stuffed,breaded and frozen.

Has anyone been gardening organicly this year?

My composting has really done well this year.
cc

Risa · #9 07-25-2001, 01:14 PM

I went away for two weeks also and I just got back around 11 PM last night. I was squinting through the darkness trying to see if my garden was still okay. I was very astonished to find that everything had practically doubled in size. I trimmed back most of the herbs quite a bit before I left because I didn't want them to flower and now they're the same size or bigger than when I left. I have lots of habaneros and of another hot chili pepper. I didn't get a close look at the rest.

Isa · #10 07-25-2001, 07:21 PM

I should harvest my first tomato befor the end of the week!

islander · #11 07-25-2001, 07:40 PM

This garden is waay too big, so I started giving away surplus to neighbours and friends. Definitely time to get involved at our Farmer's Market! Iza, you win the prize for earliest tomato. Mine are coming, but not by next week. Congratulations! What variety did you plant?

Isa · #12 07-25-2001, 08:50 PM

Islander I planted Roma and a variety of cherry tomatoes. I can't recall the name right now. I'll go out tomorrow morning and I'll let you know.

Linda Smith · #13 08-07-2001, 11:40 PM

Well I've been lurking around my tomato plants for weeks now - just waiting- and waiting.

Finally it is going to happen.

Tonight is the night.

I'm going to pick (and eat) 3 tomatoes.

Should I share them with my husband?

twylyn · #14 08-08-2001, 12:50 AM

Ongoing...raspberries (mmmmmm). Just picked: about 30 cherry tomatoes, two varieties...about 6 large tomatoes (finally...been waiting forever)

... still waiting for roma tomatoes, green beans, and sugar snap peas--waiting and waiting and waiting

Gave up on corn this year because some little critter always chews them down to the ground, despite wire fencing

(usually only get about 3 corncobs out of the bunch).

Herbs doing well: rosemary, marjoram, thyme, chives, basil, sage, and (recuperating) parsley.

W.DeBord · #15 08-08-2001, 05:45 AM

I got my first tomato yesterday. I would have had two if the ground squirel hadn't dined before I got there. I have big boys and beef steaks, so it's earily still for them. I give them lots of space but they always take more...it's like a jungle. Every year I have to trim back my tomato plants. I'm not sure why, but it seems that it makes a great difference. It seems to speed along the ripening by redirecting the energy to the tomatos vs. the vines. Do any of you trim back your tomato plants? Is there any science to trimming them back or is it luck?

I guess you could say I'm organiticly gardening....more like a absentie landlord if I was honest. My beans were over come by bugs earily in the season. I hardly harversted any before I needed to take out the crop. My potato plants are starting to die back. Although I haven't seen alot of bugs or wilt...I'll have to do a bit of digging to discover if their o.k..

Everything that can go wrong always does...My corn patch seems to have gone unnoticed by the racoons this year. AMAZING!!!!! But I can tell by the shape of a few ears that I've got a fungus happening in some ears. Then I've got these small yellow beatles (I think their beatles but I'm not sure) that are eating the silk part of the ears. I've never had that before, any ideas what that is? Although I have harvested 5 ears and their so sweet it's always worth any hassle.

The baby dear that loves my apples has been gone for a while. Perhaps our drought has taken him further away from my house. Or he's waiting....their starting to get sweet.....he's so cute, perhaps he finally realized he arrives too earily in the day light? He leaves all my neighboors and I buzzing as we watch him with his nieve assertiveness.

Are any of you familar with apple tree care? My dwarf trees are starting to get larger than I'd like. Somewhere I heard that I should have cut my leader to control the growth. Is that right?