Sunday, June 30, 2013

Harvest Monday....... July 1, 2013 & Harvest Totals to Date

We had two big harvests this week, a lot of the Broccoli and the Garlic. Some of you may have seen my Big Broccoli Harvest here. Well that wasn't all of it for the week. I harvested a few heads earlier in the week and a few more on Sunday. Sorry, no pics of those.

Sunday I went to the plots and pulled the remaining peas. The peas in the home garden were pulled last week. It's just too hot for the peas and they were about finished. After I finished with the peas. I thought that I better check the garlic. Well, it was ready to be pulled. I pulled all the garlic and brought it home.

Since we are in constant threat of thunderstorms lately, I had to put it under the covered part of the back porch. Now I can barely get out the back door!

38 Heads of Music (Hardneck Variety)
 
and.... 
 a total of 56 heads of Silverskin (Softneck Variety)

more of the Silverskin
 
The garlic heads are a good size and I'm quite pleased with the harvest. I think we will have enough for us and my son's household. Later this week I will hang the garlic and let it cure for storage.
 
Since I have been a bit busy and haven't participated in Harvest Monday this year, I thought I would post my year to date weighed harvest totals.
  

Baby Choi - 3.25 lbs.
Asparagus - 3.3 lbs.
Strawberries - 20.8 lbs
Broccoli - 16.8 lbs.
Garlic - 94 Heads (will be weighed once they are cured)
Greens & Lettuce - 3 lbs. (I haven't been weighing most of these)
Onions - 8 oz,
Peas - 11.2 lbs.
Peppers - 1 oz. (1 hot pepper)
Spinach - 5 lbs
Tomatoes - 3 Sungolds (not weighed)

Year to date Total - 62.45 lbs.
 
Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in gardens around the globe!

Friday, June 28, 2013

I just had to show off my Broccoli Harvest!

Some years the broccoli is good and sometimes not so good. This year has been a great year for us! Sorry Jody!

This year I am experimenting with broccoli and cauliflower varieties for Spring & Fall plantings . I planted 6 varieties of broccoli, 4 of each for the spring; Arcadia, Fiesta, Nutri-Bud, Packman, Premium Crop & Tendergreen. The Arcadia has been #1 so far with the two heads harvested so far weighing 1 lb. 8 oz. and 1 lb. 7 oz! That's just amazing! Fiesta is not far behind! The 4 heads weighed in between 1 lb. and 1 lb. 5oz.

This is what I picked today......8 lbs of Broccoli!

This is the largest head of Arcadia Broccoli weighing in at 1lb. 8 oz and 9" across!
 
So...how is your garden growing????

Monday, June 24, 2013

New Addition to the Family

For those of you who have been following this blog for some time, you will remember Alvin, one of my cats. I posted about him here, here and here. This past week we had to put him down. It was a very very hard thing to do. But, I had no choice, there was nothing the vet could do for him.

Three weeks ago when I took Alvin to the groomer, I fell in love with a rescue kitty. After Alvin's passing, I called the groomer to see if she still had him......and the answer was yes! We couldn't believe that she still had this little guy! I guess it was meant to be!

Welcome Nunzio!
He was named by "The Italian"

Here he is in the cage before we brought him home.
 
Little Nunzio half asleep.

This is the only time you can get a picture of him!
He is one active little fellow!
 

Friday, June 14, 2013

Too Busy to Blog & Garden Update

Yes, everything is A-OK.....I've just been too busy with work, life and the garden to blog!!! "The Italian" and I had a lovely vacation in May. The garden is doing great and work is busy as usual. I really appreciate the inquires.

As you can see the plots are bursting with growth! We had one heat wave already in late May. Other than that the rain has been consistent and the heat wave didn't seem to hurt the spring crops.

Plots from the front

The Eggplant were getting nibbled, but the new growth is good.
It looks like they are going to be OK
 
The Peppers are looking good and so are the potatoes (on the left)

The Broccoli is forming heads!!!


The Asparagus is finished for the year. We harvested about 3.5 lbs this year.
 
The Squash are coming up.....and we have Peas galore!
There are Snow & Snap Peas at the plots and Snap & Shelling Peas growing in the Home Garden. To date we have harvested more than 5 lbs. of Peas.

The Tomatoes are Happy!
 
The Cauliflower has yet to form heads. But, I'm sure they will be forming soon!

The Cabbage is starting to form heads.
 
The Blackberries have lots of blooms....so do the Raspberries!
 
The Strawberry bed has to be kept covered due to the birds.
We've picked more than 17 lbs. of strawberries so far this year!!!

Overall the garden is looking great and we are happy gardeners!
 
How's your garden growing so far this year???