k0xxx
Mr. Sunshine
We just put up our first garlic harvest. Not too great, just 1 3/4 pounds with a lot of small ones. We planted way to late, but at least we know better for the next harvest.
How's your harvest coming?
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old fashioned
Almost Self-Reliant
I've been busy with season end chores around here & figured it's time to resurrect this thread...
Corn: had to replant a couple of times because of weather being so cool for so long. Ended up with 2 inverted beds of hybrid types that as the ears matured & ready to pick, SOMETHING ate right thru the husk & left empty cobs on the stalks! I think I managed to salvage enough for one meal for us & the chickens got whatever was left.
Luckily, I had made a 3rd bed of heirloom seed (Golden Bantam from BC) that was planted a few weeks later. To be sure it didn't get crossed with the hybrids, I had pulled up the hybrids just before the heirloom tassled. Several of these stalks are near 7-8' high and the ears are just now forming. It'll be a race with the weather around here if they'll be able to mature before frost kills em.
I sure do hope they'll make it cause I need more seed! Corn for eating & freezing would be nice too.
Tomatoes: Not a fantastic crop this year again. Did manage to get a few for eating, but nowhere near enough for canning. Very disappointing.
Cukes: Planted, replanted & planted again.....got one small crooked looking thing that was supposed to be a big slicer. hmpf!
Broccoli: Got a couple of pickings, then the plants just kinda sat there doing nothing...then bolted to seed. Bugs got most of the plants, but I did find a few bugless ones to save seed from.
Lettuce: The romaine that had bolted started looking like a dandelion variety so I just pulled them up. Before that we did get plenty for salads & such.
Carrots: First planting from home saved seed produced white roots so I dug em up & tossed the rest of the seed and gave up trying to save carrot seed! Second planting from fresh seed has been very slow coming so I'll leave them in as long as possible.
Parsnips: Planted from saved seed 3 times...NOTHING! I won't be saving these seeds again either.
Cabbage: Picked a few & very tasty. The rest either the heads split (going to seed again?), chickens &/or bugs feast.
Squash: Planted pumpkins & Acorn......only 2 plants survived but haven't produced anything
Potatoes: Out of 20ish plants & a few volunteers, I dug only 2 baker sized & the rest are golf ball or marble sized and enough to fill a plastic grocery bag. The small ones will be used in soup or stew, washed & tossed in whole.
Beans: I planted Kentucky Blue Pole (great for eating & seed saving & have done so for many years) The first planting wasn't going as well as expected & I wasn't sure if it was the new location so I replanted in another area & it did much better. We got several pickings for meals & enough to fill 3 gallon sized freezer bags. They did really well again this year, but not as well as in years past so I'm chocking this up to the weather too.
Also planted a row of Navy beans that did great. I've only shelled about half of them so far & still working on the rest.
Onions: These did really well this year. I have a plastic grocery bag full of varying sizes & a few still in the ground. Probably not enough to last all winter, but a few months anyway.
Grains: I planted hard white wheat, spring hulless oats, and a mix of winter barley & rye and some 'cover crop' as a test & was a mix of field peas, yamhill wheat, rye, red clover, & some other stuff. This grew & went to seed well. The chickens got most of the good stuff but I did pick a few of the wheat, rye & red clover that I'll save & plant seperately later to increase the seed supply.
The wheat came up great but as it ripened the heads disappeared & this was the second year this happened. I'm not sure if it's critters or pest/disease. I may have to start picking it immature & letting it dry/ripen from there but I don't know if that is a good practice or not.
My rye/barley mix (I didn't keep them seperated last year & thought I could identify the differences...now I'm not so sure :/ ) grew well, but what I could get away from the chickens, rats, squirrels, etc wasn't alot & I'll be lucky to figure out which is which & have for seed next year.
The oats once again did great & I have 3/4 of a bucket that I will need to clean the seed from the plant material. I'll probably get about a 1gallon sized ziploc of actual seed.
My fruit trees didn't do much of anything this year & was very disappointed, although I did get a few prune plums for munching.
ETA: Yikes! I forgot about peppers... green bell peppers took forever, but finally got a few for meals (as needed) & will be picking the rest in the next week or so to go in the freezer. Grand total crop=about a dozen golfballs & 2 or 3 good sized from 6 plants.
Sweet Banana Peppers...from 2 pickings of 4 plants got several each picking. Sliced & pickled for sandwiches.
Serrano...from 4 plants only one produced & produced well. Picked several peppers yesterday & one was even red. Will be pickling these for later use.
Jalapeno...from 3 plants, only 1 or two peppers from each plant so I'll be mixing these with the serrano's to be pickled. Would have had more Jalapeno's but the neighbor was over & DH asked if he'd ever had a fresh Jalapeno & offered him one. Poor guy took a bite & said it was good with just a slight tingle, took another bite & said 'yeah it's warm'...by the third bite he was sweating, gasping for air & begging for another beer or anything to cool it down with. All DH said was 'Its good to know we can grow hot peppers in this climate, I wasn't sure'
Corn: had to replant a couple of times because of weather being so cool for so long. Ended up with 2 inverted beds of hybrid types that as the ears matured & ready to pick, SOMETHING ate right thru the husk & left empty cobs on the stalks! I think I managed to salvage enough for one meal for us & the chickens got whatever was left.
