Last harvest Monday, I posted my harvests for all of October. Now I’ll catch up for November. One of these days I’ll be all caught up. Right, like that’s going to happen. By the time I’m 80, I’m going to need a whole new lifetime for all the things that are still left undone. Ain’t that the truth?
But first, let me show you around my fall garden. I just finished planting the last of my raised beds in the backyard, and am quite pleased with them. I still have the community garden plot to take care of. Manana, manana.
Bed 1 has Waltham #29 broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Bloomsdale spinach, Lacinato kale and some quite elderly Chioggia beets.
Bed 2 has broccoli that is just starting to make heads, Black Beauty eggplant that has two eggplants ready to harvest, Blue Solaise leeks, red oak leaf lettuce, Amish deer tongue lettuce, and Cascadia peas.
I’ve not grown Cascadia peas before, and can’t remember if they are snow peas, snap peas, or English peas. They’re starting to bloom, so I’d better look them up so I’ll know when to harvest them.
Bed 3 has a cherry tomato and a beefsteak tomato. I should pull them out, but maybe I'll try overwintering them to get a head start on tomatoes next summer. I also have 6 green cabbages, 6 red cabbages, and some snow peas. Parsley is growing outside the bed. I'll probably add some lettuce and radishes to this bed soon.
See all that dark compost in bed 3? That’s all homemade compost. I don’t have enough for all my beds, despite having two compost bins, so I still buy compost for beds 1 and 2. Bed 3 is closest to the compost bins, so it gets the nice homemade compost.
This red acre cabbage is my most recently planted crop.
This is supposed to be savoy cabbage, but it clearly isn't. Oh well. It's beginning to head up. After fighting off cabbage worms, I'm wondering if the night critters will eat it before it's ready to harvest. That's what happened to all of my lovely spring cabbage. The night critters got every last head.
I got this nice metal pea fence from Gardeners Supply Company. Since we're growing Mammoth snow peas next to our deck, it's better to have an attractive fence for them. This is SOOOOO much better than string netting, appearance-wise.
The hens are molting and we're getting NO eggs. Miss Hillary, the barred rock, is in front, Henrietta, our Black Australorp, is in back on the left, and Chicken Little, a Black Sex-linked hen, is in back on the right. She's nearly naked, poor thing.
The navel oranges are ripening earlier this year than usual. We should be able to start picking oranges soon. I have about 45 oranges this year on my dwarf tree, a record crop for us.
On to the actual harvest.
This Komatsuna grew from a mescun mix of Asian salad greens that went way beyond the baby green stage. No worries, Komatsuna goes beautifully into stir frys.
Ditto for this Mizuna. Wonderful in stir frys or soups.
I didn't harvest this California giant garlic in a timely fashion and it has resprouted. I really need to get to the community garden and replant the remaining cloves.
I love the taste and texture of Lacinato kale even more than Scotch Blue Curled. This harvest is the Lacinato, which went into a lentil-sausage-kale soup.
Here is the harvest for early Nov, through Nov. 13.
FRUIT
1 lb 8 oz Avocadoes
8 oz Limes
Subtotal Fruit 2 lbs
VEGETABLES
1.5 oz Beans, Green, Blue Lake Pole
1 lb 4 oz Beets, Chioggia
1 lb Chard
10 oz Cucumber (last of crop)
1 oz Garlic, California Giant
2.5 oz. Herbs (parsley and dill seed)
1 oz Green Onion
6 oz Kale, Lacinato
1.5 oz Lettuce, Red Oak Leaf and Black Seeded Simpson
0.5 oz Peas, Snow (first of crop)
Subtotal Vegetables 3 lbs 11 oz
TOTAL PRODUCE 5 lbs 11 oz Plus ZERO Eggs
If you had a harvest, or to see what others are picking, visit Daphne’s Dandelions.
Lou Murray's Green World 
Wow, 45 oranges on one dwarf tree, I’m jealous. Citrus won’t survive our winter. I want a blood orange tree someday, there’s always ~ manana.
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Mac, I love it when people are jealous or envious of my tiny garden. I drool at the thought of harvesting 500+ pounds of produce like so many garden bloggers are able to do. Not me. I struggle to get 200 lbs. But I’m amazed at the number of oranges on this tree. This is by far the most oranges it has ever had.
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Those oranges do seem really early – I’m thinking that your gardening year is a mirror image to ours and that the climate is similarish (but perhaps I’m wrong) – regardless that sounds like a fabulous crop. I bought a dwarf tree last year so I hope mine does as well. I’ll be interested to see how your tomatoes overwinter.
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Liz, I fully expect my tomatoes to die. But my Black Beauty eggplants made it through last winter and produce a crop for me this year. Yes, I think our seasons are reversed. We have a Mediterranean climate, one of only five places in the world. One of the other places is Australia, but I think it’s the west coast. Not sure.
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Everything looks great! Hopefully the night critters won’t get all your cabbage. Boy, I wish that I planted my kale on time. I guess I will just have to envy yours for now.
That’s an amazing amount of oranges on a dwarf tree. My (now inside) dwarf tree is about 1′ tall….I think that it will be awhile before we enjoy any oranges!
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Oh my, Robin, that’s a tiny tree. Maybe mine is a semi dwarf. It’s about 7 ft tall, been in the ground at least 15 years. This is the first crop over a dozen oranges. Must have been a good year for oranges. My dwarf Meyer lemon is loaded with fruit too.
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The fall crops in the beds look really good. We have a few hens molting at the moment too but not quite as bald as your one is! 😀
Cascadia is a snap pea – one of my all time favorites.
Beautiful harvests this week!
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Thanks KITSAP. I love snap peas even more than snow peas, so now I’ll be haunting that row. My other snap peas are just now coming up.
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Avocados AND limes in the same harvest! I could NOT be more jealous! Guacamole, anyone?
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Bee Girl, I am hoping for guacamole. I harvested the first four avocados, and am waiting for them to ripen. They don’t ripen until after picked. It’s been two weeks and counting. I cut into one the other day and it was rubbery, not ready yet. They are ripe for about 30 minutes, and then they turn to icky mush. Here’s hoping for a nice bowl of guac.
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Lou I so envy all those who are still planting and harvesting. Nice looking beds.
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Thanks, Wilderness. My garden is tiny, but I do love it.
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Glad to see that someone else is as devoted to Raised Beds as I am! And like you, I go for diversity – lots of different things rather than huge quantities of one or two.
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Mark, welcome to my blog. I love all of the raised beds you have. What a garden!
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What a yummy harvest! Just wishing I could do citrus and avocados; they are soooo expensive here.
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I am so jealous of your navel oranges. Oh how I wish I could have citrus trees in my backyard where I could pick at the peak of ripeness as needed. Not at all possible in the Hudson Valley but it is good to dream.
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Norma, take a look at Thomas’ blog, A Growing Tradition. He has a dwarf Meyer lemon in a pot that he brings indoors in winter. I know, that’s a lot of trouble, but it’s worth a thought.
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