The potato harvest was last night...
Oy, and what a disappointment! I knew the haul wasn't going to be big this year, as the plants never really took off. We still have 'volunteers' lingering in another bed, so I will clear them out soon (and the finished bush bean plants above them) and add them to my meagre box of spuds (maybe 20 pounds? I should weigh them just to have an idea). I'll lump this poor crop with the failed snap peas (four plantings!?!), broccoli, kohlrabi, luffa gourds (will I never learn?) and cucumbers (odd, since the neighbour is having a bumper crop - hers Long English, mine Pickling, and there is the mildew issue).
The tomatoes are still chugging along, providing fresh daily lunch-time eating and a large zip-lock bag of larger toms for the freezer every other night; the zucchini plants are surprising me and putting out another flush of young squash despite mildew damage and much cutting back; the pea-sprout experiment yielded a third cutting for dinner, and should be good for a few meals yet (indoor experiement this winter!); the chard and kale are finally coming into their own; the leeks are continuing to fill out (must hill again), and next year's walla walla onions have sprouted. My oriental greens and mustards need to be thinned, and the final harvest of turnips (no seed available for more plantings this year) will hit the dehydrator tonight for stew additions. The tomatillo plants are soldiering on, though I may look for seeds from larger, store-bought fruits to try planting out next year, as the saved seed fruits seem to be coming back smaller each year.
The apples claimed readiness by falling into the strawberry patch, which is also providing a small, second harvest - so I grabbed another container and started testing the apples remaining on the espalier and column trees to see who else wanted to be picked. The remaining raspberry canes are desperately trying to ripen berries before the rainy season. Celery leaf and fennel seedheads were clipped to finish drying inside, and will be later cleaned and added to the spice cabinet (I will probably regret allowing seed formation come weeding time next year). The winter squash vines are really dying back now, but the stems look nice and woody and I will keep an eye on the weather for a cue as to when I need to cut the squash and bring them inside.
My exotic little lemon tree graced us with two (really one-and-a-half) lemons, and I am thinking to can a home-made cocktail sauce once I dig up the horseradish root and judge it's size. Fava beans, some grains, and the garlic crop will be going into the ground in a few weeks, and until then I need to do some cleanup around the ribes bushes and dust with diatomaceous earth. The celery leaf volunteers which have been feeding the rabbits and chicks will be allowed to stay until they are in the way of planting or are destroyed by frost. I need to pull hoops, plastic and floating row covers from the corner of the shed (um, doesn't everyone just ball them up and cram them in a crate?) and prepare to protect my winter greens and oh-so-slowly-growing beets from the elements.
I'm simply not going to worry about the corn (what corn?).
No eggs, as of yet, and we re-bred Sweetie last night (after Darla wanted nothing to do with Peter). Darla and Peeter have another date tonight, and hopefully she will be more receptive.
This weekend, apples will be cooking down for sauce and butter.
The tomatoes are still chugging along, providing fresh daily lunch-time eating and a large zip-lock bag of larger toms for the freezer every other night; the zucchini plants are surprising me and putting out another flush of young squash despite mildew damage and much cutting back; the pea-sprout experiment yielded a third cutting for dinner, and should be good for a few meals yet (indoor experiement this winter!); the chard and kale are finally coming into their own; the leeks are continuing to fill out (must hill again), and next year's walla walla onions have sprouted. My oriental greens and mustards need to be thinned, and the final harvest of turnips (no seed available for more plantings this year) will hit the dehydrator tonight for stew additions. The tomatillo plants are soldiering on, though I may look for seeds from larger, store-bought fruits to try planting out next year, as the saved seed fruits seem to be coming back smaller each year.
The apples claimed readiness by falling into the strawberry patch, which is also providing a small, second harvest - so I grabbed another container and started testing the apples remaining on the espalier and column trees to see who else wanted to be picked. The remaining raspberry canes are desperately trying to ripen berries before the rainy season. Celery leaf and fennel seedheads were clipped to finish drying inside, and will be later cleaned and added to the spice cabinet (I will probably regret allowing seed formation come weeding time next year). The winter squash vines are really dying back now, but the stems look nice and woody and I will keep an eye on the weather for a cue as to when I need to cut the squash and bring them inside.
My exotic little lemon tree graced us with two (really one-and-a-half) lemons, and I am thinking to can a home-made cocktail sauce once I dig up the horseradish root and judge it's size. Fava beans, some grains, and the garlic crop will be going into the ground in a few weeks, and until then I need to do some cleanup around the ribes bushes and dust with diatomaceous earth. The celery leaf volunteers which have been feeding the rabbits and chicks will be allowed to stay until they are in the way of planting or are destroyed by frost. I need to pull hoops, plastic and floating row covers from the corner of the shed (um, doesn't everyone just ball them up and cram them in a crate?) and prepare to protect my winter greens and oh-so-slowly-growing beets from the elements.
I'm simply not going to worry about the corn (what corn?).
No eggs, as of yet, and we re-bred Sweetie last night (after Darla wanted nothing to do with Peter). Darla and Peeter have another date tonight, and hopefully she will be more receptive.
This weekend, apples will be cooking down for sauce and butter.