November 5, 2013 - Harvest Monday on Tuesday

I haven't been very good about blogging about my harvests the past couple of weeks, but I have had a few pounds to add to the totals for the year.

 Tomatoes that have ripened inside, have been weighed and added to the total.  Last week there were just enough to make some seasoned tomato sauce for the freezer, and these will soon be ripe enough to go into the pot for another batch of sauce.

I'm almost at the end of the tomato season.  This is all that's left to ripen.

Yesterday I did dig a few small parsnips as I was cleaning the leaves from along the fenceline.  They weren't in very good shape, evidently the root knot nematodes have now moved into that area of the garden.  I got just over 12 ounces from the four parsnips.

I picked a lone sugar snap pea yesterday, and ate it right there on the spot.  It was so good!  I still see quite a few blossoms, but they just aren't forming pods.  We're getting very close to having a hard freeze, so I hope they will at least give me a meal before it hits.  I'm not holding my breath, though.

Other than those peas, two small cabbage plants and the baby spinach, there's nothing left in the garden.  It's almost rocking chair time!

Total for the year (to date) is 1007 pounds.  I'll probably end the year at around 1010 pounds once the remaining tomatoes ripen.

Visit Daphne's Dandelions to see what others have harvested!

21 comments:

  1. That is a nice total for the year. We got hit by a freeze last night. It got down to 27F. It was finally enough to kill the beans. They survived two nights at 30F and one at 29 but 27 was too much for them. I do have quite a bit left in my garden still. The question is when to pick it. I like to leave it in the ground as long as absolutely possible, but I think a lot will have to come out by next week. But we do have some warm weather this week (in the 60s one day) so we will see.

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    1. I pulled a lot of stuff way too early, as we just got our first killing freeze last week. I could have been picking beans for at least another 2-3 weeks, but the freezers just wouldn't hold any more.

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  2. It is nice that you are even getting just a few things! Green things are all I have left. I have blossoms on my strawberries so probably should cut those off so it would not take energy from next years crop I guess. Enjoy your harvest! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, I've been cutting off my strawberry blossoms, but I just moved those plants to new beds a couple of months ago. I'd love some green about now, but I didn't have much luck with my fall lettuce and spinach germinating. I finally got spinach to germinate inside, then transplanted it, I should have done the same with the lettuce. It was just too hot to get anything started outside this year.

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  3. Why do I NOT picture you in a rocking chair??? OUT--Rocking, is more like it! Never sit still, my dear. That is when Father Time catches up. That's the only time he possible COULD catch up with you.
    :D

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    1. Sue, I spent almost the entire day in the rocking chair yesterday! Of course, I had a sweet, tiny baby on my lap. I'm hoping to spend lots of winter days cuddling that baby! Of course I spoiled her Mama when she was a baby, too. Little Yaya is a repeat of her mother. They are both so precious to me.

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  4. Your tomatoes still look so good. I haven't had a fresh one in so long now. I'm almost ready again.☺

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    1. They don't have much flavor, Langela, but they are fine cooked down and seasoned for marinara sauce. And they do still taste better than those winter "cardboard" tomatoes from the grocer.

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  5. Those tomatoes sure look good. Not much flavor, you say? Still, I'll take them over store-bought anytime. Btw, Granny, I have a couple more award badges you can pick up from the link below, if you still have room in your sidebar. You need not do anything to participate, just want to let you know how much I appreciate connecting with you. :-)

    http://thenovicegardener.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/counting-my-blessings/

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    1. Awww, thank you, Mrs. R.! Of course I have room. I'm always honored to receive awards of appreciation!

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  6. I've never been able to get my green tomatoes to ripen inside. They tend to rot before they ripen. I think my problem is that I wait too long to pick them. But yours look great!

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    1. Thomas, I always wash mine well and then dip them in a sink of water to which I've added a bit of chlorine bleach, then let them air dry. The chlorine soon dissipates, and I seldom have any spoilage, only on a few that have big cracks in the tops. Even those ripen soon enough that i can just cut off the tops and use the rest of the tomato.

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    2. OMG - what a great idea! I'm speechless right now. You need to write a book with all of these gardening tips Gran!

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  7. Like your new look! I forgot to pick my tomatoes and we had a hard freeze-darn...I wish planned a bit better to get those tomatoes in before frost. Yours that are finishing inside look wonderful. The only ones I was able to bring in were my cherry tomatoes...sure are not as good as when they ripen in the middle of summer!:-)

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    1. Robbie, I think my cherry tomatoes have a bit more flavor than the larger ones, but I picked most of them so green they feel a bit soft as they begin to ripen, so I'm not sure they'll survive to an edible stage. I didn't do anything to keep them from spoiling, I probably should have treated them like I did the bigger ones. I was disappointed with the flavor of most of my tomatoes this year, I think they got too much shade. Next year they go back to the sunniest area of the garden!

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  8. Didjaknow that bell peppers can also be ripened this way?
    If the pepper is sufficiently developed and kept warm enough-they will ripen. Surprise!

    Great haul, Annie. Love your blog and look forward to each and every post. :)

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    1. Yes, Barbee, I've ripened quite a few bell and jalapeno peppers inside. Fortunately I didn't have to this year, I had plenty of garden ripened ones to deal with!

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  9. AG, We had a little snow/rain mix last night so I guess my garden is about done for the year to. I picked all my Thai hot peppers and the ripe tomatoes last night before the wind and snow but I did not get the green tomatoes in. I am going to pick the green ones when I get home after work and my wife and I are going to fry them up to eat tonight. I did not put in any thing for fall or winter garden this year. I may try to throw in some garlic in the next few days. Have fun with the little ones mine are going to spend Thanksgiving week with us.

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    1. Frank, this is supposed to be our last "warm and sunny" day for a while, so I'm going to try to get out and get some chopped leaves dug in, and mulch the strawberries and garlic. The squirrels have been digging in the garlic bed, so I need to go out and assess the damage. I drove over and picked up granddaughter and great-granddaughter yesterday and enjoyed spending the day with them. Of course, I spent most of my time rocking that baby! Family will all be here for Thanksgiving, so I have a bit of pre-cooking and baking ahead. Daughter will be helping though, so I won't have to do it all :-)

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  10. Good thing we decided to pick and eat the last of the tomatoes last night. While we were frying them and eating them the tempature droped to 21. It was our first hard freeze as we are right on the coast. Good news though the temps will be moving back up with a high of 70 expeced by monday. Weather is crazy when you live right on the coast just 5 blocks from the Chesapeak Bay and 10 miles from the Atlantic Ocean with the gulf stream only a few miles off the shore. Enjoy the little ones. We will take ours to a school play tonight that my niese is staring in.

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    1. I'm glad you got them picked, Frank! We're expecting a drop into the 20s on Sunday, but our highs will be in the 40s. My spinach was putting on some growth, but now I suppose it won't be big enough to pick until spring. I was hoping to get a late fall crop.

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