I was hoping for a mere 2/3 lb of harvest on Sunday to make it a record harvest week of over 10 lbs, but my tomatoes did me proud. The plants provided us with 5 lbs 12 oz. of tomatoes on Sunday. With green beans, a bell pepper and a cucumber, I went way over the top. I can hardly wait to add it all up. But first, some photos.
We got more than tomatoes this week. Here are a package of green beans, an eggplant and some male squash blossoms (that went into scrambled eggs).
Sunday's harvest included green beans, a Tendergreen cuke, an orange bell pepper that looks like the tomatoes, four Black Krim tomatoes, and assorted other tomatoes.
The driveway garden in pots is doing nicely, with German butterball potatoes nearing harvest readiness. Don't know about the sweet potatoes. Maybe they'll make some harvestable tubers next month.
I thought that this Red Kuri winter squash was going to give me something, but it's just sitting there and not getting any bigger.
I'm pinning my hopes for summer squash on my Gold Rush zukes in a pot. Here are unopened male and female flowers.
The first female flower bud is showing on one of my two Amish pie pumpkin plants. But I planted them late in the season (July 21) and it remains to be seen if I'll get a pumpkin.
The rhubarb made only a very few pencil thin stalks this year. Maybe next year I'll have some rhubarb to harvest.
My strawberries in a pot responded to fertilizing by setting more berries.
My first planting of Tendergreen cukes gave me only enough cukes for one large jar of dill pickles and a cucumber granita. So I replanted Tendergreens, hoping for more.
The first Summertop cucumber has set fruit. It will be a long Japanese cucumber.
I grow green bunching onions in pottery bowls from seed that I save from the previous crop. Looks like I sowed this one a bit too thickly.
My first planting of Blue Lake pole beans in a raised bed is producing spectacularly. A planting of Kentucky Blue hybrids failed. Here I have more Blue Lakes in the background and my first Cherokee Trail of Tears in the foreground.
The Black Krims are finally getting ripe. I like their taste best of all, but my husband prefers Celebrity. The tomatoes in the photo below are Mortgage Lifters.
These Brandywines are really poking along. I still don't have a ripe one. They're supposed to be the best tasting heirloom. We'll see.
And we can't forget the egg harvest. Henny Penny, our older Black Sex-linked hen, actually laid a decent egg on Sunday. Most of her eggs are breaking.
For those who missed it, here is our new patio furniture. And wouldn't you know it, the set was on sale this weekend for a price that was even lower than the sales price I paid. Harumph.
And now to add up the total harvest from the week ending August 22, 2010.
FRUIT
0
VEGETABLES
2 oz. Bell Pepper, orange
6 oz. Cucumber, Tendergreen
10.5 oz. Eggplant, Japanese Long
2 lbs 5.5 oz. Green Beans, Blue Lake pole
5 oz. Onions, Red
4 oz. Onion, Yellow
1 oz. Squash blossoms, male
12 lbs 3 oz. Tomatoes
TOTAL 16 lbs 5 oz. produce plus 9 eggs
Lou Murray's Green World 
Lovely photographs. I find on some of my squash plants – mainly Delicata for me this year – have almost all male flowers, only one female flower developing now on the whole plant. grrrrr
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Thanks for the compliment on the photos, Matron. I hardly ever get a 1:1 ratio of male to female flowers on my squash plants. It’s been more like 4:1 or even 5:1 this year. The result has been no squash.
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Your garden looks great! Your Mortgage Lifter’s look much better than ours did last year…I don’t think ours could have made a payment, never mind lifted the mortgage 😛 With Henny Penny’s eggs breaking, are the shells just too thin, or is she cracking them herself? Have you tried supplementing a little oyster-shell to help thicken the egg shells?
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Clare, Henny Penny is either a moron or defective. We’ve taken to calling her Worthless instead of Henny Penny. The shells are just too thin. Today she laid an egg without a shell. I don’t want to tell you what a mess that makes. I give the hens plenty of oyster shell supplement, and the other two lay perfect eggs with thick shells. I think Henny Penny is either defective, or is a year older than the farmer told me she was and is going through menopause. If I were a real farmer, I’d eat her. But I’m a city slicker, so she’s safe. For now.
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It looks like you have produce growing in every available space, impressive.
-Brenda
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Yep, we try to utilize every opportunity to grow food in our tiny urban yard, Brenda.
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I love your driveway garden! I have a useless flower bed in front of my house, and I’ve been tempted to turn it into something similar to yours. You do such an excellent job of making every bit of growing space count.
Henny Penny might be defective, but she’s kinda cute.
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Granny, you can pick up Henny Penny on your way to AZ if you like. And I don’t believe you about planting fewer tomatoes next year. As for me, I’m going to plant MORE. At least I will if I get the Huntington Beach Community Garden up and running.
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Love your driveway garden, don’t those Smartpots comes in handy? I really like them.
The squash flowers are so pretty, hope your Brandywine ripen up for you soon, last year I only got a handful for the entire season, they are off my list for a while.
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Thanks, Mac. I’m loving those Smart Pots. And if I can get a pumpkin from them, wouldn’t that be something? The first Gold Rush zuke female bud is getting bigger and the eggplant is reblooming, so I have hope of more produce from the driveway.
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Congrats on your record harvest. I always love when I break a record. I’ve only been counting for two years though so I’m guessing breaking records for me isn’t all that hard. I hope your summer squash get a move on. Tell them it is summer already.
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Daphne, the temp got up near 90 even here on the coast today, so I think the squash are getting the message that it’s summer. My tomatoes are starting to look like it’s October though, with lots of brown leaves. I just pull off the dead leaves and more tomatoes keep coming.
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Hi Lou – Lovely tomato photos! Like you, we’re growing Brandywines and Black Krims. Our Brandywines are also ripening later than the others, so you’re not alone. Hopefully the summer heat we’ve had the past few days (finally!) will hurry them along a bit. Oh, the anticipation … Cheers, Connie
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Farm with a View, this heat seems to be ripening more Black Krims and maybe even the Mortgage Lifters. But the Brandywines are still just poking along.
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Hi Lou, what a fabulous harvest. And now you can slice yourself some of those delicious tomatoes and cucumbers and enjoy them on your newly furnished patio. Good luck with your zukes – I continue to be swamped by mine. Glad to hear you like the black krims, since I’m thinking of trying them next year. Will have to get the seeds by mail order.
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Good to hear from you Barbara. Yes, do try the Black Krims. They’re not very productive but the taste is fabulous.
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