Every Monday, Daphne's Dandelions hosts "Harvest Monday" where bloggers can post their harvests. Click her link above to see what others are harvesting and see below for what we harvested this week:
First up, herbs...
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| Herb harvest |
As always, a great haul of herbs. Oregano, chives, basil, some flat leaf parsley I forgot to photograph. We've just been keeping them in the fridge in glasses of water and they stay fresh during the week and we use them up when we're cooking.
Then veggies...
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| Vegetable harvest |
This week, it's like a basket from the show "Chopped". Make something out of this, LOL. Our first eggplant. Not sure what we can do with just one, ha, but there are a few more small ones on the plants and more blooms. Also a few peppers and then jalapeños and more cherry tomatoes. I picked a few that weren't fully ripe so we can let them ripen. Then we have a few garlic heads! Garlic didn't do so well this first year, these have been drying. There are a few more that were pulled at a different time that are still drying, but I planted about 2 dozen seed bulbs. Pulled up the tomatillo, it was just WAY too big and overshadowing the tomato plants. There were still small tomatillos on it but I had to sacrifice them to hopefully get more tomatoes.
And fruit...
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| Pears |
Yes, fruit! I suppose I should have included the several pounds of dewberries we got earlier in the season but I didn't (next year!). Anyway, these are pears. They are pretty good size (hard to tell in the photo). There is apparently a procedure to ripen them, you have to pull them while hard and then force ripen them. I'll have to Google that. Anyway, we are happy to have some fruit. Figs will be coming soon as well. Then that will do it for fruit this year. But the trees are all still growing well and so we are hoping next Spring will be a great year and then every year after that it will just get better!
Vegetable harvest: 2 lb 8 oz
Herb harvest: 11 oz
Fruit harvest: 1 lb 8 oz
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Total harvest YTD: 12 lb 3 oz
Happy Harvesting!
P.S. For those who missed it, look at yesterday's post for a weekend update. Hope you had a nice weekend!
i am drowning in tomatoes right now. good move pulling the tomatillos. those plants get so huge. i didn't even plant them this year. do you grow okra?
ReplyDeleteDon't they? Oh my gosh, this was my first try with one and it was such a small innocent looking thing in the beginning, ha. Now it was huge, and I mean huge. Very healthy, did very well, but was just too big for the raised bed it was in. Next year it will have it's own spot, ha. Haven't tried okra, dang, totally forgot about that. Im guessing it's too late but I might see what I can find at the garden center, if they have some that already have a head start.
DeleteThat is funny that we both were thinking of chopped. I was thinking that way because my son is visiting and talking about it for some reason. So it was in my head. I keep my herbs in jars of water too, or at least some of them. But the basil I keep on the counter not in the fridge. Sometimes the fridge gets too cold and it turns black.
ReplyDeletewe do enjoy chopped. I always pause it when they show the basket and say "what would you make?", ha. I had NO idea about basil in the fridge. Our last batch turned black and I tossed it all because it was not very appetizing, ha. Thank you for the tip!
DeletePEARS!!! What a wonderful harvest.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed they are good!! :-) Thanks!
DeleteThe pears may be the cooking variety (not a fresh eating variety) - my Mom had a pear tree in the backyard as I was growing up and we spent every summer peeling and cooking them up for the freezer to use later in pies, etc. instead of eating them fresh. Might be important to know the variety of the pear.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the variety (I have it written down just can't remember off the top of my head). Hey, I'm ok with them being cooking variety, but you're right, they are a hard variety.
DeleteGreat harvest! Those pears look beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you much!!!
DeleteCongratulations on another great weekend harvest! Your long-distance-gardening is a real success. As jaz mentioned okra, now you have the fixings for okra gumbo.
ReplyDeleteI love your ‘styling’ of the produce for their picture - seemingly casual but artfully arranged. “Mr. 1st Man, I’m ready for my close-up!” could be their caption!
Your pears look like the usual kind that is grown in Texas. They are hard pears, which I like because they are crunchy. They are also perfect for making pear strudel. Pear strudel is common around here because the apples which they used in Europe do not grow well in this part of Texas - so they used pears instead, which do grow well here. I’ll send you my grandma’s recipe for it.
How wonderful are you? Thank you much! Okra gumbo, hmm, great suggestion there. :-) These are hard pears. I'm trying to read up on how to ripen them.
DeleteIt's always fun to try and construct a meal from what the garden gives you! Looks like you have a good variety to work with.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Garlic, tomatoes, an eggplant, I'm sensing a pasta dish as an option too (though the gumbo sounds good as well). Thanks for stopping by!!
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteNice looking harvest!!!
Thank you very much. It's small but at least it's working, so far anyway, ha.
DeleteLovely harvests! I really need to see this show Chopped that everyone is talking about. I guess that's an added benefit of gardening.. forced creativity in the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteHa, it's a fun show. It's on Food Network. They give chefs a box with 5 ingredients and they have a certain period of time to cook something using those ingredients plus the 'kitchen' that has regular staples. It definitely forces creativity based on what you have on hand, ha.
DeleteAround here, those are called "Old Fashioned Pears." Yes, that is all I can drag out of the dozens of people I have asked! I picked 120 lbs. per year from a tree on city property. And, I was not the only person picking them. They are so huge that if they fall to the ground, they split or are spoiled. Ants get to them first. That said, I hate pears with a passion. But...
ReplyDeleteThey can be refrigerated for three months, put out on the table and they ripen. I hear they are good. I make pear preserves and pear butter, like apple butter. Once it is in these forms, I love pears. They can be used/cooked any way that apples can be cooked.
Some of the pears weighed over a pound. I used an apple picker to get the high ones. I can reach 17 feet with that contraption. In 2011, a tornado that tore up the town got the pear tree, so I have had none since except for the ones given to me by people who had four in their backyard. My friend and I dodged the falling pears we accidentally dislodged because these pears are dangerous, hard as a rock.
Enjoy the pears.
Thank you, great info there. They are hard as a rock. I heard about putting them in the fridge, need to read up on that. I'll have to remember someday when the tree is big about those falling pears, ha!
DeleteNice pears! I can't wait until our trees start producing but it will be at least a couple of years I'm guessing.
ReplyDeleteAnd you'll probably be able to grow the nice soft juicy eat fresh off the tree pears, ha. Good things come to those who wait...true gardening wisdom huh? :-)
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