Luckily, I had made a 3rd bed of heirloom seed (Golden Bantam from BC) that was planted a few weeks later. To be sure it didn't get crossed with the hybrids, I had pulled up the hybrids just before the heirloom tassled. Several of these stalks are near 7-8' high and the ears are just now forming. It'll be a race with the weather around here if they'll be able to mature before frost kills em.
I sure do hope they'll make it cause I need more seed! Corn for eating & freezing would be nice too.Tomatoes: Not a fantastic crop this year again. Did manage to get a few for eating, but nowhere near enough for canning. Very disappointing.
Cukes: Planted, replanted & planted again.....got one small crooked looking thing that was supposed to be a big slicer. hmpf!
Broccoli: Got a couple of pickings, then the plants just kinda sat there doing nothing...then bolted to seed. Bugs got most of the plants, but I did find a few bugless ones to save seed from.
Lettuce: The romaine that had bolted started looking like a dandelion variety so I just pulled them up. Before that we did get plenty for salads & such.
Carrots: First planting from home saved seed produced white roots so I dug em up & tossed the rest of the seed and gave up trying to save carrot seed! Second planting from fresh seed has been very slow coming so I'll leave them in as long as possible.
Parsnips: Planted from saved seed 3 times...NOTHING! I won't be saving these seeds again either.
Cabbage: Picked a few & very tasty. The rest either the heads split (going to seed again?), chickens &/or bugs feast.
Squash: Planted pumpkins & Acorn......only 2 plants survived but haven't produced anything
Potatoes: Out of 20ish plants & a few volunteers, I dug only 2 baker sized & the rest are golf ball or marble sized and enough to fill a plastic grocery bag. The small ones will be used in soup or stew, washed & tossed in whole.
Beans: I planted Kentucky Blue Pole (great for eating & seed saving & have done so for many years) The first planting wasn't going as well as expected & I wasn't sure if it was the new location so I replanted in another area & it did much better. We got several pickings for meals & enough to fill 3 gallon sized freezer bags. They did really well again this year, but not as well as in years past so I'm chocking this up to the weather too.
Also planted a row of Navy beans that did great. I've only shelled about half of them so far & still working on the rest.
Onions: These did really well this year. I have a plastic grocery bag full of varying sizes & a few still in the ground. Probably not enough to last all winter, but a few months anyway.
Grains: I planted hard white wheat, spring hulless oats, and a mix of winter barley & rye and some 'cover crop' as a test & was a mix of field peas, yamhill wheat, rye, red clover, & some other stuff. This grew & went to seed well. The chickens got most of the good stuff but I did pick a few of the wheat, rye & red clover that I'll save & plant seperately later to increase the seed supply.
The wheat came up great but as it ripened the heads disappeared & this was the second year this happened. I'm not sure if it's critters or pest/disease. I may have to start picking it immature & letting it dry/ripen from there but I don't know if that is a good practice or not.
My rye/barley mix (I didn't keep them seperated last year & thought I could identify the differences...now I'm not so sure :/ ) grew well, but what I could get away from the chickens, rats, squirrels, etc wasn't alot & I'll be lucky to figure out which is which & have for seed next year.
The oats once again did great & I have 3/4 of a bucket that I will need to clean the seed from the plant material. I'll probably get about a 1gallon sized ziploc of actual seed.
My fruit trees didn't do much of anything this year & was very disappointed, although I did get a few prune plums for munching.
ETA: Yikes! I forgot about peppers... green bell peppers took forever, but finally got a few for meals (as needed) & will be picking the rest in the next week or so to go in the freezer. Grand total crop=about a dozen golfballs & 2 or 3 good sized from 6 plants.
Sweet Banana Peppers...from 2 pickings of 4 plants got several each picking. Sliced & pickled for sandwiches.
Serrano...from 4 plants only one produced & produced well. Picked several peppers yesterday & one was even red. Will be pickling these for later use.
Jalapeno...from 3 plants, only 1 or two peppers from each plant so I'll be mixing these with the serrano's to be pickled. Would have had more Jalapeno's but the neighbor was over & DH asked if he'd ever had a fresh Jalapeno & offered him one. Poor guy took a bite & said it was good with just a slight tingle, took another bite & said 'yeah it's warm'...by the third bite he was sweating, gasping for air & begging for another beer or anything to cool it down with. All DH said was 'Its good to know we can grow hot peppers in this climate, I wasn't sure'
Pirtykitty
Lovin' The Homestead
From spring garden we had corn, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and cantalope.. Gave tons of tomatoes to freinds and family and also froze about 8 bags of them.. Planted two tomato plants a few weeks ago for fall garden and also some potatoes.. tomato plants are blooming, but potatoes aren't up yet.. Am hoping to get some other stuff planted soon..
tamlynn
Lovin' The Homestead
I picked my first pomegranite in September! It was so yummy. I have a half dozen more out there. Also, am nearly ready to pick my first persimmon. Can't wait.
